Sun Sept 18: Oswego to Winter Harbort....and so ends boating season 2022

Since we could spit and hit Lock 07, I practically called them from bed, and we didn't even have to start the engine until their light turned green.  It was a day of 7 locks, and we quickly noticed what we hadn't been aware of before. These lock operators have it so easy - no cranking by hand.  They just push a button and everything happens.  It's fast, but not so special.  I think the Canadians have been really smart in preserving the historical feel of each lock, and in making each a park.

Remember the Queen!  Because nothing says devotion like etching that in lock wall slime!

A cormorant locked through with us! He dove a couple of times, and must have decided there was nothing for him.

 

It's the end of the summer, so the green algae is in full growth. The sides of the canal are awash in the stuff, and all the little docks/boats are sitting in it.

We  had hoped to make it to our 'final resting place' at Winter Harbor before the predicted rainstorm hit.  But, OF COURSE, that didn't happen.  I actually think it makes total sense, given this boating season, that there be a crash of thunder and a streak of lightening JUST as we came around the bend and WH was in sight. Oh well, we don't melt - and some kind fellow boaters came out to help us tie up, Rick turned off the engine.....and that was it.... We finished two weeks earlier than we had planned - but this year tired us out, and we are ready to be done.

The rest of today and all of tomorrow will be devoted to decommissioning the boat (going through literally every cupboard, drawer, closet, storage space, locker, etc to see what can be got rid of and what must be taken home + taking pictures of all those spaces so that we remember what we are leaving behind), laundry, defrosting the refrig and, of course, CLEANING.... Also, did I mention cleaning??! So that, when we come back next spring, we can DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN.  It's an awesome cycle...

Fixing also happens now-here is Rick doing something scary. I don’t know about you, but I always felt open flame and boats were not a good mix.

On Tues we will drive to Albion NY to spend the night with our dear friends on Journey.  We had thought to boat with them this year, but they had a number of mechanical issues with their boat and so got too late a start to catch up with us. Then we will head to Buffalo NY to see the parents (Dick & Betty) of my friend Deb, who want to show us around Buffalo (wings, of course!) and Niagara, which I have never seen. Then we start the drive to Atlanta - and I'm sure we will find some other people to see along the way.

Thank you, Dear Readers, for being a part of this year's journey. We will post 2022 Boating By The Numbers soon, and we will see you next spring!

XOXOXO

M&R

Sat Sept 17: Cape Vincent to Oswego lock wall

I got a text this morning, upon waking, with emojis of tea and a doughnut!  That boy....

There is not much to Cape Vincent, but we aren't picky!

Our not-very-attractive wall.  But.....FREE!!

Lovely old  building - the Fisheries Station. We are allowed to tie up on their dock for up to 48 hours.  That is very ambitious of them - we saw the town in .6 hours.

The fisheries station has a local-fish aquarium.  So, naturally, Rick (whose undergrad degree is in aquaculture) was all up in that.

This chap was out for an early row - such a cute dory.

Off we went, into the wild blue yonder of Lake Ontario.  Which, thanks to Mr Weather, was very smooth.  In the beginning.  Gradually it got to be a bit rolly (that is the technical boating term), but my Bonine held, Rick did the bulk of the work, and we got to Oswego at the end of a long day.

Look how perky and ready Rick's balls are!  They are off duty until the Oswego locks.

We came back into Oswego, locked up one lock, and tied up for the night.  We both knew we SHOULD go for a walk - but we were worn out and only up for a walk to get ice cream.

I BEEN sayin…

Good night, water - only one more day to go....

Fri Sept 16: Endymion to Cape Vincent

I swear, we have to get off this boat before Rick has a nervous breakdown over the bug massacre that happens EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. You know how he has the Peace Corps Guatemalan record for intestinal parasites (# of times AND # of different kinds)?!  This is just like that.

We really thought about staying in Endymion in order to have dinner with Yvonne and Michael (and furry Max).... so tempting. But the next few days are going to be gloomy and rainy, and we need to get set up to cross Lake Ontario on a day with as little wind as possible.

Today was a day for interesting houses and/or uses of islands:

This one is an island with a patio and chair!

This one is all house - little island left.

I think it would be terrifying to live in the green house and have the rotting monstrosity looming over you.

For a little while we were confused because these people were wearing jackets EXACTLY the color of the green and red markers, and from a distance we couldn't figure out why the buoys were moving around.

Once the lighthouse came into view we knew we had crossed back over into the United States, and were almost to Cape Vincent.

Once we were tied up to the dock Rick submitted our customs paperwork online, and we stood by for the requisite video call - which went like this:

Customs: anything to declare

Rick: no

Customs: OK *click*

And we were home!

Good night US, we are happy to be back!

