2005 CRUISE
TRIP 3 LOGS
Port Dalhousie to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
August 12 – 26, 2005

Houston, TX to Port Dalhousie, Ontario, Canada, Friday, August 12, 2005

     Angela and I flew to Buffalo, NY and took a shuttle van to Port Dalhousie Pier Marina.  We borrowed a car and went to the grocery store and out to eat that evening.  Southwest Airlines lost one of our bags, but they got it to us about 11pm.  It was a full day.

Port Dalhousie to Toronto, Saturday, August 13, 2005

     Three friends from Toronto drove to the boat so they could cross the lake with us.  We left the marina and cruised into the Old Town area of Port Dalhousie.  Apparently that used to be the route of the Welland Canal at an earlier date.  To show them a little more of the area, we went east to see the entrance to the Welland Canal. We saw the John D. Leitch from the Port of Toronto enter the channel to move up from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie through the Welland Canal.







     Then we went further east to the Niagara River and Niagara-on-the-Lake, a cute little town.  Entering the river we passed Fort Niagara at the east entrance, circa 1726.  We tied up at the sailing club marina at noon and walked into the center of town.  It was a delight.  (NOTL has been called the loveliest town in Ontario.)  There was a festival going on featuring peaches; and there were booths set up in the closed-off streets to sell peach jellies, peach cobbler, fresh peaches, etc.







      We walked around the three or four block area and then chose a place for lunch.  After lunch we had to have some peach cobbler and vanilla ice cream.  Then we bought the jelly and fresh peaches.  The flowers were beautiful, and the buildings were very well maintained and attractive.





     Just after 2pm we left the town and the marina and set a course for Toronto.  The weather and the lake water conditions were nice, and we saw the skyline while still a long ways from the Toronto harbor.  Once inside the harbor, we cruised over to see the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, and then we dropped off one of our guests at the ferry terminal on the mainland.



     We had a reservation at Marina Quay West for a slip inside the breakwater with 50-amp shore power.  When we got there the young man running the marina could not fulfill our requirements.  We tried one spot on the wall after another, based on his ideas of where the shore power was located, but nothing worked well.  We settled on a berth with twin 30-amp power.  Then our neighbor in front of us moved, to where he was supposed to be; and we moved into his spot, which was where we were supposed to be, we found out later.  Our two friends gave us a tour of the downtown, and we had dinner together that evening.  I wanted to buy a CD of a Toronto musical group, and we checked out two record shops after dinner and then went back to the boat.



Lay Day in Toronto, Ontario, Sunday, August 14, 2005

     It was a rainy day, and we slept late and then ate a big breakfast on board.  We walked down to Marina Four and crossed the foot bridge to the band shell and the International Food Mart and the tents set up to set crafts, etc.  We walked east on the boardwalk and checked out the sights of the downtown area.  We ate at the food mart and listened to a country music group at the band shell.  We met a young lady from Canada working the Texas tourism booth.

     We walked back to the boat and dropped off our purchases from the mall and the tent shopping area.  Then we walked to the Chinatown area and shopped at the sidewalk displays and the inside stores we found there.  The weather improved, and the sun came out.  Then we walked back to the boat via the Skydome and the CN Tower.  We had dinner on board and prepared to head east on Lake Ontario the next morning.



Toronto to Trenton, Ontario, Monday, August 15, 2005

     On Monday we left our berth at 8:30am.  We left the harbor through the East Gap (we arrived through the West Gap).  The waves and winds were fine, and we made good time cruising the north shore of Lake Ontario.  The Scarborough Bluffs were a prominent feature of the shoreline.









     To get to the Bay of Quinte, we went through the Murray Canal.  We had some nervous moments on the approach due to low water depth readings, but we didn’t hit anything hard.  Grass and silt caused some of the low readings.



     To purchase our pass to use the Canadian canals, we were told to go through the swing bridge and pull over and tie to the Blue Line.  I tried to do that but had a couple of constraints.  The Blue Line was immediately past the bridge, and I had to move forward so the bridge could swing back to its closed position.  We were told that there were rocks beneath the surface if we moved forward too far, and the lockmaster took our line and tied the bow of the boat to the concrete dock.  Due to current, wind, and the short leash, I was unable to back the boat to bring it alongside, and I hit the concrete dock in the process, getting some blue paint on the starboard side of the bow.

