Month: June 2022

Captain Mark and Sidekick Sue launched off the dock in East Grenadier Island without grounding despite the shallow water.  The wind was blowing hard towards a swampy area, so they had to do a little creative line-handling to keep the boat from blowing into the weeds while getting off the dock, but they are getting a little smarter about managing these things. Captain Mark held a line around a dock cleat, while Sidekick Sue released all the other lines and jumped aboard. Sidekick Sue took the remaining line from Captain Mark while he went to the helm and they were just able to let the line fall as they backed away.

The views along the St. Lawrence were fairly consistent with the views since they turned into the river through the Thousand Islands.  Many who have traveled to Alexandria Bay are familiar with Boldt Castle, but the Explorers passed through that area on the Canadian side so they did not see it on this trip.  Today, they did pass Singer Castle in Chippewa Bay. 

The US Government website lists Ogdensburg as a “port of entry”.  So, the Explorers tried to dock there to go talk to Customs.  They were greeted by less-than-friendly border control agents who said that Ogdensburg was NOT a port of entry (good job government website) and that the Explorers were trespassing on government property.  Luckily, they let the Explorers leave and told them to download the CBP (Customs and Border Patrol) ROAM app to check in to the US.  Give that the Explorers are a little bit tech-savvy, after 45 painful minutes of boating around in circles, they were able to download the app, answer the many detailed questions, pay $30 for a sticker for their boat (which will be mailed to NH…. helpful?), and “check-in” virtually.  Sidekick Sue has some concerns about the security of the northern border if folks entering never have to talk to anyone and no one ever looks at their vessel.  Hmmm…..

The next task was buying a $25 ticket for the Iroquois Lock (a different App) for the 2:00 pleasure craft lock-opening which only happens twice a day.  The Iroquois Lock is another huge commercial lock that can accommodate tankers and freighters.  Unlike most of the locks the Explorers passed through on this trip, which were in canals to circumvent waterfalls and rapids, this lock (and accompanying dam) are only needed to manage water levels.   When the Explorers arrived at the lock, there was only one other recreational vessel waiting to pass through, nothing like the chaos at the locks in Montreal.  At 1:30 the lock opened.  As the Explorers entered, they were told they didn’t need to tie up.  They could just hover in the lock until the doors opened.  As soon as the back doors closed, the front doors opened.  Apparently, the water level difference was only 5” so there was no need to raise or lower the water level.  So the Explorers paid $25 to go in and go out.  (Can’t blame the US government for this one, it is a Canadian lock). 

The Explorers had been planning to stay at the Waddington town dock for the night for the bargain price of $10 (and required yet another App).  Because they were making such great time, due to the lock opening early, and the speed increase they were getting from traveling WITH the current in the St. Lawrence (9 knots), they decided to finish the trip to Barnhart Island Marina in Massena, their destination for the summer.  They had been outrunning the rain, but it was catching up and it just seemed more comfortable to get to “home base” to wait out a few days of rain.  As they crossed the ship channel to get closer to the US shore, Captain Mark crossed a little too close in front of a huge container ship and was embarrassed to get the “five horn blasts of shame” which mean “move out of the way or collision is imminent”.   Lesson learned, next time he will wait for the big boat to go by before crossing. 

Once the Explorers had decided to continue to Massena, Captain Mark had started texting with his high school (and college) buddies, Billy and Kendrick, and when the Explorers turned into the marina, they could see Billy and Kendrick standing in the rain with a bottle of champagne and a cooler of beer.  They enjoyed a champagne toast and a beer.  Kendrick graciously offered to lend the Explorers his van until they could retrieve their Jeep from Rouses Point, so the Explorers and Kendrick headed out to Coach’s Corner to get a bite to eat (and a beer), dropped Kendrick off at home, and went back to the boat to settle in for the night. 

Trip Summary Statistics:

The Explorers traveled 490 miles

They used about 200 gallons of diesel (slightly more than half their tank)

They went through 54 locks and countless bridges

Wayward Explorer Observations:

Their Verizon plan stinks in Canada.  “Coverage in Canada and Mexico” is not real coverage.

The Canadian Park lock and mooring passes were epic and well worth the money.  The Explorers never stayed in a marina.  They anchored 3 times and otherwise stayed on Canadian park docks or public docks. Marina costs would have been at least triple the costs.

The Explorers need to rip out their old teak decks and replace them with fiberglass to make the boat livable.  There is too much leaking during the rain, rendering much of the storage space unusable.  Teak decks add character, but don’t hold up for 40 years.

The Explorers think they could have slowed down and taken the whole summer and still not run out of things to see or places to visit.

Boaters can’t have a firm schedule when boating….. the Explorers met fellow travelers who had been delayed for days because of locks, bridges, and mechanical problems.

Sidekick Sue says to always keep a Mechanical Engineer onboard. 

The Canadians are very boat-friendly.  They let the Explorers in for free, while the US government changed them $30 to come back.

Canadians are still taking Covid seriously (not politically).

Captain Mark was up early because he had to make a more permanent repair to the throttle, which he had duct taped the afternoon before. He fixed it with zip-ties this time (not permanent, parts will need to be ordered) and after a quick test by Sidekick Sue, they set off. They left Kingston Mills early enough to catch the 9:00 opening of the LaSalle Causeway bridge in Kingston.  In fact, they left too early, having to slow down to a crawl in the last mile to avoid having to “hover” in front of the bridge.  As they have experienced throughout Canada, no one responded to radio calls, but the bridge opened dutifully at 9:00, just as the guides said it would.  There was one boat passing in each direction, and, just like that, the Explorers were back on the St. Lawrence River, the last leg of their journey.

Unlike when they picked up the St. Lawrence in Montreal, this time the current was in their favor instead of fighting them.  They traveled at speeds up to 7 knots (yes, that is still very slow, but an improvement over the 4 knots they experienced in Montreal).  It was a wet, dark gloomy day, but the scenery was still amazing as they wove their way through the Canadian side of the Thousand Islands.  Dotted along the shore were some of the most amazing waterfront mansions they have seen on this entire trip.  They guessed that when multi-millionaires in Canada want to build mansions as far south as they can, the St. Lawrence is as far south as they can go. 