Thurs Sept 15: Kingston to Endymion Island mooring ball

I decided I wouldn't get out of bed unless someone gave me a very good reason, since Kingston isn't doing it for me at this point.  Then Rick said the magic words 'tea and cruller' and I was up like a rabbit!  (Rick here: Melanie went shopping yesterday and came home with a whole box of crullers!  I shouldn’t let her go to bakeries by herself, although I will say that I reap the benefits, and they are good with coffee). (Mel here: that's me 'making breakfast'.  You do you and I'll ..... er ... buy pastries)

Then it was a bunch of wait, wait, wait - until suddenly the fixed prop appeared, we zoomed over to get a pumpout and fuel (the diesel pump had been broken and the repairman was just finishing up when we pulled up to the pump) and then we were FREEEEEEEEEE. Thank God Almighty, we were free at last ...

Except we had to W-A-I-T for the causeway bridge, 

but THEN we headed out into open water.  More open water than we have seen in a few weeks.  

As we were leaving Kingston we were talking about how fun it was that everywhere in Canada we were special because we had come from FL. Just then the boat Rascal went by us, headed to Kingston. And we immediately felt less famous because everyone on the water has heard about this boat - it’s from New Zealand!  Florida is small potatoes in comparison.

Kingston has several remaining Martello Towers - small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire in the 19th century.

Here you can see Fort Henry, on the grounds of the Royal Military College of Canada.  As well as a Martello Tower...so, technically, it's TWO forts IN ONE!  I'm going to count it as two for my record book.

 

Once out into wider water we ran the prop check on the loaner prop, which we now own.  (Rick decided we should have a backup, and Prop Man gave us an excellent price.)  The check involved running at full throttle blah blah blah in gear and out of it blah blah.  Even Rick wasn't sure of the details.  We just knew we were really nervous to run at 3500 RPMs, since we have never gone above 2600. But we lived to tell the (boring) tale, and Rick sent the results to Prop Man so that he can interpret them for us

Once that terrifying thing was over we could pay attention to the fact that we were back in the Thousand Island National Park (Pop Quiz: how many islands are ACTUALLY here??). It was a day for interesting water-craft:

Our friends call houseboats 'toasters'.

Ye olde paddle boat tour boat. Oh my, it seems a long time ago that we were on a tour boat in Thousand Islands!

Face-off with the Kingston Ferry. Rick is so confident he's not even looking in that direction! (The last time he wasn't looking we ran into a rock.....oh sorry, too soon??)

Trimaran.

The lighting is bad, but the sails really are black - they are the carbon fiber that is all the rage these days.  It makes a sailboat look really menacing, which is a difficult achievement as they look lighthearted by their very nature.

 

It was mid afternoon when we got to Endymion Island where we used our Canada Parks Pass to pick up a mooring ball at the park-run island.  The water in this area is deep, but also filled with many rock outcropping and small islands that stick up just to water level, and we are gun shy about rocks-so our eyes were practically bleeding from watching the water/charts by the time we tied up. It was absolutely lovely, peaceful and empty.  It would have been a great swimming area, but the temp had dropped and we were in long pants and fleece jackets!

Wed Sept 14: Longest Day Ever in Kingston

We had hoped to leave today- but the prop delivery got rescheduled to Thurs. So I did some Christmas shopping, and some unnecessary bakery shopping and we sat around. Sometimes that’s just how boating, and life, goes.

 

 

Tues Sept 13: Kingston Expedition

Kingston, Ontario was named the first capital of a united Canada in 1841 (clearly this is Rick speaking), but due to the menace of the neighbors to the south (yes the Americans), Queen Victoria moved the capital first to Montreal, then to Toronto and finally to Ottawa where it remains today.  The original European settlers arrived in the mid- 1600’s and the settlement was formalized in 1673 with the construction of a French trading post called Fort Cataraqui. The settlement continued to grow and after the American Revolution and the British loss, British loyalists started moving to the area in 1780.  The area was renamed Kingston. 

Melanie puts the “I” in Kingston

Kingston grew as a center of trade for ships coming up the St. Lawrence river.  Cargo from ocean going vessels was off-loaded and parceled out on smaller ships for delivery around the Great Lakes.  When the railroads were built Kingston became a terminus and goods went in and out of the thriving ports.  Today Kingston is home to Queens University with around 28,000 students, as well as government offices and lots of restaurants.  We heard a couple of times that Kingston has the most restaurants per capita of any city in Canada.

The weather forecast was for a rainy day but we got lucky and the rain held off until the afternoon.  Yvonne and Michael (from Yankee Zulu) had recommended Pan Chancho for a meal, so we started our expedition off with breakfast there.

Pan Chancho!