     Eventually we got tied up and I went ashore to pay for the season pass.  All of the Parks Canada charges were much higher than they were in 2000.  In fact, the mooring charge was 70 cents per foot when their brochures were printed for the year 2005; and an insert was added later raising the fee to 80 cents per foot.  In 2000 that cost was 45 cents per foot.  That includes tying up to a concrete wall – no water or electricity.

     We paid $CAN 475.95 or $8.35 per foot for the season pass; the same pass in 2000 cost $CAN 308, or $7 per foot.  One of the surprising things on that leg of the trip was the difficulty in obtaining potable water.  Most of the locks had no water for us.  Some marinas had only well water that was marked "Not for Drinking", but it was all we could get.

     We finished the Murray Canal and made our way to the Trenton Marina, near the entrance to the Trent Severn Waterway. Sandy was still there, and she was as nice as she had been the last time we saw her.



     We walked a couple of blocks to the grocery store, and then we cooked on board that evening.

Trenton to Kingston, Ontario, Tuesday, August 16, 2005

     We left at 8am and arrived at our slip about 2:15 that afternoon.  We went slow at first, having breakfast, shower, etc. along the way.  The weather started out clear and cool.  Later it got warmer, but it was clear all day.

     The route was tricky; I would not recommend anyone do it without charts.  Eventually we got into deep water and a wide channel; then the wind came up.  It was very windy when we moved toward our alongside berth in the marina.  There 5 or so marina personnel (young people with summer jobs probably) standing at the dock to receive our lines, but none of them warned me about the boat to my rear and port side that I could not see.  I almost missed the other boat entirely.  The chrome rails on our swim platform passed under and just grazed the anchor on the other boat, a problem that I thought was probably minor but later was told it might be expensive to repair.  I met with the owner, a nice young man from New York, and gave him all my insurance information.  A little sandpaper fixed our boat.

     Angela and I walked around the park near the marina and made a few phone calls.  I checked the water levels in all 9 batteries, and I checked several sea strainers and found them to be clear.  The grass in the water was amazing; we don’t see that in salt water.

     A friend from that area came by about 7pm, and we walked to Chez Piggy for dinner.  Afterwards we walked to the restaurant’s bakery, and we stopped at Mino’s (Greek restaurant) to buy olive oil as we had in 2000 when we ate dinner there.  Our friend agreed to meet us the next morning and spend a couple of days on the boat with us.

Kingston to Morton Bay (Rideau Canal), Ontario, Wednesday, August 17, 2005

     Our friend arrived at 7:45am, and we moved out of the marina to wait for the 9:00am bridge opening.  I managed to miss all the other boats while leaving the marina.

     We began the Rideau Canal with the knowledge that water levels were low – 4’6” instead of 5’.  We were told we did not have to sign a wavier as our draft was 4’3”.  The lockmaster at Kingston Mills Locks also told us about a few places they had reports of shallow water.  Our friend studied the charts as we moved along the canal and advised me to stay on one side or the other, based on depths from the charts.  We did very well, although a few times we hit something, sunken logs, probably.





     I walked up the hill at the first locks.  I expected someone to see us, but they were not watching.  Same thing at the next locks; I walked to the lockmaster’s house and asked for a lift.  The locks have mobile phones, but we did not have any of their numbers.  They did not use the VHF radio at all.  The standard drill was to tie up to the Blue Line, on one side or the other (most locks had only one side with a dock – the part of it closest to the lock was painted blue) to indicate you wanted to go through the lock.  Tie up somewhere other than the blue line if you were not ready to go through the lock.  The lockmaster will see you, prepare the lock for you, and open the gates.  They usually did not tell you when to enter or how to enter.  Sometimes they did if they had a preference.  If or when the lock was empty, you went in and stopped on one side or the other and wrapped a line under a vertical black plastic cable – one line for the front and one for the back of your boat.  As the water came in and the boat went up, your line slipped up under the plastic cable.

Movie made at the top of the first three locks at Kingston Mills

     Lock personnel were friendly and helpful, as we remembered from our previous experiences in Canada.  Visitors at the locks were frequent, and many locks had very nice parks adjacent to the locks. The visitors walked up and down the sides of the locks, and they also walked across the lock using the walkway above the lock gates.  In the USA that would be possible grounds for a lawsuit from our country’s ambitious attorneys, so it is not permitted.  Typically the US Corps of Engineers require anyone outside the boat to wear a life jacket, since we obviously cannot take care of ourselves.  In Canada, no one wore a life jacket, boaters or visitors or lock personnel.  Everyone had a great good time, which also does not happen in the USA.  Lockmaster in the USA are so concerned with control they often offend boaters with their comments, requests, or silences (refusals to provide information).

