Canada’s Rideau Canal to Kingston, Ontario

 July 21 – August 4, 2011

 

After we left Ottawa, we took our time and traveled the Rideau Canal for 16 days.  The Rideau traverses through the province of Ontario, from Ottawa to Kingston (which is on Lake Ontario); it is 126 miles long, and has 47 locks along the way.  The scenery was very rural -- big, beautiful homes along the shore, as well as summer cottages.  We were surprised at the number of float planes (sea planes) in front of the homes.  It’s an unusual mode of transportation, but apparently quite popular in this part of Canada.

 

Typically, we overnighted right at the locks.  We had bought a Canadian Moorings Permit and that allows us to stay at the locks for free for the summer season.  Most of the locks have electricity and we were able to plug in our power cord for $10/night extra.  However, we found that the many of the power hookups were poor quality and we had to manage our electrical loads very carefully (i.e. no blow dryer).

 

Most of the towns where we stayed were small and enjoyable, but seemed so much alike – Merrickville, Smiths Falls, Chaffey’s, Jones Falls, Lower Brewers, etc.  The small boaters we ran into were local people who were on the Rideau for a few days at a time.  They stop overnight like we do and pitch a tent on the grounds at the locks.  You can understand why – all of the locks have such beautiful landscaping: lots of grassy areas (which Louie likes), flowers, picnic tables, grills, restrooms.

 

We anchored out a couple of nights near Colonel By Island and put our dinghy in the water and motored around to explore the area.  It was very peaceful.  We met a couple, Barb & Bob Honcharski, from Skaneateles, NY, where we used to live.  They were also going to Westport, which is now my favorite town on the Rideau Canal, and we had drinks, dinner and ice cream with them and great conversation about Skaneateles and the people we knew.  Roger & I really enjoy meeting fellow cruisers and especially ones that we hope to cross paths with again!

 

Westport is a boutique town with plenty of shops and restaurants.  We loved the fish market where we bought candied smoked salmon.  After Sunday Mass, we went to the Church St. Bakery for their Chelsea Rolls (sticky pecan buns), homemade bread and garlic cheese buns, and blueberry pie.  Oh, the hell with the diet – what a treat!!

 

The Rideau Canal can be very narrow in some areas, with room for barely 2 boats to pass each other.  So when we heard that the Kawartha tour boat was coming up behind us, we left Westport early to avoid being underway at the same time.  In fact, we ended up watching it lock down at Chaffey’s Lock and it consumed the entire lock chamber.  The bow of the ship is retractable and the crew cleared the deck of passengers and lifted the bow back so that the ship would fit in the lock.  What a sight!

 

We spent our 24^th anniversary at Chaffey’s Lock and had dinner at the Hotel Opinicon.  This is a former fishing resort and in need of some real TLC.  Our anniversary dinner was mediocre and the restaurant did not serve liquor.  I told Roger that I’d prefer not to eat out until we see some place spectacular because my dinners prepared aboard have been far better than anything we’d had in quite a while.

 

The lock at Jones Falls was very interesting.  It is a series of one lock, followed by a step-lock of 3 levels.  The picture in the photo gallery doesn’t really do it justice, but we dropped down 70 feet total  in this lock series.  At the bottom, we stayed overnight in a very nice place, next to the Hotel Kenney.  It was rustic, like Hotel Opinicon, but much better maintained.  Parks Canada has an excellent walking tour of Jones Falls and we got an education on how the dam and locks were engineered and built from 1827-1832 to overcome rapids that were about a mile long with a drop of 60 feet.

 

As we anticipated our arrival into Kingston, at the end of the Rideau Canal, we could only get a reservation at Kingston Marina because there were no slips available at either of the 2 municipal marinas because of a Poker Run that weekend.  We were assigned 2 different slips, neither of which we ended up in.  We arrived at Kingston Marina around 9:00 on Thursday, August 4^th and we hovered in the harbor for more than ½ hour because we couldn’t raise anyone on the radio.  Finally we were instructed to go over to the fuel dock for slip instructions.  There was only one option and it was a lousy one!  Roger backed up the boat alongside the main dock, pivoting it around a sailboat and stopped in about 4 feet of water, 20 feet from shore!  We had our headsets on, and I kept telling him, “I don’t like it, Rog.  It’s not a good spot.  We’re too close to shore.  How are we ever going to get out of here, especially if there’s any wind?”  (I can tell him those things -- I am the first mate, after all!)  Anyway, he never listens to me and he calmly squeezed us into the spot and later said, “The hard part was getting in there.  Getting out will be a cinch!”

 

We ended up only having that day in Kingston because Saturday’s weather forecast was excellent for crossing Lake Ontario.  We walked around the city for a little bit and had dinner at an Irish pub that night.  There was a solo performer, Jay Aymar, who is a folk singer and songwriter.  He came over and talked to us after Roger bought his CD and told him we were on the Great Loop.  Kingston is another quaint place in the Thousand Islands/Lake Ontario area that should be visited if anyone gets the chance.