Then we took the 11am trolley tour of the city in order to get a good overview.   It is a beautiful city with many historic stone buildings.   The city originally contained mostly wooden buildings, but in the 1800’s a ship unloading in the harbor caught fire which spread to burn down almost all of the downtown.  After the fire the local government passed a law that all buildings within the 16 acre downtown must be constructed of stone or brick.  No more wood.

On the trolley for our tour!

On the tour we visited many small old neighborhoods with cottages and larger homes.

Original Prince George Hotel from 1809. Today it houses shops below and condominiums above.

Public Art?

We enjoyed our Trinidadian dinner last night so we went back for round two tonight….it was, perhaps, a bit of a mistake the second time.  We ate too much and Rick ended up with an upset stomach. Maybe this is why they invented Alka-Seltzer. It was another misadventure - but not as bad as the prop one!

Moon in rigging, we will call this one!

Fun Rideau Facts

 In honor of finishing the Rideau Canal, to which we raised a glass last night, here are some fun facts from the Rideau website.  If you want to read further, their web address is at the end.

• The amount of water used in an average Rideau Lock (10 foot lift) is 1.3 million litres (280,000 imp. gal.) To drink a lock dry, you would have to consume 5.6 million cups of water.



• The gates of the locks are made with Douglas Fir at the canal shops in Smiths Falls. They last an average of 15 years before they need to be replaced.



• There are 45 locks along the Rideau plus two more locks at the entrance to the Tay Canal.



• The highest single lift is 7.9 m (26 ft.) at Smiths Falls and the lowest lift is 0.6 m (2 ft.) at Kilmarnock.



• There are four types of gate opening mechanisms on the Rideau – the endless chain crab system, the swing bar crab system, the push bar crab system and the electric-hydraulic system. Can you tell which one you’re looking at?



• A Rideau lock chamber is 40.8 m (134 ft.) long (sill to sill) by 10.1 m (33 ft.) wide. The maximum vessel length that can fit into a lock is 33 m (110 ft.) to allow room for the upper breastwork and the swing of the lower gates.



• It cost £822,000 to build the canal in 1832. It would cost over $500 million to replace all the canal structures today.



• The lift from Kingston to Upper Rideau Lake (the highest point on the system) is 50 m (164 ft.) in 14 locks. The lift from Ottawa to Upper Rideau Lake is 83.2 m (273 ft.) in 31 locks.



• The canal extends 202 kilometres (125 miles) from Ottawa to Kingston. Along this distance there are 292 islands and 1091 kilometres (675 miles) of shoreline.

 

 

http://www.rideaufriends.com/lockworks/about-rideau.html

 

Mon Sept 12: to Kingston!!

Rick here:

Our last day on the Rideau Canal... Our night was relatively peaceful but as we were just below the dam at the Lower Brewer’s lock we awoke to a large amount of scummy foam surrounding the boat. Great! Another thing we have to wash off.   The weather continued gray and overcast, and the forecast shows we are in for rain, cold and clouds for the next few days.  The overnight temperature is even forecast to drop down to 45 degrees in a few days (that will make Mel happy)!

After the last locks (#’s 46 followed by 47-48-49 in flight) we entered the last section of the canal, that is actually a river at this point: River Styx!  We kept an eye out for the devil but never saw them. 

Locks 47-49.  Quite a large drop! Mel got vertigo.

Goodbye, last lock...

There was a lot of bird life on this lower stretch of the river.   We saw swans, herons and or course the ubiquitous geese and ducks.   There were also turtles all along the banks.  As we passed slowly by many of the turtles fell into the water. 

Mom & Dad with baby swans

Great Blue Heron

Slowly the banks of the river began sprouting buildings and a more industrial feeling as we rounded a large bend to enter the Kingston inner harbor aiming for Kingston Marina.  There were a couple of stranded sailboats on the large, shallow flats so we were careful to follow the channel markers.   We will spend the next two days here exploring Kingston and waiting for the delivery of our repaired propeller on Wednesday. 

Kingston Marina is definitely a “working person’s” marina - with few comforts designed to bring in the transient boater.  The docks are old and the bathrooms basic.  The marina is home to the MetalCraft Marine.  This company manufactures industrial boats for Fire departments, Police and Wildlife patrol.  Business is clearly going well as there were multiple boats being built and finished for delivery.  Check out their website if you’re interested in what they build -  http://metalcraftmarine.com/index.html

 

 

We explored the downtown area on foot, scouting out dinner possibilities.  Kingston is home to Queen's University, so much is devoted to eateries and dollar stores - but in a cute way.  We ended up with excellent sushi and Trinidadian roti, that reminded me of my time spent in Trinidad. Yum!

 

 

I remember ‘limin’ with my friend, Alfred, in Trinidad.  You can even say ‘let’s have a lime’!