     The Kingston Mills locks were numbered 46 – 49, with the higher number being closest to Kingston.  (Mile markers started at 125 in Kingston and went down from there to Ottawa.)  Locks 47 – 49 were in flight, and Lock 46 was a short distance from the three across a “turning basin”.  The first three locks lifted us 35 feet; the next lock provided a lift of almost 10 feet.  Those locks were built about 1832, and everything was mechanical.  (Throughout the system, a few locks had been converted to hydraulic, but most operated as they had originally been designed and built.)  We passed through these locks in 1.5 hours, from 11:50am ‘til 1:30pm.

     Next we went through Lock 45 (13.5’ lift) and later Locks 43 – 44 (16.5’ lift), and then we anchored in Morton Bay (Mile 100, approximately).  That was one of the spots I had promised to return to, as it was pretty and peaceful.  We covered 25 miles and went through 7 locks during the day. 

Movie made at Lock 45 with swinging bridge over the lock

     Some of the man-made channels between the lakes were very narrow - read scary.  See the video of meeting another boat coming the other way.

Movie of very narrow channel above the lock







     We dropped the dinghy and explored the bay, and then we went to the little village of Seely Bay.  There we went ashore and bought sandpaper for the rail on the swim platform as well as a few grocery items.  Back at the boat our friend went for a swim, so I put together the swim ladder, which had almost never been used.  We ate a great meal on board and slept with the generator off and the windows open.



     The weather was just about perfect.  In the morning it was in the low to mid 60s; in the afternoon it was just over 80 degrees F.  There was a cool breeze and a few clouds in a blue sky.

Morton Bay to Smith Falls, Ontario, Thursday, August 18, 2005

     We pulled up our anchor and spent a few minutes getting a lot of grass off of it.  Then we motored on to Jones Falls, which was a set of four locks arranged like the locks at Kingston Mills.  We began Lock 42 at 8:30am; we completed Lock 39 at 10am.  Locks 40 – 42 provided a lift of 46 feet; Lock 39 lifted us 14 feet.







     When we reached the Upper Rideau Lake, we were at the summit of the system, and our water elevation was 407 feet above sea level. At 1pm the Narrows Lock (number 35) moved us down 3 feet, and the rest of the locks were down instead of up.  (Locks 33 and 34 were on the tributary Tay River, which we skipped for several reasons including shallow water depths).  Some of the channels were narrow; see the two movies that follow.

Movie above a lock through a narrow channel

Movie continuation of last movie

     During the day we went through Locks 38 (up 9’), 37 (Chaffey’s Lock, up 10.75’), 36 (Newboro, up 7’), 35 (Narrows, down 3’), 32 (down 4.5’), and 31 (the first lock at Smith Falls, down 8.5’).  We covered about 40 miles and 10 locks that day.  We almost never planed off, and sometimes we ran on one engine.  We ran the generator only during the morning to have coffee and breakfast underway; then we turned it off.

     At 4:30pm we went through the first lock at Smith Falls, and we tied up at a wall and paid Parks Canada for the privilege.  We walked into town and ate at a local restaurant (not very good).

     The next lock was numbered 29A.  It was a hydraulically operated lock built to replace locks 28, 29, and 30.  Its lift, or drop for us, was 26 feet.  We spoke to the lockmaster and arranged to go down at 8:30am, when the locks opened.

Smith Falls to Merrickville, Ontario, Friday, August 19, 2005

     We left our spot on the wall at 8:25am.  The lockmaster was true to his word and had the lock ready for us shortly after 8:30.  Our friend was planning to leave us during the day, and we were looking for a spot where his ride could pick him up.  Merrickville seemed to be the best place for that to happen. 

     During the short running day we covered 14 miles and 4 locks.  We went down in Locks 29A (Smith Falls, 26’), 26 – 27 (16’), 25 (9’), and 24 (2’).  It was rainy and cool, with a temperature range of 58 – 67 degrees F.

      Downstream of Smith Falls we were followed by a group of ladies in 4 canoes and 1 kayak.  We could see they were cold and wet, so we made a pot of coffee for them.  We took their orders as to sweeteners and creamers, and we handed out coffee to each lady as she had ordered.  It was fun to do, and I know they appreciated it.  We spoke to several of them, and they wound up in Merrickville later in the day, as we did.  They said they make a canoe trip like that every year.





