Highlights of Cruising the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa Rivers 6-26-10

We left the bustle of Montreal behind as we headed back to the St. Lawrence Seaway bound for the St. Lambert and St. Catherine locks. Cruising books and other boaters had warned us that there can often be a 3-4 hour wait per lock, but we really lucked out this Tuesday morning and locked right through with the tall ship, Pride of Baltimore. These locks are not on our Park Canada pass and are $25 each which is collected by the lockmaster with a shovel passed to us like a church usher with a collection basket. The Pride of Baltimore is headed to Oswego to begin a tall ship tour of the Great Lakes area.

We parted company at St. Anne de Bellevue, a charming town strategically located at the mouth of the Ottawa River. We retire Richardson's Hudson River and Adjacent Riverways Chartbook of 110 pages here—that’s a lot of traveling which began in 7/09. The Ottawa River stretches 360 miles to the west, was called the “Grand River” by native people and the voyageurs who used it, along with portages, to go all the way to the Great Lakes. The English put in the locks to protect their military and commercial endeavors. We will only be traveling 97 miles to Ottawa, the capital of Canada, and then will travel down the Rideau Canal—we love Canadian locks and towns!

St. Anne de Bellevue has room for at least 30-40 boats on 2 walls. The town has 10 waterfront restaurants, a grocery store, library with Wi-Fi, a marina store where we found charts we needed for the Thousand Islands and beer and wine at Couche Tard. McGill University Macdonald campus is here and has miles of walking and bike trails and the #211 and #251 bus stops are here to bring you into Montreal. The highlight of our stay was the French Canadian celebration of St. Jean Baptiste Day on June 24th. Pouring rain cast a pall on the daytime events, but then the sun burst through at 5 pm, the dancing, singing and partying began, capped by a fire show of twirling batons lighting the night sky.

It was time to move on to the Carillon Lock which is 65 feet high and is the largest in Canada. We decided to spend the night below the lock on the wall and found a half day of activities in town. You can visit the old lock and the restored lockmaster house which now is a museum complete with a café with friendly staff. Walk another ½ mile into town and you will find the D’Argenteuil Regional Museum which has an interesting historical collection. You can walk up the hill to meet the current lockmasters who take pride in being the “king of Canadian locks” and even gave us a bit of O Canada, the national anthem. We have met so many wonderful Canadians who are eager to share their country and it is really the people who make the memories special.

Next stop was a lunch stop at Hawksbury after locking through the Carillon on Saturday morning. Hawksbury has a welcome center, free dock with electric and in a ½ mile walk to Main Street, you can find a bakery,Le Petit Pain, a used book store and the LCBO liquor store—what else do you really need. We definitely would have spent the night but wanted to get further down the river towards Ottawa. We passed the Chateau Montebello at Milepost 42.2 but it charges $3.70 per foot and I am not sure heaven charges that much. A Canadian boater had told us about an excellent anchorage at Baie des Arcand located about ¾ mile sw of the Chateau which has at least 6 feet of depth and a priceless experience.

Quaint Old Quebec 6-21-10

If you have the luxury of time on the Loop, consider taking the train to Quebec City for a romantic get-away. Put your nautical charts away for awhile, take a break from following the buoys and instead, tour with the aid of Frommer’s Montreal and Quebec City Guidebook. We used it to find an economical boutique hotel (Manoir Sur-le-Cap) as well as restaurant picks (Le Pain Beni for bistro French food; Aux Anciens Canadiens for traditional Quebecois; and Le Lapin Sauté for brunch). Old Quebec is a treat for your senses as you do a walking tour up and down its colorful streets decorated with ornate signs and window boxes overflowing with colorful flowers and the aromas from the outdoor cafes will entice you to check out their menu.

Expect the unexpected in this city-- a free-wheeling bike race through its hilly narrow streets, watch street performers playing with fire, listen as a carillon of bells heralds a proud Dad escorting his beautiful daughter down the aisle at the Basilica of Notre Dame, sit on a bench and people watch as you are serenaded by musicians or watch lovers of all ages strolling arm in arm.

