First days cruising the Rideau

Day 11, Monday, June 25, 2012

Lily snaps a shot of our reflection in the window of the conference center

Monday morning and we were getting ready to leave Ottawa, but the first bridge wouldn’t open until after 9am so Micki and Steve invited us out to breakfast at a little place near the food market. They had such a wonderful array of pastries and muffins that it was difficult to choose, but we managed. On the way back we picked up a few items including some delicious looking beets, cheese and bread. We love sampling the local fare.

Goodbye Ottawa with Endurance following us

Kayaks for rent at Dow's Lake Marina

Our first stop was at a marina to take on water and top of the diesel. Lily snapped this great photo of their rental kayaks.

Going through the first lock of the day we noticed a family of ducks going up with us. We have seen lots of ducks so far, but are still looking for those elusive loons.

Getting our ducks in a row - almost

The day turned a little nasty with a light mist falling. We had planned to stay at lock 13 where we would have access to power, but the spaces were all taken. So we moved on to a run of three locks, 14, 5 ,6 and by this time it was very windy and rainy so we parked there for the night, buttoned up, dried off, enjoyed our cheese with some hot tomato soup and played a game or two of cards. The beautiful red sunset promised a better day in the morning.

Captain’s log, Monday, June 25, 2012
Depart Ottawa @ 10:50am
Stop Dow’s Lake Marina, fuel, 20 gal/side, pump out, water
Long delay due to diesel pump had to be fixed + waiting for Endurance to be serviced after us.
Arrived Long Island Locks 4:00pm 14.5 nautical miles south on the Rideau
WX – cool Northwest wind, strong 20-25 knots, rain began last hour, tied up on lower wall for night.

Day 12, Tuesday, June 26, 2012

The wind kept all night and into the morning, but the sun was shining and the air cool so it was a great day to go through the three locks cascading above us. We have the routine down pat and we could easily do it with just the two of us, but it certainly is nice to have an extra pair of hands when John is at the helm. I can easily catch the drop cable at the mid cleat and Lily loops around the cable at the stern. This holds the boat very steadily, even with some turbulence in the lock.

Lily at the stern

Kathy in the middle

So far we have completed 16 of the Rideau Canal locks and we stopped for the night in the small town of Merrickville. This is a charming old town with just a few blocks, but it is full of antique and gift shops, galleries, several restaurants, a coffee shop a candy & ice cream place to just mention a few. Where did we zero in on? The little stand with hand cut French fries and hotdogs. Lily and I had the poutine which was fries with cheese curds on top smothered with gravy. Heart attack in a carton - but it sure tasted good.

British influence in Ontario

Another great sunset

Captain’s log, Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Depart 8:30 am locking through 3 Long Island locks
Arrived Merrickville 3:30 pm
7 hrs 40 min total time, 5.6 hrs engine time
WX NW breeze ( strong, 15-20 kts) clear to partly cloudy