Day 67: Shangri-La to Confederation Basin Marina, Kingston, Ontario, Canada(24NM, 7.5 Hours)

Brass Point Swing Bridge 

---

Splash Down at the top of Kingston Mills Locks

---

The 52-foot houseboat in lock 47

Today we conclude our trip on the Rideau River.  Our timing was great as we locked through our first three locks; Upper Brewers (locks 43 & 44) and Lower Brewers (lock 45).  We even passed through a small swing bridge with a narrow channel without incident. Unfortunately, we locked through with a 52-foot houseboat.  This meant it was a part of our group of three for the rest of our trip.  They could only do six knots.  Being the largest boat meant it was first in and first out of the locks. Brian could use only one engine for propulsion at a time while behind the boat until he could pass.  Eventually, there was an opportunity for Brian and the other faster boat to ‘slow-pass’ the houseboat and proceeded on to Kingston Mills locks to wait.  The houseboat had five guys from the United States who served together for 40 years in the Syracuse National Guard.  They live in different parts of the country now, but get together every year for a week or so as a reunion.  This year it was a ten day trip up and down the Rideau River in a rented houseboat.  They were having a good time except the outboard motor began to act up on their way back down to Kingston.  The engine would stop if throttled back to idle for shifting. This caused them to loose control of the houseboat in the locks several times.  We had to fend their boat off from hitting Splash Down twice as they exited the locks.  Having to wait on the houseboat at the Kingston Mill locks caused us to miss an opportunity to go through the final four locks (46-49) for over an hour.  Linda and Brian grumbled about having to wait and about their engine problems.  We changed our tune when in lock 48 our port engine didn’t start.  Linda and Chris had pushed Splash Down away from the lock wall, so Brian had to work hard to negotiate carefully past the lock gates onto the next lock wall.  Linda and Brian were humbled for complaining about the houseboat’s engine problems!  All the engine issues in the locks, meant it was too late to make the 3:00pm opening of the Lasalle Causeway Bridge that separates the Cataraqui River and the Rideau Canal to the north.  The bridge opens on the hour except during rush hour.  The bridge’s last opening before the afternoon rush hour is 3:00pm and stay’s closed until 6:00pm.  So, we pulled into the Kingston Marina for fuel and a pump-out.  They were kind enough to allow us to tie up and wait at Metal Craft Marine, Inc. dock.  They make various high speed watercraft for police, fire, and rescue.  Work was active on several boats; two of which were for the cities of Seattle, WA, and Providence,

Metal Craft Marine building fireboats

---

Lasalle Causeway Bridge

RI.  At 5:30pm we left the dock to wait by the bridge.  We finally arrive at the Flora MacDonald Confederated Basin Marina (a city managed marina) at 6:15pm.  There was confusion regarding our reservation (which we learned we didn’t really have one) and we trolled in the basin to work it out.  Apparently they only make reservations through

Kingston's City Hall

the web site, but we weren’t told that when we called.  Luckily, there was enough space for us tonight and we docked in a strong wind with the dock hands assistance.  We will stay one night and move to the Kingston Yacht Club for Thursday through Sunday nights.  After dinner, we took a stroll into the downtown area to get our bearings.  We found the sights and stores to visit and made it back to the boat in the dark easily since both Brian and Chris had the foresight to bring flashlights.

Day 66: Len’s Cove Marina to Shangri-La Cottages & Campground, Elgin, Ontario (20NM, 5 Hours)