They stopped in the little town of Gananoque for lunch at the Gananoque Inn.  The food and the service were fantastic.  The only thing that could have made it better was cooperative weather so the Explorers could have sat on the outside patio overlooking the water, but they were actively outrunning oncoming rain on the radar which never materialized into anything substantial. 

Captain Mark decided to stretch his legs and walk around town a bit.  He noted a few historical museums and a lot of new development.  Sidekick Sue is still nursing the knee she somehow twisted the day before, and didn’t want to aggravate it any more, so she settled in to one of her favorite lazy day activities… a jigsaw puzzle.

After Gananoque, the Explorers continued on down the St. Lawrence with more of the same scenery… lush green coastline, dotted with houses and cabins, islands large and small, and circling birds like osprey and seagulls.  They crossed under the Thousand Islands bridge (Interstate 81) and made their way to East Grenadier Island Park which, as its name suggests, is on the eastern tip of Grenadier Island.  As they pulled up to the island, they noticed they could see the bottom of the water, and while their depth indicator was reporting 16 feet, Captain Mark later measured it with their boat hook and it was less than 4′ (just about the limit on the Wayward Explorer). They were lucky to have not grounded. The “park” is basically a small camping site with a picnic table and an outhouse, but it was a nice quiet place to spend the night.  Captain Mark went out for a row in his dinghy and rowed around Adelaide Island.  He also put the mast back up, as there are no more low clearance bridges between here and Massena, NY. 

While he was out, Sidekick Sue came to the realization that their cell phones were now picking up a tower in the US so there was no more data throttling which had required internet conservation during this entire trip.  She rewarded herself by looking at pictures and watching movies of their granddaughters that she had avoided looking at earlier, in order to conserve data.  The Explorers enjoyed a night of streaming news and music.  With any luck, they will stay connected to towers in NY the following day so they can work on getting another batch of pictures uploaded. 

Both Explorers woke up early in the morning.  It was too early to leave or they would just have to wait at the first lock, which was an hour away.  Captain Mark decided to take the dinghy out and row around a small island called McCaskill Island.  Sidekick Sue caught up on uploading blog entries and taking care of a few important email tasks. 

When it was closer to the lock opening time, they set out and parked themselves in the first position on the blue line.  They notice that one of the “bumper boats” from Smith Falls was parked on the opposite side of the canal.  It was an older couple and they looked like they might be getting ready to lock through as well.  The Explorers have been trying to avoid these boats, since they know the boats are operated by renters who might be in a boat for the first time ever.  The Explorers acknowledge they aren’t the most experienced boaters either, but their boat is also not covered in bumpers.    

The Explorers tried to communicate with by yelling across the channel but communication proved to be difficult.  The Explorers weren’t sure if there was a language barrier, if they weren’t being heard, or if the couple was just not interested in communicating.  Anyway, they finally established that the bumper boat couple wanted the Explorers to go into the lock first.  

A few minutes later, the locktenders showed up. Captain Mark went to talk to them and they indicated they wanted the bumper boat to go first (presumably to get them settled before any other boats were in the lock).  The Explorers guessed that the locktenders have had some interesting experiences with these rental boats and knew how to handle them.  Captain Mark came back to the boat and tried to explain to the guy across the channel that the locktenders wanted him to enter the lock first.  He protested that he didn’t want to and the locktender himself had to get involved to set the rules.  Finally, the bumper boat entered the lock, got situated, and the Wayward Explorers were waved in on the other side.  The locking was fine.  As they doors opened, the guy in the bumper boat wanted Captain Mark to leave the lock first.  With no argument from the locktender, the Explorers left, putt-putting along at 6 knots. 

The Explorers expected to be passed by the rental boat quickly, since the rental boat was clearly capable of higher speeds, but were surprised to see the bumper boat hang back at 6 knots following them.  The Wayward Explorer reached the lock first, so there was no argument this time.  The bumper boat entered afterward and the captain used powerful side thrusters to push against the lock wall.  Sidekick Sue noticed that the couple didn’t really participate in the locking process.  The locktenders grabbed the lines from the boat, wrapped the cables, and handed them back to the occupants.  This made Sidekick Sue curious as to whether they actually knew how to handle their own lines or if they were used to someone else always doing it for them. 

During the time in the lock, the Explorer’s bumper boat neighbors warmed up to them.  The Explorers learned that the elderly gentleman had fished every summer in the Rideau for years, and had seen these rental boats going by and had said to himself “someday, I’m going to do that”.  This week was the culmination of his plan to check it off his bucket list.  They exclaimed that they had really enjoyed following the Wayward Explorer through the last segment of the trip because they had spent the last few days being frustrated trying to follow the book of paper charts that was on the boat.  The boat had an electronic navigation system, but they didn’t understand how to use it.  The captain also marveled that Captain Mark was able to get in and out of the lock without side thrusters; he admitted to being completely dependent on them.  (The truth is the Wayward Explorer has a bow thruster that works, and has been very helpful at times, but the Explorers have concluded it is not very useful if there is any amount of wind or current so they don’t depend on it.  They also have a stern thruster, but it is inoperable and can’t be fixed until the boat is out of the water).  The bumper boat folks asked if they could follow us again to the next lock, and of course the Explorers agreed, taking more care this time to keep them in their sights like a car driver does when others are following. 

As they approached the next lock at Jones Falls, the doors were closed and there didn’t appear to be any locktenders around.  So, the Explorers pulled up to the dock on the “blue line” and then manually pulled their boat up to the front of the dock, knowing that the bumper boat was close behind and would need room to park.  Captain Mark went up to try to find some employees to see what was going on.  Sidekick Sue walked down the dock to offer help to the bumper boat occupants since their lack of participation in line handling in the locks had led her to believe they might not be prepared to dock themselves.  Sure enough, the captain was able to get close to the dock, using his side thrusters, but he didn’t pull up far enough, leaving his wife stranded on the swim platform, unable to step off to the dock.  Sidekick Sue took the line from her and yelled to the captain to move up about ten more feet.  She cleated the line and moved up to the bow, grabbed the bow lie and secured the boat.  That sealed the deal, their much-less-grumpy neighbors were now smitten with the Wayward Explorers.

