Day 64: Hurst Marina to Ayling’s Boatyard, Merrickville, Ontario, Canada (21NM, 5 Hours)

The first of two locks at Merrickville

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Brian, Linda, & Chris in front of a
Block House (this built at
Mer­­rick­­ville).  Four were built on the
Rideau Canal between 1831-1833
to protect the locks & canal from the
Americans.  We're here!

We started the day early after a good nights rest.  Some fellow boaters helped us get out of our slip and under way. Chris took the helm (noting the difference between the Rideau Canal and the Chesapeake Bay). We were joined at the locks by two other boaters. We had no problems until the Merrickville locks. Upon entering the first lock the starboard transmission would not shift out of reverse. With some expert piloting by Brian we were able to back out of the lock, tie up blue line of the lock dock, and begin to diagnose the issue.  As it turns out the cable bracket holding the shift-control cable to the transmission had come loose (missing a nut), and with a simple zip tie (thanks to Chris’s quick thinking) we were able to navigate to the Ayling’s marina, where the owner provided a replacement lock ring and nut at no charge. Tied-up and “electricity”  running (only a 15 & 30-amp shore power available).  It was hot and humid after the afternoon sprinkles plus 85° temperature.  We went ahead and started the generator so all three of our air conditioners to cool the inside of the boat while we explored the town. The town has character: friendly people, quaint shops, and the sound of jazz echoing through the streets from the canal festival. If you ever come to visit we have two recommendations — Mrs. McGarrigle’s Fine Mustard Shop where you will find an amusing assortment of mustards, oil, and sauces for every culinary need, and Gads Hill Place with friendly staff, good beer, and great food (try the Prime Rib it is amazing).  Interesting side note — the pub is named after Charles Dickin’s home in England.   Are you hearing the same refrain…”It’s a small world after all”?  Okay, maybe that is a spill over from last year’s trip to Disney.  The boat was cool when we got back.  Then Brian shut down the generator running one air conditioner, the ice maker, and battery charger on the 15-amp circuit.  We all got a good night’s sleep.

Day 63: Dow’s Lake Marina to Hurst Marina (17NM, 5.75 Hours)

Swimmers in the Iron Man
Competition

Today, we filled up with diesel, did a pump-out, and were on our way to Manotick.  We were treated with sights of lovely homes and some areas that are not developed despite being so close to Ottawa. Folks along the shore were friendly and seemed excited to see us - not sure if it was because of our size, our looper flag or our American flag. Maybe it was all three? Many well maintained parks were spotted, as well as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police camp ground (real friendly folks). Of course, Linda admired all the gardens in full bloom and felt slightly negligent for not being at home working on hers (or the church’s) — but the feeling dissipated after connecting with Nick who is doing the weeding for her (we are so fortunate he is willing). We locked

Picture shows a small part of the
beautiful campground for the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police

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Splash Down at Hurst Marina

through one double lock and one triple lock with a connected bridge (locks 9 & 10, and locks 11, 12, 13), and passed through several no-wake zones, a canoe race and a triathlon of swimming, biking and canoeing to arrive at Hurst Marina at 2:00pm.  In fact, the Park personnel had us carry maps from one

lock to the next so that lock could warn boaters about the activities before they proceeded into the area. The receiving park personnel were glad to have their “boat mail” of maps. Chris now has his technique down and is comfortable working the stern position while Linda takes the lead on the bow position, and is assisted by Brian (once he has cut the engines) in keeping us off the wall. After checking in at the Marina, we walked to the Swan
Restaurant next door.  Linda had a salad and a half litre of wine (she was not converting metric correctly, but Brian and Chris decided to not correct her). She now knows half a litre is really 17 ounces—yikes! Chris had a Shepherds Pie and two one-litre beers (34 oz), and Brian had fish and chips, and two one-litre beers.  We were feeling much better when we got back to the boat.  Two other large boats, one being the SS Minnow docked after us. After our showers, we watched a little TV, had dinner around 7:00pm (yup, the guys were hungry, again), then went to bed.  We'll head out around 9:00am today to go to Merrickville - "The Pond."

Day 62: Marina Kitchissipi to Dow’s Lake Marina, Ottawa, Canada (8NM, 6 Hours)

Splash Down on the Blue-Line
Lock Dock

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Chris & the Brick at the Flight of
Eight Lockss

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Inside the first of eight locks

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Looking down from fourth lock

We didn’t sleep well at all last night.  Our anticipation and trepidation about Chris’ flight to Ottawa, Canada was on our minds.  Brian awoke first when his phone dinged alerting him he received a text from Chris letting us know he was at Dulles International Airport.  First thing Brian did after getting a cup of coffee was to get on his computer and stalk Chris’ flights using the website called Flight Aware.  Chris had a 50-minute layover in Toronto and our concern was that he’d miss he is flight to Ottawa.  We went so far as to look at other flights he could take to Ottawa if his plane from Washington to Toronto was late.  We tried to occupy our minded by doing a few chores to get Splash Down ready to go underway.  Chris tried to call to let us know his status several times.  The one good call we got was that he was on the bus heading from the Ottawa International Airport to the bus stop closest to the Flight of Eight Locks.  This was around 12:40pm.  Despite tracking him on Flight Aware and knowing he was at the Ottawa Airport, we couldn’t anticipate how quickly he’d get through baggage claim and be in route to us.  We fired up Splash Down and got underway at 1:00pm.  It’d take us about an hour to get to the blue painted lock wall dock below the Flight of Eight Locks.  (Boats tied to the blue painted section of a lock wall dock signals the lock master that you want to lock through.)

Chris' pic of Niagara Falls

Chris was waiting on the dock when we arrived at 1:50pm.  Yesterday the lock master said we should be at the lock wall dock no later than 3:00pm - we satisfied that requirement.  As it turns out, those boats at the lock wall dock by 3:00pm would be allowed to lock up.  Boats that arrived later would have to lock up tomorrow.  Chris told us about his trip.  He relayed his story how he accidentally got into TSA’s pre-approved security screen line and was passed through by TSA without them checking to see if he was on the list.  When he landed in Toronto, he was able to get his bag, go through Canadian customs, check his bag for the flight to Ottawa, board his plane, all in 30 minutes.  The rest of his trip was uneventful.  At 5:08pm, we finally entered the first lock.  We were the biggest boat of the three locking through.  The other boats were 22-footers with cuddy cabins.  The Canada Park Service puts the larger boats in first filling in the spaces with smaller boats.  We locked up on our port side and the two smaller boats were on the other lock wall.  We exited the series of locks around 6:30pm.  Yes.  It took us an hour and a half to go up.  It would have taken us longer if the lock master wasn't able to adjust the water levels in locks 2 and 3 such that we skipped locking up in lock 2.  We made it to Dow's Lake Marina at 7:00pm.