In the 'S' turn canal

---

What it looked like on port &
starboard

We were lazy this morning and we didn’t depart Len’s Cove Marina until 9:30am. The locks were in our favor having to wait less than 15 minutes at each. We had some very narrow channels to navigate. One ‘one boat’ channel was like an ’S’ starting with a 90° turn to port. We could not see if anyone was in the channel coming at us. Backing up was not an option. Fortunately, the only boat we did encounter was a pontoon boat that could let us pass without running aground. At 10:40am we reached the ‘summit’ of the Rideau River (437 feet above sea level) at Newboro Lock #36. There was a big sign warning boaters that the buoy colors have swapped sides (it was red right returning until this point). By 2:50 we were through Chaffey’s and Davis’s Lock and the four Jones Falls locks, having dropped over 90 feet in elevation. We docked at Shangri-La Cottages and Campground. It has two 30-amp posts along the dock, but no water. Never-the-less, we checked in and made reservations to dine at the historic (UNESCO Site and a National Geographic recommendation) Kenney’s Hotel. The food was excellent. After dinner we walked up to the Jones Falls locks

Hotel Kenney as seen from the
Jones Falls locks

and dam. The dam concave construction was necessary in 1831 to flood a section of the Rideau River to minimize the excavation of the locks. An unintended consequence of the dam’s design is one person can talk in a normal voice on one end of the dam and can be heard clearly at the other end. We tried it and it works great! We went back to the boat and planned our visit and sightseeing in Kingston.

The Jones Falls Dam

---

An empty lock at
Jones Falls

Day 65: Ayling’s Boatyard to Len’s Cove Marina, Portland, Ontario, Canada (31.5NM, 10 Hours)

Rob Roy's Pup

---

Narrow Canal

We left Ayling’s Boat yard around 7:55am to be at the Merrickville ‘blue line’ lock dock before it became crowded with other boats wanting to lock through at 9:00am.  We were the second boat on the line.  Three other boats arrived before the locks opened.  Our group was the first to go through.  This meant we didn’t have to wait another hour as the group of downstream waiting boats locked through.  The canal on this portion of the journey was narrow.  The red and green buoy markers in the water marking the channel did not match what was on the chart plotter, but

Lock 29a looking aft

---

Lock 29a looking forward

Brian followed the buoys in the water.  Both Linda and Chris could look down to see the channel walls a few feet below the water only 8-10 feet away on either side in some spots.  Other areas were much wider and much more relaxing to navigate through.  At each of the locks before Smiths Falls, Chris got to talk to a lady in a pontoon boat that was just behind us in the lock.  She gave him suggestions on where to have lunch in Smiths Falls, and (in French) worked the coordination with the lock master.  We decided on eating the recommended pub: Rob Roy’s, which we

Rain Train heading our way

initially learned about during our trip to Scotland (he is their version of Robinhood).  All we had to do is tell the Smiths Falls lock master we wanted to have lunch and we could tie up at the lock’s ‘gray line’ dock for free.  Smiths Falls locks (28, 29, 30)  used to be a set of three locks.  However, they were replaced by a hydraulic lock system (29a).  This lifted us over 60 feet.  Before exiting the Smiths Falls lock we said our goodbye’s to the other four boat buddies. We tied Splash Down at the dock and walked the short distance (just behind the Friends of the Rideau Canal museum to the pub.  From the outdoor deck we could see Splash Down at the lock. Walking back we stopped at the museum.  We didn’t tour the museum.  Instead we took an elevator to the fourth floor, then went up stairs to an observatory where we could see more of the Rideau Canal at Smiths Falls. From Smiths Falls we

Another Tollycraft

proceeded on to Len’s Cove Marina through rain showers.  There were a few narrow channels to navigate then the path opened up in the Lower Rideau River.  This was an opportunity to ‘blow out’ the engines.  Brian trotted up to 24,000 RPM.  We left a large puff of smoke hanging over the water, then it was clear.  The engines purred happily as we zipped across the water at 19 knots for about 10 minutes.  We dropped back down to 6 knots when we passed into a no wake zone between a peninsula and an island.  Then we were in the middle the Big Rideau River and heading to Len’s Cove.  The rain had passed, too.  Arriving at 5:50pm, Brian checked us in and we headed to their on-site restaurant called The Galley.  As we were sitting waiting for the wait staff, Brian noticed another 44-foot Tollycraft Cockpit Motor Yacht.  Unfortunately, we didn’t meet the owner, but Brian got some great pics for comparing the two boats later.