Sidekick Sue chatted with them for a while, waiting for Captain Mark to return with information.  She learned that they were also Americans, from Harrisburg, PA.  She also found out that they were renting the boat for a week, but only doing shorter day trips and didn’t want to find themselves too far away from Smith Falls at the end of the day.  After a bit more chatting, Sidekick Sue saw Captain Mark standing at the overlook to the locks and decided to walk up and join him.  The view was absolutely spectacular.  To their left was the first lock, and below that was a large pond (called a turning basin on the charts).  This was apparently to provide room for boats to make a wide left turn to go through three more consecutive locks.  The total decent looked to be at least 80 feet and it was a true marvel in engineering.  Captain Mark had learned that one team of locktenders operated all four locks, moving up and down the hill all day long.  The locktenders would operate all four locks in one direction, and then all four locks in the other.  They were currently locking a few boats up, but they were also pausing to let water run into the turning basin to make sure it was deep enough to accommodate boats with a deeper draft. 

As the Explorers enjoyed the view, a single locktender showed up.  Her job was to monitor when the water in the turning basin reached a line marked on the dock.  It was good that she was a young lady with good eyesight because neither Captain Mark nor Sidekick Sue could discern the lines on the dock.  The locktender was very friendly and very helpful.  She pointed out a path to the dam and the falls that the Explorers could enjoy while they were waiting for the basin to fill, as it might be an hour before the basin was full, and the boats currently in the lock were raised.  On their walk, Captain Mark reflected on the number of young women who were members of the locktending teams in Canada.  He commented “just think, when we were in college, there is no way they would have hired women for this summer job”.  Sidekick Sue was secretly pleased that Captain Mark was internalizing her constant “feminist reminders” and recognizing his male privilege on his own.  Win!

After their walk, Sidekick Sue went back to their bumper boat friends and explained the process.  Since they wanted to return to Smith Falls that day, they decided not to lock through because it would mean an hour wait in this direction, and potentially an hour wait to return.  They decided to make lunch and then turn around.  The Explorers noted that since they had first encountered the bumper boat people, they had never once stepped off the boat, even though there was plenty of time to get out and explore.  They remarked (to themselves) that it was a shame they were missing half the adventure. 

Captain Mark and Sidekick Sue were going to wait for dinner to eat, but Sidekick Sue walked back to the boat to get a “lunch snack” (granola for her, Cliff bar for Captain Mark).  Of course, at this age, no activity is safe and somehow, she twisted her right knee try to get to the back of a lower cupboard.  She spent the rest of the day hobbling around, with no exciting “war story” to spin about how she hurt her knee (like perhaps saving the bumper boat from going over a waterfall or such).  Later in the day, not even the temptation of dinner at A&W could persuade her to go for a long walk.  This is when Captain Mark realized the injury was real. 

The scenery of the day was much like the day before…. a series of lakes connected by canals with locks to handle the water differences in the water level of the lakes.  After about 10 miles, they passed through the double locks at Upper Brewers, followed by the lock at Lower Brewers.  After the lock, they pulled over to the dock.   This is where they had originally planned to take their 3-4 mile walk for the day.  Sidekick Sue’s knee was in no condition for a walk of this length, but they also had another purpose for their stop.  At the edge of the water was an old grist mill that had been repurposed into the Doner Art Studio.  Sidekick Sue’s brother-in-law, Todd, told them that the owner of the studio was his second cousin (their mothers were first cousins).  Sidekick Sue had already emailed ahead to the studio and planned to stop at the studio, make introductions and look around.  So, the Explorers made their way to the studio and met up with Randy and Darlene.  Randy created wonderful, whimsical, metal arts sculptures and his wife Darlene makes jewelry and candles.   They were very welcoming and invited the Explorers to walk (or hobble) around the grounds of their beautiful estate, which included a lovely outdoor sculpture path, and a small studio store.  The Explorers really enjoyed their company, their amazing estate (they had caught Randy in the middle of grooming his own tiny golf course), and their artwork.  After a small purchase, pictures and goodbyes, the Explorer set off to get through their last set of locks at Kingston Mills.

At the Lower Brewers lock, the Explorers had been warned that a swing bridge at the next lock (Kingston Mills) was inoperable.  The locktenders suggested that their boat “might” fit under, especially since they could fold the bimini down to reduce a few more feet, and assured that the locktenders were experienced at walking the boats up to the bridge and then walking them back if they weren’t going to fit.  Since the bridge spanned the lock, it was possible to lower the water a bit lower than normal to let taller boats squeeze under.  After talking to a very friendly, chatty neighbor that was docked in front of them (with a very tall boat), they learned that this was not necessarily a short-term problem.  This fellow had already spent 2 days waiting, due to the broken swing bridge and his boat had been evaluated as “too tall” to get under.  The Explorers decided to press on and see if they could get through.  Getting off the dock was tricky because there was a very strong current.  The fellow they had been chatting with and the German-speaking guy behind them offered to help them get off the dock.  After a quick debacle and a very close call (sometimes accepting help is the wrong thing to do), the Wayward Explorer made it off the dock without hitting anyone and proceeded up to the broken swing bridge.  Their plan for the night was to get through the broken swing bridge and the lock system at Kingston Mills and stop for the night at the bottom of the lock.

The head locktender at the swing bridge was a jovial fellow.   As they entered the lock, he looked at their boat and said “I can get you under”.  Sidekick Sue had her doubts as there was only about 8 foot clearance with the water in the high position in the lock.  The locktender continued to joke with the Explorers (about paperwork, insurance claims, etc.), but as the water receded, it was clear that the guy knew his job.  The Explorers were able to clear the bridge with at least a foot to spare. 

The locks at Kingston Mills were arranged just like the ones at Jones Falls.  There was one lock, then a turning basin, and then a series of three locks.  Just as in Jones Falls, once one enters the system, they have to go all the way through.  Boats are locked in only one direction at a time through the entire set of four locks.  The Explorers were lucky that they were the only ones locking through and the locks were already set for decent. 