Inclimate weather was forecast and we had museums planned, but since everyone carried an umbrella, the rain gods were bested and we stayed outside. Old Quebec has a park tucked away on every block in addition to its wide promenades (Terrasse Dufferin, Promenade des Governeurs and the waterfront area, Pointe-a-Carcy along the St. Lawrence River). The marina here has its own lock because of the 15 foot tidal swing and there is a colorful outdoor market to reprovision. You can step back in time with a tour of la Citradelle and learn how the European quest for land in this area led first the French, and then the English to fortify this strategic spot and you can now watch the changing of the Guard. We toured the opulent Chateaux Frontenac Hotel with a very entertaining guide dressed in period costume and he delighted us with gossip from yesteryear.

So much to love here…… The Quebec license plate has the phrase je me souviens or "I remember” and we will.

Marvelous Montreal 6-18-10

Even though Montreal has very long cold winters and short summers like Minneapolis/St. Paul, it has a 2 million population base in the city and a French connection that gives it a vibrancy or joie de vivre. There is always a festival going on, Cirque de Soleil sets up its tents here, and the nightspots stay open until 3am.

Old Montreal is where the city was born and is more our style. We used our Frommer’s Guidebook to outline walking tours of the cobblestoned streets, open air markets, cafes, shops, historic homes and churches. Even though Basilique Notre-Dame is resplendent in glittering blue and gold tones complete with a light show at night, we were drawn to the smaller Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours, or the Sailors’ Church. Here you will find ship replicas suspended from the ceiling with lit votive candles in thanksgiving for safe passage at sea. You can tour the restored Chateau Ramezay and its sculpted formal gardens for a well-done historical interpretation of the area in the 18th century.

I had been reading about the historic Lachine Canal which was a precursor to the St. Lawrence Seaway around the treacherous Lachine rapids. Its banks have now been developed into a walk/bikeway and the canal is still operational for low clearance boats. Marche Atwater, a farmer’s market overflowing with fruit, produce, flowers and its inside space lined with bakeries, meat market, spice shops, was my destination and a mere 6 miles roundtrip west from the marina. I met an American couple there and we were all in total amazement at the amount of offerings as we tasted our way through the bakery.

We took the Metro out to the botanic garden, Jardin Botanique, located in Olympic Park. I miss not having a garden and really fell into this bed of roses. But, the highlight of our trip to Montreal was meeting 3 Looper couples, Tom and Diann aboard Noah Genda, Roy and Sandy, Dolphin and Russ and Cindy, Ladybug. This picture was taken in haste when the marina staff announced that the marina power was back on, so there was a mad dash to get tasks done and finalize tips to do the upcoming canal and Seaway sections. Au revoir..

Drip/Dry in Montreal 6-16-10

You have to work a bit to get into Montreal harbor against the swirling 5 knot current by buoy #201 on the St. Lawrence. This is a little tough for a trawler that only goes 7knots especially when you are surrounded by an excursion boat and a tug with a barge. We held our own in the channel, but then the tug and barge suddenly veered 180 degrees and we had one of those uh-oh moments, fearing that we would be next. We learned later that the tug purposefully steered into the outer rim of the current which brought it perilously close to the high cement harbor wall-- that’s for the professionals, not Loopers like us.

I had no idea that the excitement was only beginning for the night. We had reservations at Port D’escale du Vieux Marina in Montreal and justified the $1.95 per foot charge with the fact that we needed to power up, do 4 loads of laundry, reprovision a bit and sightsee. Imagine our total surprise when we docked and were then told that the marina’s electric grid was being redone and there was no power at the docks or for the laundry. It’s 5pm, we don’t want to go back out through the current, so we do Plan B by negotiating a 25% off price and I set off with a map and full laundry cart. Sounds easy enough except I did not count on my map being shredded by pouring rain and wind, getting lost on one way streets, having to count on the kindness of strangers trying to understand my lousy French, and finally finding the laundromat which had already closed at 6:30 pm. Insert expletive here!!!!!!!

But wait a minute---this could be an opportunity. Think like an old-time sailor man…. What is a washing machine anyway but a mechanical way to add water and soap to clothes, agitate, rinse and spin. I was already out in the pouring rain for 2 hours so the laundry was soaked (step #1), the detergent bottle had already leaked all over them (step#2), I was agitated and had been jiggling this washload all over kingdom come for miles (step#3) so hell, the laundry was almost done except to wring it out and hang it around the boat to dry. Pretty amazing…….