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Easy underway at 8;30 am for the 32 mile trip to Kingston, Ontario.  We stopped along the way at Gananoque, Ontario to check in to Canadian customs and had lunch.  Bill was smiling along the way and we enjoyed beautiful scenery and a schooner arriving at Kingston.  We finally arrived at Kingston at 3 pm, ready for a drink and dinner onboard.  

Awoke to rain and high winds.  A front was blowing through.  We decided to stay in Kingston.  A few chores, some reading and a tour of the town on a city tour bus took up most of the day, along with a hot dog on the city streets.  Carey wandered the streets a bit looking for a good ice cream shop ... she found it.  After ice cream, Carey fixed a great ham dinner onboard and we're now enjoying the quiet winds and cool temperatures after the front has past.

Underway at 9:30 to make the 10 am opening of the lift bridge at Kingston, then on to the Rideau Canal.  We made 7 locks and 15 total miles to get to Brewers Mills, tying up at the lock wall.  Bill and Carey took care of the lines at the locks, all operated manually.  In the second picture below left you see the attendants working a winch to close the lock doors.  The views are spectacular including passing by farm land with cows in the water, parks at the locks, and trees rising hundreds of feet into the air. 

Underway at 10:30 for an 8 mile trip to Morton Bay, reported to be the best anchorage spot on the Rideau.  It is.  After passing some of the most impressive waterways we've every traveled, we passed through a 20 feet narrow entrance into a large bay where we anchored.  We explored by dinghy ... catching some singing loons, and then grilled a London Broil in the evening hoping Carey did not have to vacuum bugs like she did last night.  So far so good. 

Underway at 8:30, traveled 7 locks and made 13 miles, mooring at the City Docks at Westport, ON.  Great and beautiful trip.  This beats the Georgian Bay as far as I'm concerned.  Plenty of places to anchor or stop for the night plus beautiful views.  We locked through twice with a local tour boat that had an electric motor.  The way to go.  Bill took us out to dinner at the Cove, a local and "ok" restaurant.

Still here.  We decided to take a lay day to do laundry, relax and wash the boat.  All chores done now.  Carey bought us dinner and we walked back to the boat at the city docks near sundown.  Early to bed tonight and on our way tomorrow. Westport is a quaint town of 600 people.  We love it.

Moving by 9:30 we traveled 20 miles to Smith Falls.  Narrow channels lined with trees and rocks were interspersed with small lakes.  An easy cruise although the temperature was hot today.  Arriving at Smith Falls we moored at the city docks, viewed the falls and checked out a sailboat in the lock we'll go thru tomorrow.  Bill and I toured the Rideau Canal museum while Carey got some time by herself to relax and wash her hair.  Carey fixed a great Mexican meal aboard and we're now relaxing in the air conditioning comfort of the boat.

Fourteen mile trip to Merrickville was pleasant on a cloudy cool day.  Carey saw the double wides on the shore and said here is a bit of Georgia in Canada.  We talked to the young college students at the locks we passed, learning that over 400 of the students work the Rideau locks every summer.   Arriving at Merrickville, we found the city mooring facility full so  we took a slip at a nearby marina to see the town.  Going to the slip we crossed a 4 knot current from the dam you see in one of the pictures below the locks ... a real driving experience.  You can see the current flow in the third picture on the left below.  The town was beautiful and we enjoyed walking the streets and having dinner with some new friends, Ray and Judy, we met who are traveling on a 30' Willard. 

The Rideau is 126 miles long and we're just 46 miles from completing the waterway where we'll arrive at Ottawa,  The waterway was built in six years starting in 1827 and is still operating mostly with manual lock gates and sluice valves.  An amazing engineering effort.   

Great time backing out of slip at Merrickville with a 4 knot current, but safely underway we cruised through 7 locks and 20 miles to the Hurst Marina, just 23 miles from Ottawa.  We stopped to top off with water only to find that the water was not potable.  Oh damn.  Carey fixed a great sausage and pasta dinner and we're relaxing onboard.  We enjoyed watching boats come into locks we were about to go through.  The lock wall Dock Houses are simple but sturdy structures and we enjoyed the views of the falls at each of the locks.  Once moored at Hurst Marina Carey and Bill went for a swim in the pool, with Carey having a real good time riding Bill's shoulders.

Eight am underway on Friday for Ottawa.  Great trip with travel over the Rideau River, winding and pretty.  We arrived in the Ottawa area and anchored in Dows Lake for lunch to wait for an opening of a lift bridge.  At 2 pm we finally moored at the lock wall in downtown Ottawa after traveling the 4 miles of a canal into Ottawa.  We relaxed, walked the town and went to bed early. 

Saturday morning we watched the changing of the guard at the Parliament building, had a great lunch at a local English Pub in old town, looked at the Ottawa River views from Parliament Hill, and viewed the 8 locks we'll travel to get to the Ottawa River when we leave downtown.  Bill helped Marc and Maureen on Y-NOT fix a broken generator.  The raw water impellor malfunctioned.  Bill found the problem.  Saturday morning Marc found the replacement part and installed it for them, making a friend for life.  They now have air conditioning.  

Sunday morning started with rain and a bit of wind so we decided to stay in Ottawa another day.  Carey and Maureen went walking in the out door mall, while Bill, Marc, and I took a bus through town to the only chart selling store in town.  We saw the town that the residents see including a China Town and several other communities.  I was able to get the charts I need to do trip down through Lake Champlain.  We decided to forgo the trip to Nova Scotia ... fuel prices are just too high.  We'll leave tomorrow, heading toward Montreal, then proceed to Sorel, Canada then down the Richelieu Canal, through Lake Champlain and then to the Hudson River and back to Virginia.  We're in no hurry but will save over 1,200 miles of travel this way.  One of the deciding factors is that we learned we can make it through the Champlain route as we are only 16'8" high with our new radar.  Got the new radar a year ago, but failed to re-measure the boat's height.  The restriction on the Champlain route is 17 feet, so we have 4'' to spare.  Should be fun!

Thinking we'd get early start we moved to the blue line (starting point) for the 8 locks to leave Ottawa.  The starting point is under a bridge that passes through old town Ottawa.  10 boats were already at bottom waiting to come up so we sat at the blue line until 11 am.  Finally down the locks by noon, we headed for Montebello, the largest log cabin in the world and a classy resort with a full service marina.  We arrived at 4pm, just in time for a cocktail.  It is impossible to take a picture that includes the entire log cabin in one frame.  It is a stunning structure.  We had dinner in one of the pub restaurants and walked the grounds for a while.  Nice stop.  We're off to Montreal tomorrow, probably with a stop on the west side of the island before moving to the marinas in old town Montreal. 

Carey did laundry this morning and we were off toward Montreal by 11 am.  The Ottawa River was a straight forward run and we made 45 miles and moored at the lock wall at Sainte Anne de Bellevue, a beautiful place.  It is on the west end of the Island of Montreal, just 30 miles from the city of Montreal.   Carey fixed corn beef and cabbage in the crook pot today as we traveled.  She admitted that was a mistake as there were over 26 restaurants at the lock wall.  Carey's meal was great and we all enjoyed it, but I know she'll be ready for a restaurant at Old Town Montreal.  We'll be there tomorrow.  On the trip today we passed through Carillon Lock that dropped us 65 feet.  A massive structure and the lock door on the down river side raised over our head as we left the lock.  It was an easy lock as they had a floating pier inside the lock we tied to as the water dropped us 65 feet.  A fun day and we also met two men who were traveling the Canadian waterways by canoe.  They were in the lock with us at Carillon. 

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