After getting under the bridge at the first lock and turning in the basin to enter the second lock, Sidekick Sue worked with the locktenders to get the lines wrapped around the lock cables.  It was at this point that Captain Mark revealed that his throttle had stopped working as they had entered the lock.  Yikes!  Their second major mechanical failure in 2 days (BTW, tightening the loose fuel line fitting did fix the problem of the day before…. just as Captain Mark confidently predicted).  Because there were no other boats attempting to lock through, when Captain Mark explained the problem to the locktenders, they were allowed to stay in the lock while he worked on the problem.  The locktenders didn’t lower the boat, in case it needed to be manually backed out of the lock.

Captain Mark opened up the floors in the cabin and went to work, while Sidekick Sue chatted with the locktenders.  They explained that stuff like this happens with fairly regular frequency and they are actually capable of “lining boats through”, basically pulling boats through from the shore to either the upper side of the lock or the lower side, depending on where the captain wants to be towed.  Sidekick Sue was reassured by this, but secretly knew that being manually towed would not be an acceptable option for Captain Mark, who would consider that to be failing a challenge.

Sure enough, about 15 minutes later, Captain Mark was testing the throttle, and it appeared to be working (Sidekick Sue would later learn that he fixed it with duct tape).  Regardless, they continued through the 3-lock system under their own propulsion.  Given that the Wayward Explorer lost power yesterday, and propulsion today, Sidekick Sue predicts tomorrow it will be the steering.  It is good to have a mechanical engineer aboard. 

At the bottom of the lock system the Explorers tied up for the night.  They were both tired and still had to put together a late dinner.  They realized that from the first dinghy ride in the morning to the final docking at night, it had been more than 12 hours of constant moving (which can be exhausting on a boat).  They decided to forego any “beers on the fly-bridge” and “hit the hay” early as their departure time in the morning had to be coordinated with the hourly openings of the causeway bridge in Kingston. 

At around 8:00 AM, Captain Mark and Sidekick Sue moved to the “blue line” for the lock in Smith Falls.  They wanted to be first in line when the lock opened at 9:00 AM (or at least be in front of the “bumper boats” being rented to tourists across the canal).  It turned out that they were the only ones in line, so they were quickly locked through.  Right after the lock was a swing bridge that was also opened by the locktenders.  The bridge seemed to be a major thoroughfare in Smith Falls with a steady stream of traffic, so the Explorers felt slightly guilty shutting it down so close to rush hour, but not TOO guilty since they had to wait for that traffic twice the night before during their walk (and Captain Mark waited twice more on his beer/ice run).  Just two miles later, there was another lock, and passage was uneventful.

After the lock, the waterway changed significantly.  Instead of a narrow canal, it turned into a series of connected lakes, with a channel marked by green and red buoys.  This was to be their scenery for most of the day, which really led to an uninteresting day…. UNTIL… the Explorers experienced their first mechanical problem of the trip….. the diesel engine shuddered and shut down.  

First, a little backstory….. when Captain Mark retired after a long career of field service in the oil and gas business, he declared that he was never going to work on a fuel system again.  After coming home for many years smelling like fuel, oil, and other industrial liquids, he vowed it was over.  He ripped the diesel engine and tank out of his Tayana sailboat and replaced it with a solar power system for the limited times when motoring is needed.  However, a few years later, he learned about the “Great Loop” and got the urge to give it a go (in segments, over time, not one continuous loop).  Realizing that a sailboat was not the best vessel for the job, he bought an old 1988 trawler and renamed it the Wayward Explorer.  Of course, buying this trawler meant that Captain Mark was now back in the diesel engine business.  But, it’s just ONE diesel engine, and he has already worked on it extensively…. commenting “it always starts on the first try” EVERY time.  On this trip, the engine starting on the first try is a good thing because it has to stop and restart every time the Explorers dock or go through a lock. 

Back to today’s story.  As luck would have it, when the engine stalled, the Explorers were in a wide, open lake with relatively shallow water.  The wind blew the vessel out of the marked channel, and Captain Mark dropped the anchor.  This left the Explorers floating on anchor while Captain Mark quickly assessed the situation.  When he opened the vent for the secondary fuel filters, he noticed a release of pressure indicating that there was air in the fuel system.  He bled off the air, was able to restart the engine, let it run for 5 minutes and decided to pull up the anchor and keep moving.  After only a mile (about 12 minutes), the engine stalled again.  Once again, the Explorers were in relative safety in the middle of the lake and were able to anchor again.  This time Captain Mark changed the primary fuel filters, bled off air, pulled the anchor up and headed out again.

The Explorers ran for another 6 miles.  Sidekick Sue was in the cabin doing a little sewing when the engine rumbled to another stall.  This time, they were in over 140’ of water, which was too deep to anchor.  Sidekick Sue took watch on the front deck to keep an eye on the surroundings to make sure they weren’t going to hit anything or anyone, and she tracked their location on the Navionics app on her phone so she would know if water got shallow enough to anchor.  Captain Mark, once again, tried to troubleshoot the fuel system.  This time, he changed secondary fuel filters, bled the air, started the engine and they resumed their trip. 

After 12 miles, they approached the next lock.  Captain Mark, worried about stalling during the lock-through, asked the locktender for permission to keep the engine running.  The locktender agreed. 
The water level difference on either side of this lock was very small, and the Explorers noticed that the water was extremely choppy on the other side of the lock.  The locktender said it was because after going through the lock, you are at the highest point of the lock system and the winds, which generally came from the west, always made this particular lake rough because there was nothing to shield from the wind.  When the lock opened, the Wayward Explorer moved on, the rough water still not bad compared to some of the open waters in Albermale Sound and the Chesapeake Bay that they had experienced last year. 