     Our friend’s ride came for him at 3:30pm.  We tied up at 12:10pm, but I did not pay for the electric power because I thought it was too expensive.  They only had 30-amp outlets at $8 each, and I would need two of them.  So I gave it a miss, which enabled the last guy into the marina area to have power. 

     That last guy was behind us, and he came over and asked us to turn off our generator because of the smell of the exhaust.  I turned our generator off as soon as possible, and we did some reading instead of watching TV due to a lack of power.  The day had been cool and rainy, and we slept with the windows open and the generator off.

Merrickville to Manotick, Ontario, Saturday, August 20, 2005

     I spoke to the lockmaster, and he said they would be locking up first.  We could go down at 9:15am, and we did.  That set of locks had a lock, then a stretch of water, then a lock, then another stretch of water, then the final lock.  The lock numbers were 21 – 23, and the drop was 25 feet.  Next we went through Locks 20 (down 7’), 19 (8’), 18 (6’), and 17 (9’).  Total locks were 7 for the day and 29 on Trip 3.



     Early in the day the weather was cool and rainy.  Later it was warmer and breezy with a high in the mid-70s.  We ran on one engine at times.

     About this time we met Monique and Wally from Quebec.  They spoke English with a French accent, and she was easier to understand than he.  Their boat was made in Sweden.  We saw them almost every day for a week or so.  Monique always seemed to enjoy what she was doing, even in the rain.



     At 2pm we stopped at the town dock at Kars, Ontario, where we spent the night and bought fuel in 2000.  Guy and Lorraine lived right at the town dock, and they had offered us the use of their boat dock.  (We met them in the downtown locks in 2000.)  We pulled into the dock, got out, and walked around.  Their new house was beautiful, but they were out of town, so we did not get to see them.




 
     We backed out and decided there wasn’t enough water for us.  The back of the boat was okay, but the front was aground.  We continued downstream and found our marina less than a mile away.  Hurst Marina was the other side of a bridge from the Kars Town Dock.  We did not buy any fuel there, but the price for diesel was $CAN 0.99 per liter or about $3.20 US per gallon.

     At 3pm we pulled into the marina at the gas dock, pumped out our holding tank, and moved into a slip adjacent to the gas dock.  They only had twin 30-amp power for us, and the water was well water with a slight sulphur smell.  We plugged in and got change for the laundry machines.  Angela washed clothes, and I helped.  We ate on board and watched two movies on TV.

Manotick to Ottawa, Ontario, Sunday, August 21, 2005

     We left the marina at 10:30am.  I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast prior to that, and Angela got to sleep late.  We only had 23 miles to go.

     We went through Locks 16; 15, 14, and 13 (flight); 12 and 11 (flight); and 10 and 9 (flight).  There was no lift in Lock 12; it functioned as a guard lock that could be used in an emergency.  The lock totals were 8 on the day and 37 for Trip 3.  The 8 locks leading from downtown Ottawa to the Ottawa River were not transited on that trip.  We planned to leave the boat for two weeks at Hurst Marina.

     The day started out to be rainy and cool, but it warmed and cleared before we left the marina.  It was a beautiful day, and the Rideau Canal was also very attractive.  We saw some beautiful homes along the canal.  We saw a notation on the chart that read "4 piers."  The photo below shows what 4 piers looks like.







     Our bilge pumps began working hard, and I went below to see what was causing it.  The dripless shaft seal on the port side shaft had split in about three places, and water was pouring in.  I pulled out the duct tape and made a temporary repair to slow down the water flow.  The bilge pumps could handle it if it did not get worse, but it was a problem that demanded immediate attention.





     Our friends, Dennis and Louise, who lived in Ottawa, met us at the downtown wall where we tied up; and we gave them a tour of the new boat.  Then we walked to the fresh market and then to an outdoor pub for a drink.  We originally met them in Cape Vincent, NY in 2000; and they helped us get through the Ottawa River/Rideau Canal locks 5 years earlier.

















     The lockmaster came by the boat to collect the fee for the overnight tie-up.  I had the cash, but he was out of passes.  He said he would collect from me later.

     Angela and I returned to the boat, showered and changed clothes, and walked back to the fresh market area for dinner.  We chose The Fish Market, which was okay but not great.  Ottawa looked good, like we remembered it, except for street construction, which interrupted our walks and, on the following days, brought almost continuous noise from jackhammers.  We slept without the generator, but we ran it more than usual to be sure our batteries that ran the bilge pumps were fully charged.

