Dear Flies and Beer Drinking Teens

I suppose I should celebrate the fact that we managed to leave Hurst Marina before noon. Hurray! The goal was to make Smiths Falls but seeing as how we didn't leave 8 o'clock sharp, the goal was quickly revised to make it somewhere where we can swim. It's not an easy task on the latter half of the Rideau, however the consensus from the lock masters was that Edmonds lock was the place.

The stretch of river between Kars and Edmonds lock is a fairly wide, shallow swampy course dotted by houses and farmland.

 Bald eagle sighting!

Last time I saw this boat it was looking a lot worse. Someone is beautifying.

Roan watching the world go by


Important note: for gods sake have a fly swatter handy if you are boating during dear fly season because they are fast and hungry.

The horror

When I was younger I often was on the 416 crossing the Rideau river thinking to myself I wish I was down there instead of up here.

Glad I'm down here not up there!!!


In the middle of this trip you will find Merrickville, a nice place to stop for the night because it's a quaint town with nearby pubs, artsy shops, gourmet mustard makers and, if you have little ones, a candy and ice cream store just up the Main Street. We didn't stop here because in the busy time of year they are full by noon plus we have visited this town several times and so we were keen to keep going


 On the western front we could see a storm coming up and the lock master told us that if we wanted to bring the boat up on plain the make  Edmonds lock and beat the storm we could….yeehaw!

 

Dad and roan storm chasing


Edmonds lock is a nice spot with picnic tables and well manicured park.there is no power though so we had no fan to temper the heat for sleeping.  The swimming was great at the bottom of the lock and apparently the locals agreed because we were joined by a bunch of beer drinking teens jumping off the top of the lock. It was all good as they left before bug hour.

Beer drinking teens...

Captain' log

Captains log, day one.

It's no secret I my family that we are not quick to get away in the morning. You would think that with a big trip in front of us we might make an exception. You would be wrong. True to form we didn't leave Dows lake dock  until the fresh hour of 1 pm. So be it. Better late than never. We motored for a whole five minutes until we hit Hartwell locks. Then we waited. Luck was not our side and we ended up waiting an hour to get through. Talk about hurry up and wait. On the plus side I got to stare at Dunton tower, my old alma matter. Memories.

lllllllllllots of term papers written in this tower.....

 The next lock was ten minutes up and the folks at Hogsback were waiting for us. One great thing about the locks is the lockmasters call ahead for you and notify the next lock you are coming. We got through quickly and made our way through Ottawa south down prince of Wales and under the hunt club bridge. Next lock is Blacks and again it was smooth sailing. 

The next leg of the trip was south of Ottawa toward barrhaven. This is a good hour stretch where the river widens and you can see jets overhead as you traverse the Ottawa airport flight path. Despite a tempting offer to stop by my Inlaws that happened to be picnicking at friends along the river we powered on wanting to make Long Island locks before they closed. Approaching Long Island locks from the north you get a good view of the impressive dam that was first built 180 years ago where there was once a large set of rapids. The last time we went through these locks we had a two hour wait so we were happy to get here and start locking up within a half an hour. We were not the only ones waiting and we locked up with six other boats...a new personal record!

Yes there are seven boats crammed in this lock

 After the three locks its a nice meandering journey past The waterfront mansions of Manotick where people seem to have the right attitude. 

Yes it can be.

Along the way you pass Kelly's landing, a boat friendly waterfront restaurant and the Manotick Marina which was previously closed but seems to have found new life. 

At 7 pm we made it to our destination. Hurst Marina is a full service joint and most importantly after a hot day with a Five year old it has a pool! 

Boat just docked and Roan already scoping out the pool

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Tomorrow our goal is Smiths Falls. Maybe I can line up a tour of the new medical marijuana facility ?? For science of course. 

Ahoy!

Buoytown blog is here to detail my family's adventures, trials and tribulations aboard our 29 ft. Bayliner cruiser that we anchor at Dow's lake in Ottawa. You will note a lack of fancy nautical terms and quips in this blog because, well, I just don't know that many having little sailor training. However I do love the boat, water and the feeling you get when you step aboard her and step away from the rest of the world.

I am starting this blog for two reasons: Reason 1) we are preparing to power through the triangle connecting the ports of Ottawa, Kingston and Montreal (countdown – 6 days) and I wanted a way to document this and other trips. The route we have chosen is as follows: leave Ottawa and cruise down the Rideau Canal to Kingston, head down the St Lawrence through the 1000 Islands to Montreal then back up the Ottawa River to home. It occurs to me that there is no catchy name for this triangle. I am affectionately calling it the Upper, Lower Canada triangle. Done.

Reason 2) is it me or is there a serious lack of boater-generated information about boating in the Rideau Canal and surrounding area? Well here I am to add my 2 cents (now rounded to a Canadian nickel at retail) to this sparse body of knowledge. 

Welcome aboard!