The Explorer had one more lock planned for the day before docking for the night in Newboro.  As they approached, the lock doors were closed, so they pulled over to dock on the blue line and turned off the engine.  The locktender approached and explained that they had another boat in the lock coming the other direction and they would open for us momentarily.  With that, Captain Mark went to restart the engine…. and…. it wouldn’t start at all.  We told the locktender we were having issues and told him not to hold the lock for us.  Captain Mark bled the fuel lines (again), started the engine, asked permission (again) to leave the engine on, and made it through the lock.  As the Explorers had reached the top of the lock system, this was the first lock to lower the boat. The Explorers realized that they would need to alter their “process” a little, as the cables were too low to reach.  Going forward, sidekick Sue will have to jump off the boat to thread the lines through the cables, and fend the boat off the wall until the fenders are below the wall.  Luckily, the locktenders at this top lock must see this every day, and they were prepared to step in and help. 

After the lock, the Wayward Explorers found plenty of available dock space and picked a spot away from other folks so they could run their generator to make dinner.  First, they took a walk into the small down about a half mile away.  There was a wonderful “department store” that looked like a typical tourist town general store, but it was HUGE, even having departments like men’s clothes, lady’s clothes, shoes, furniture, toys, a small grocery, etc.  The Explorers splurged on some traditional tourist fudge, walked home, cooked and ate dinner (and fudge). 

The docking area is a very nice one.  It has a park with picnic tables, grills and restroom facilities.  There is a large group of scouts camping on the other side of the lock.  While Captain Mark started some serious trouble-shooting of the fuel system, Sidekick Sue went to take care of the recyclables and look for a water spigot (success).  Now, with time to troubleshooting thoroughly and thoughtfully, Captain Mark almost immediately found a loose fuel hose fitting on the suction side of the fuel pump which would have been allowing air into the fuel system.  He tightened it, bled the air (again), and started the engine on the first try.  He is 99% sure this is source of today’s mechanical challenges.  Tomorrow will be a great test of that hypothesis.  He finished his chores by adding a few more containers of water to the water tank, and celebrated with a relaxing beer on the flybridge. 

In the morning a group of the Canadian Rangers left in a boat, going the opposite direction the Wayward Explorers were going.  Since the lock wasn’t opening until 9:00, Captain Mark decided to take his dinghy (his coveted Fatty Knees dinghy that he looked for on the internet for months) out for a row.  Last summer, Captain had the dinghy mounted on the swim platform in the marina in Plattsburgh.  One day, after being away, he went to lower it in the water….. and it started filling with water!   He pulled it up and examined it and there were two puncture holes.  The Explorers suspect someone backed accidently rammed their boat in the marina and puncture the dinghy.  Captain Mark was devastated, but decided to practice his fiber-glassing skills to repair his beloved dinghy.  This morning was the first test of his patches and the Explorers are happy to report success.  The dinghy floated.  He rowed for a mile out and back and returned to wait for the locks to open. 

While they were in the lock, the Explorers asked the locktenders how they would get through the wooden swing bridge they had seen the previous night (which was far enough ahead to be out of view of the lock).  The locktenders said they would get in a vehicle and go down to open it.  Sure enough, as the Explorers approached the bridge, they saw the locktenders opening the bridge.   It was an amazing sight as it was all done manually.  One guy had a HUGE crank handle that he had inserted in a hole in the middle of the bridge and he was running around in a circle cranking the bridge open.  The Explorers wished they had captured that on video.  Captain Mark commented on how simple and reliable old technology is compared to new technology. 

Most of the day was spent going through what looked like swampy flooded areas.  Navigation was done strictly by following the red and green buoys through what the Explorers assumed was the deepest parts of the plain.  The surroundings were very rural with no services or towns in sight.  The Explorers encountered 8 more locks, many without any docking areas.  Three of the locks where in immediate succession like the locks from a few days before.  After the Merrickville Lock and swing bridge, the Explorers stopped to get some exercise and look around because there was finally a cute little town to visit.  Merrickville has lots of cute restaurants and cool artsy shops.  The Explorers enjoyed a lunch out with great food, a great waitress and GREAT French fries with vinegar (maybe the soggy refried fries are only a thing in Quebec?).  Sidekick Sue bought her traditional Christmas ornament souvenir to remind her of the trip.  Captain Mark finally found ice, but could not find a single place to buy beer, so he decided to wait because the Yeti wasn’t cold anymore anyway. 

After Merrickville, the Explorers returned to more flooded riverbank and swamps.  There was lots of seaweed growth, and hundreds of buoys to mark the canal.  As the Explorers moved along, huge rain storms seemed to be gathering on both sides of them, but miraculously the canal kept turning at just the right spots to keep the blue skies above them.  They passed through 4 more locks and under 4 more bridges (some of them swinging bridges at the locks) until they reached Smith Falls, their destination for the night.

First, they walked through town.  It was cute, but undergoing some major construction down the main thoroughfare which made the walk a little challenging.  On the other side of the canal, they found a Walmart and stopped in for a few groceries.  Captain Mark figured it was a sign from God when they walked by a place called “The Beer Store” which was next door to a gas station with ice.  So while Sidekick Sue busied herself with putting groceries away, Captain Mark walked back to The Beer Store and the gas station to pick up some beer.  It was still sunny at 7:30 PM when the Explorers settled in for a few drinks on the fly bridge.  They noticed that there is a boat rental place on the other side of the canal renting huge boats (40’ or more) with built-in bumpers along the side rails and where the fenders would normally be.  They have made a note to stay away from these boats as they are probably being operated by folks that don’t know how to operate a boat and don’t care what happens to their boat. 

Swing bridge opening to let the Explorers through.

As planned, Sidekick Sue got up early the next morning to sit outside the Ottawa Library in an attempt to “borrow” their internet to finish uploading photos.  Despite Captain Mark’s tests from the night before, Sidekick Sue found she was getting a very weak signal, and every time she sat down on the sidewalk, it would disconnect. She was frustrated because she only had until 9:00 to get back to the boat as they were aiming to get to the first lock on time.  After 15-20 minutes of trying, she googled the nearest Starbucks, and headed in that direction.  A block later, she was passing another Tim Hortons.  Setting aside the failures at two other Tim Hortons (apparently in a 4-block area), Sidekick Sue asked herself “Why not?  This time it might work.”  Once inside, she miraculously connected to a very strong signal on both her cell phone and laptop.  She sat down and got to work.  She kept one eye on the counter, looking for a break in customers to step in and actually buy an ice tea to patronize the store. 