Lay Days in Ottawa, Monday and Tuesday, August 22 and 23, 2005

     On Monday I took a taxi to see a customer, and we had lunch together.  During the rest of the day I was on the phone a lot determining what my shaft problem was and how to repair it.  Getting the boat out of the water was a big problem in that area because the travel lifts and trailers available were not large enough.

     The dripless shaft seals were designed to be cooled by water from the exhaust manifold through a dedicated hose installed just for that purpose.  In case of the loss of one engine, the designers added another place for a similar hose to be brought from the other seal so that cooling water would always be available to each shaft, even if one engine was not running.  In the case of my boat, that cross-over hose was not installed, and I had been running on one engine from time to time.

     Angela and I walked and shopped in the afternoon, enjoying the sights and sounds of Ottawa.  We changed for dinner, and Dennis and Louise took us to their home.  We got a bit of a tour of the city first, and then we saw their home, which was the penthouse of a condominium about 3 miles from our boat and the Rideau Canal.  Louise prepared a wonderful meal for us, and Angela and I celebrated our 13^th wedding anniversary with them.





     On Tuesday we slept late and had breakfast on board.  We walked and saw the sites in the nearby areas, including the US Embassy, Our Lady of Ottawa Cathedral Basilica, the National Arts Center, etc.  We walked across the Ottawa River bridge to Gatineau (in Quebec, formerly City of Hull) and the Museum of Civilization. It was a fabulous place.  Angela was especially interested in the exhibit on Pompeii, and I wanted to see the IMAX movie, “Mystery of the Nile”.  The movie was shown on a large, concave screen that moved down and forward into position as we were being seated.  It was all good.

















     Friends from Montreal drove up to meet us and we shopped and had dinner together.  We ate at an outdoor restaurant with live music.  There were 4 restaurants in that courtyard; the weather was very nice.  It was a lovely evening.

Ottawa to Manotick, Ontario, Wednesday, August 24, 2005

     Dennis and Louise planned to accompany us through the locks on the Rideau Canal back upstream to Manotick.  Dennis arrived at 10:30am, and we pulled away from the wall at 11:15am.  I had not seen the lockmaster to pay him for the three nights, so I called a Rideau Canal phone number on a brochure.  I asked the lady, who was in Smith Falls, if I could pay at the next lock; and she said “Sure”.

     We worked our way upstream, and Ottawa looked beautiful.  Flowers were in evidence everywhere, and we saw lots of people on bikes, roller blades, and foot.  We offered to pay at the next lock, and the lockmaster took our money and gave me a receipt.  I asked him if he would let the downstream lockmaster know we had paid.  He said they had called him before we got there; he said he appreciated my honesty.

Movie of the lift bridge over the Rideau Canal in actual operation

     At the Long Island Locks, Louise replaced Dennis on board, and Dennis took their car on to Hurst Marina.  When we got to Hurst we again pumped out the holding tank and got into the same slip in front of the diesel tank.  We washed a few more clothes and ate on board and prepared to pack and head back to Texas.  We went back through 8 locks, bringing our lock total for Trip 3 to 45.









Lay Day in Manotick, Ontario, Thursday, August 25, 2005

     I expected the mechanics to come see the boat and possibly move it early in the day, so I got up early to be ready for them.  At 9am I called Chris Hurst to see what their plan was.  He said they were going to wait until the following week when a new trailer was expected to arrive.  So, Angela and I spent the day cleaning the boat, writing the logs of the trip, and packing for the trip home.  The mechanics did come to look at the boat about 4pm.









Fly Home, Friday, August 26, 2005

     Dennis and Louise came to pick us up and take us to the airport.  We flew Continental from Ottawa to Newark, NJ and then non-stop for 3.5 hours from Newark to Houston, TX.

Statistics for Year 2005 Cruise, Trips 1, 2, and 3:

              Engine  Generator                 Fuel        Fuel        Run     Lay    Travel  Total   No. of
              Hours      Hours      Miles    Gallons     Costs       Days   Days   Days   Days  Locks

Trip 1       55            53          850        1437      $3253          6         1        2         9         9
Trip 2       72            48        1010        2109      $4900        12          5       2        19         9
Trip 3       40            77          335             0             0          9         4        2        15       45
Total      167          178         2195       3546      $8153         27       10        6        43       63

 
Average speed was 13.1 mph  (8.4 on Trip 3)
Running hours per running day was 6.2  (4.4 on Trip 3)
Miles per running day was 81  (37 on Trip 3)
Generator hours per running hour was 1.06  (1.9 on Trip 3)