Most of the customers at this Tim Hortons appeared to be regulars.  The counter crew already knew their orders.  The line of customers was steady.  Eventually, Captain Mark called; he had gone on another expedition looking for ice and failed to find any (again).  Sidekick Sue guided him to the magical Tim Hortons and he came down and stood in line with the regulars to buy her ice tea.  Sidekick Sue frantically worked on uploaded photos to the blog and Captain Mark returned to the boat to get ready to cast off because Sidekick Sue was “grumpy” when he tried to talk to her while she was working against the clock.   Sidekick Sue arrived back at the boat at 9:03, only a few minutes late, but all caught up on uploading pictures. 

Leaving Ottawa, they passed under a series of bridges because it was still a very urban part of Ottawa.  Because Captain Mark had lowered the “stability mast” on their trawler, they could pass through most of them with ease.  As they approached a lift bridge that was not tall enough to accommodate their boat, they radioed ahead to the bridgetender.  As they waited, they had to be cued by the bridge tender to proceed because neither one of the Explorers actually perceived that the bridge had moved…. but clearly it had, as they passed under easily.  After a few more stationary bridges, the scenery changed from the urban view of Ottawa, to ritzy waterfront homes, and then finally, to rural areas. 

At the first lock of the day, Captain Mark tried to radio… once again with no response.  The lock was closed, so the Explorers pulled over to the dock and went to seek out a locktender to find out what the process was for locking-through.  Turns out, the locks on the Rideau Canal don’t even monitor radios.  They just wait for you to park on “the blue line” (park of the dock painted blue) which indicates you are requesting passage.  Captain Mark now understood why no one was answering his radio calls the day before as we entered the Rideau.  Once you are in the lock system, it appears they call ahead to the next lock, because after the first lock, we found the locks were open, ready, and waiting for us. 

As the morning went on, the Explorers had gone through 7 locks, and decided to stop at Long Island lock to get out and walk.  They found a loop trail that went through park, an area where the city landscapers were busy moving mulch, a neighborhood and back to the falls near the last lock.  They were disappointed that they could hear the falls, but not see them through the foliage.  They did observe that, compared to the US, there seems to be an abundance of public works employees dedicated to making Canadian towns look well-manicured and beautiful. 

As they got back on the water, the landscape continued to be very rural with no places to stop.  They passed under several bridges and arrived at Burritts Rapids lock.  It was too late to pass through, so they docked on “the blue line”, ready to request passage in the morning.  Since there was no one around, they took advantage to run their noisy generator and cook dinner.  The area was very secluded and swampy with lots of mosquitoes. 

Suddenly, Captain Mark noticed some men up by the restrooms and went up to see if they could share the code to the facilities.  It turned out to be some Canadian Rangers, doing some preparation for a future training maneuver in the area.  It turns out they had a whole camp up by the lock station, complete with tents and cooking equipment.  They seemed to be making lots of food, and even brought down some fish for us that they had caught and cooked. 

Captain Mark and Sidekick Sue walked into the “town” which consisted mainly of an Equestrian Store, a Historical Society, and a number of old structures with historical plaques indicating who lived there in the mid-1800’s.  Once again, no place to buy ice.  On the way to and from the small down, the Explorers walked over an unusual wood swing bridge.  There was no building for a bridge tender, and they wondered how it would open in the morning after they passed through the Burritts Rapid Lock. 

Well, the Wayward Explorers made it through the night without incident.  They shared the public dock all night with just a few commercial vessels.  Either they were allowed to stay overnight, or nobody bothered to care.  Either way, they were happy to avoid going backward to find a good anchorage or paying for a slip at a marina.

The Explorers were up early, as they always are when they are a little nervous about what comes next.  They were having trouble finding information about the locks at the beginning of the Rideau Canal.  They knew it was a set of 8 locks, one right after another, stepping up and that it opened at 10:00, but that had no idea which direction would be allowed to pass first or how long the Explorers would wait if the other direction started first.  As they had seen the preceding day, the dock they were supposed to park at, to indicate that they were requesting passage, was underwater and the only dock was the dock that was reserved for the water taxi and tours.  Captain Mark kept trying to call on the radio with no answer.  He called the main number for the Canada Parks department, but they could only confirm that no one would be there until 10:00, and they could not provide information on which direction would go first. 

Captain Mark wanted to head over early and park at the water taxi dock as he researched and found the taxis didn’t start until 11:00.  Sidekick Sue was her normal nervous rule-abiding self and didn’t want to park there in case a tour boat showed up (she got scolded by a passing tour boat driver when they had used the dock the day before).  The two compromised to use the water taxi dock, but to wait until closer to 10:00.  Since the day was dark and gloomy, it was doubtful that any tour boats would be leaving this morning anyway.  So around 9:00, the Explorers cast off and motored back across the river to Ontario, putting Quebec in their rearview mirror (for the second time). 

At 10:00 Captain Mark started trying to reach the locktenders on the radio again with no success.  He could see a worker, running around to each lock door, probably removing the chains they had seen wrapped around the cranks.  Captain Mark decided to try to talk to him, so they left the water taxi dock and hovered near the lock doors.  The worker went about his business, clearly seeing the boat hovering, and at 10:15 finally came to the edge of the first lock door to yell that they were locking through the boat from above the locks first and it would take another 45 minutes to an hour.  This meant the Explorers could either return to the water taxi dock (but the water taxi would be needing it soon), hover for up to an hour (no fun and wastes fuel) or drop anchor.  Dropping anchor isn’t a huge deal, but the Wayward Explorer is not equipped with an electric windlass, so the process is manually intensive.  Captain Mark has to lower it and raise it manually, and sometimes it takes a little while to dislodge it from the silt and muck at the bottom of the river.  The area around the lock was also not a great place to anchor because it was pretty deep and the navigation charts showed a pipeline in the area.  Still, it seemed like the best option at the time, so Sidekick Sue manned the helm while Captain Mark dropped the anchor away from where the charts showed the pipeline (hopefully they were right).  The anchor held and the Explorers bobbed around until they could see the boat coming down in the second lock.  Then, they went to work raising their anchor.  Sidekick Sue does her best to maneuver the boat directly over the anchor so the anchor rode (rope and/or chain) is vertical while Captain Mark tries to crank it up.  Wouldn’t you know, with the descending boat now in the first lock, the anchor was stuck.  The Explorers were anxious because the lock will be opening for them soon, and also because , in the back of their minds, they know a pipeline is down there somewhere.  After 2 attempts to move the boat forward so that the anchor is pulling from the reverse direction, it finally popped free.  Embarrassment (or possible crisis) averted.  For the hundredth time, the Explorers talk about investing in an electric windlass. 

The locks in Ottawa are the most impressive set of locks yet.   There are 8 successive locks, like stairs of water, climbing up a hill.  Each lock lifts the boat about 10-12’.  This is what allows the boats to bypass the Rideau Falls and continue on their journey.  The next hour or so is busy for both Captain Mark and Sidekick Sue.  They discuss a plan for making sure they each know what to do:

1. Captain Mark enters the lock when the doors open and gets as close to the lock wall as possible.
2. Sidekick Sue is in the stern (back) of the boat and yells “got a stern line” as she wraps a line around one of the fixed cables that runs down the side of the lock.  She will cleat it off and yell “cleated”.
3. Sidekick Sue moves to the bow (front) of the boat and yells “got the bow line” as she wraps a line around one of the fixed cables. 
4. Captain Mark shuts down the engine, and comes down from the flybridge to the stern.  He uncleats the stern line and holds it.
5. As water enters the lock, the Explorers each hold their lines to keep the boat close to the lock wall.  When the water stops coming in and the next doors open, Sidekick Sue yells “doors opening”.  That is Captain Mark’s cue to re-cleat the line, and return to the helm and restart the engine.
6. Once Captain Mark is in the helm, he says “Ready” and Sidekick Sue pulls in the bow line and yells “bowline in”.  This line is safer to remove first because Captain Mark has an operational bow thruster he can use if the bow starts to swing out.
7. Sidekick Sue goes to the stern line, uncleats it, and pulls it in, yelling “stern line in”.  This is Captain Mark’s cue that he is free from the wall and can move into the next lock as soon as the doors are fully open.  Sidekick Sue stands at the stern with a boat hook to push off the wall if the boat is getting too close.
8. Repeat 8 times.

It took slightly more than an hour to get through all 8 locks.  The Explorers were happy to be the only vessel going up in the first round because they don’t have to worry about hitting other boats (or other boats hitting them), and it saves a lot of time when there aren’t multiple boats to get situated. 

The boat ride was short today.  The plan was to stay in Ottawa for the night on the free wall available through the Canada Parks pass.  There was even an electric hookup and the Explorers splurged on a night of electric for $10, meaning they wouldn’t have to use the loud generator to cook and they didn’t have to turn on the inverter to run down the batteries (which was good because they weren’t running the engine long enough to get the batteries fully charged).  The Explorers decided to have their dinner for lunch and just snack later, so they settled in to eat. 

After dinner, they attempted to go to Tim Horton’s, have a snack, and enjoy the free internet to FINALLY get pictures uploaded.  As it turned out, the Tim Horton’s they choose had terrible wi-fi.  They moved to another, and still struck out.  Not giving up easy, they sought out the public library and were give a username and password for the library internet.  It was fast and it was free, but it was also getting close to the library closing time.  Captain Mark went back to the boat to lower the small mast on the trawler because it was not going to fit under all the low bridges on the Rideau Canal, and to move the dinghy to the swim platform.  Sidekick Sue set to work on gathering all of the pictures by day (they now had 8 days worth), picking out ones that seemed interesting, and trying to upload them to the blog site.  She hit a snag when she realized the new iPhones save pictures in a new format (.HEIC) that isn’t understood by WordPress.  She googled how to convert them and converted each picture to .JPG one by one, using the Windows photo viewer (as her Google search suggested).  When she then tried to upload them (again), WordPress still wouldn’t take them. Somehow it did not recognize them as true .JPG files.  Arghhh!   She did a little more thinking and decided to try using Microsoft Paint to convert the files.  She did a test this time BEFORE converting EVERY file, and it worked.  Unfortunately, time was running out and the library was closing, so Sidekick Sue had to return to the boat with only one day’s worth of pictures uploaded to the blog and the library was not reopening until 1:00 PM the next day (long after their departure).

Back at the boat, the Explorers decided to pick up a few more bags of groceries.  They found a Loblaws within a mile walk (neither had seen a Loblaws in decades and didn’t know they still existed).  They splurged on a bottle of Pinot Grigio, even though they rarely drink wine.  As they walked back, they wondered if the library internet could be used from outside the building.  Captain Mark decided to walk back and check, he needed to try to find ice for the cooler anyway.  Sidekick Sue set to work converting all the pictures using Microsoft Paint this time.   They both finished around the same time and both reported success (except for finding ice).  The plan was for Sidekick Sue to get up early in the morning and go sit outside the library building and finish uploading pictures.  They popped open the wine and remarked that they had actually seen quite a lot of Ottawa during their foraging for lock information, their shopping, and their quest for free internet.  They had seen the Canal Historic Site (of course), Parliament Hill, and lots of beautiful sculptures and architecture.  They both agreed they would like to come back, by boat or by land sometime.  They battened down the hatches (they had been warned several times throughout the day that downtown Ottawa has it’s share of petty crime) and retired for the night. 

Captain Mark and Sidekick Sue pulled up their anchor and returned to the Ottawa River.  It was cold and windy; Captain Mark wore his insulated suit.  There were big waves on the river, making for a very bumpy ride.  Sidekick Sue joined Captain Mark on the fly-bridge with the binoculars as they passed the Chateau Montebello, a famous resort in Quebec.  A few different boaters had recommended it as a place to stay (it has a marina), but the timing did not work out well this trip, so the Explorers viewed it from the water.  Maybe next time.  It did look impressive.  Sidekick Sue decided it was too cold and windy to read or sew, so she went below deck.  There really wasn’t much more to see during this leg of the trip.  Captain Mark had an encounter with a cable ferry that was running 3 ferries on 3 separate cables.  He was trying to time his crossing so that he could cross all three of their paths without crossing in front of any of them.  It reminded Sidekick Sue of a game of Frogger from the old Atari game.  Luckily Captain Mark made it through without getting squashed. 

The weather warmed up in afternoon and Sidekick Sue joined Captain Mark outside.  Near the completion of their 50 miles for the day, they passed the Rideau Falls, which they knew was near the entrance to the Rideau Canal, which begins with a series of locks to lift boats up the height of the waterfalls.  The original plan was to dock on the Ottawa (Ontario) side, but like at Saint Annes, the cement dock was underwater (the Explorers later heard from a local that there had been some unusual flooding this year).  The Explorers parked temporarily at a water taxi dock to figure out what to do, but had to abort quickly when the sighted both a water taxi and a tour boat headed their way. 

Using the Navionics app, Sidekick Sue found a public dock back on the Gatineau (Quebec) side of the Ottawa River.  The Explorers motored over to investigate and found more concrete docks underwater, but also some wooden floating docks, so they tied up, and Captain Mark went to try to find some information about the docks.  He learned that there was no room at the marina next door and that the dock the Explorers were on was indeed public, however, no one was sure if overnight stays were allowed.  The Explorers could find no signs forbidding a stay, and there didn’t seem to be anyone monitoring the dock, so they decided to “give it a go” and hoped that they’d be out in the morning before anyone noticed them. 

After securing the boat, they walked across a bridge to the Ottawa side to see if they could get any information about the lockage the next morning.  Even though it was before “closing time”, the locktenders appeared to be gone for the day, so there was little information to be found.  Fortunately, they were at least able to confirm that there was available dock space after the locks, which is where they intended to spend the next day so they could explore Ottawa a little.  After walking back to the boat, they decide to check off a chore or two, so they gathered up their laundry and lugged it to a laundromat that was less than a mile away.  While the clothes were washing, they snuck to a small restaurant for hot dogs and fries (again).  Sidekick Sue is unimpressed by the French fries (frites) in Canada.  This is their third time ordering fries since the trip began and they are mushy, greasy and not nearly salty enough.  She has vowed not to order them again until she is safely back home.  After laundry, the Explorers returned to their boat, which did not seem to have drawn any unwanted attention.  Tune in tomorrow to see if they were kicked off the public dock before the end of the night……

In the morning, Captain Mark and Sidekick Sue cast off from the wall at Saint Annes.  The wall had no cleats, so the prior day, they had just wrapped their lines around a railing and cleated them back to the boat.  This made casting off extremely easy because Sidekick Sue never had to leave the boat.  She just uncleated the line from the boat’s cleat and pulled it back around the railing.  Leaving was a lot more graceful than the landing had been when they scraped a little bit against the wall.  Ooops!  This is why one learns on an old boat.

The morning ride was uneventful except for crossing the cables of a few cable ferries. The Explorers motored about 30 miles to the Carillon lock, much of it in the rain.  They remembered the that captain that had rafted with them in the commercial docks (the owner of Boat #2 from the locking disaster) had said the door of this lock was incredibly tall, and reminiscent of the door used to contain King Kong in the movie.  The Explorers started discussing other tidbits of advice and information Boat #2’s captain had shared and recalled that he said he had been stuck in Montreal for 5 days waiting to get through the second commercial lock.  He had initially tried to pass through on Monday, but it was a Canadian Holiday and he was told to come back on Tuesday.  When he came back on Tuesday, he was told the lock would not be opening because a commercial vessel had run aground and was blocking the lock.  He waited in Old Montreal, checking the status of the lock until Friday, when he was told that it was finally resolved and he could pass through Saturday morning (where we met him).  Two things suddenly dawned upon the Explorers.  First, they were extremely lucky that they showed up on Saturday, and not earlier.  Second, the Explorers original start date for the trip had been delayed three days in Massena when dropping off a vehicle.  Had they left on time, they would have spent that extra three days sitting in Montreal as well, waiting for the lock to open, so their initial delay didn’t really cost them any time…. in fact, it saved them from a few days at anchor or the expense of a marina in Montreal. 

As the Explorers approached the Carillon lock, they had to agree that the door was massive.  Unlike most of the lock doors they had seen that swing open, this door opened like a guillotine.  It was quite a feat of engineering.  As they waited for the door to open (it was only scheduled to open 3 times a day), there was a dock that should have easily accommodated three vessels.  Unfortunately, 2 rather large boats where already on the dock and had not done much to conserve space, leaving the Explorers with only about a half a boat space.  Captain Mark hovered for a bit, and just as he was considering pulling up to a nearby cement wall, the owners of the two boats started manually walking their boats forward to make room, leaving enough space for the Explorers to dock carefully with their tail end sticking out a tiny bit.  Because they had nowhere to cleat behind the boat, they managed to rig up a few spring lines to keep the boat from drifting into the boat in front of it.  Finally, the huge door opened.  The first boat moved into the lock and the second was casting off its lines.  Sidekick Sue took this cue to untie her lines.  Just as she threw her last line onto the Wayward Explorer and was ready to step aboard, she heard someone yelling for help.  The woman in the boat ahead of them had gotten a line caught between the deck planks but she had already boarded the boat and couldn’t get back to the dock.  Captain Mark told Sidekick Sue to go ahead and help her and that he would just maneuver up the dock to pick her up further up the dock.  Sidekick Sue managed to free the line, toss it to the screaming woman, and climb back aboard the Wayward Explorer as Captain Mark promised.  It was a happy ending, and they were heroes of what could have been an ugly situation. Phew!

Inside the lock, there was a floating dock lift (their favorite) and they just had to tie up and relax.  There was a docktender available to help the boat in front of them, the owners were still a little flustered.   Once through the lock, they docked on a wall on the other side and went ashore to do some walking.  They walked into the closest town, which seemed to consist of a hot dog/poutine stand and a smattering of houses.  Then they found a trail to help them satisfy Sidekick Sue’s Fitbit goal for the day.  They returned to the boat and cast off for another 20 miles or so, the weather had gotten much nicer.  They anchored for the night in a calm “finger” off the Ottawa River and had a good night’s sleep.