Day 97 - Thu 2 Jul 2015
Anchored – Big Rideau Lake, ON

[photo: moon shining over our anchorage in Morton Bay]

We slept very well last night and awoke early (before 0530) to a gorgeous near full moon setting behind the tree-lined hill behind us. Other than it being a bit brisk (about 52F), it was a delightful start to the day. We puttered around until just before 0800 and then tried to weigh anchor. As forewarned, the anchor chain came up covered in heavy weed that made it look like a small Christmas tree. The anchor had heavy mud on it, too. It literally took 25 minutes to get it mostly cleared away and the anchor stowed.

Diane did her best to clean some of the mess as we motored slowly along. As we were slowly moving, we spied an otter on the surface swimming in the same direction as our travel. Unfortunately, we had to put the anchor up and down a bit and the noise scared him into diving. That was our first otter seen in the wild in our lifetime – very cool.

The first lock of the day was not quite open when we arrived, so we tied up at the very picturesque Jones Falls lock to await the staff. I needed to buy our canal locking pass, but that office was at the top, so they locked us up and then we took care of business before leaving the last lock of the flight. It was good there was no one waiting to lock down, but I guess they just assume everyone is OK with a slow pace and frequent delays. The one-way transit pass cost us $127 US, and we will only be locking about 4-5 days, but it is worth it.

With the weather being absolutely gorgeous, the number of boats we saw today was twentyfold what we saw yesterday. Most were day boats and not long-distance cruisers like us. I think I am fairly hardy when it comes to cold tolerance, but I readily admit that living in FL for 11 years has reduced my tolerance for cold somewhat. The air temperature was about 60F by mid-morning and almost every male we saw was riding in the boat shirtless. With the wind chill, depending upon which direction they were traveling, that had to feel like less than 50F. I no longer have a body that looks good shirtless, but even so, that is too cold for me.

It was obvious that the scenery would be better appreciated on such a sunny day, and the day could not have been prettier. There were numerous times where the channel was only 50 feet wide and sometimes as shallow as 4.5 feet, and that put you really close to the rock formations, occasional cottages, and private boat docks. There were other times that the lakes forming the waterway were very deep and wide with nothing to worry about hitting, so you could allow your gaze to take in the natural wonders surrounding you. The Erie Canal had some high points, but so far this is tenfold better.

We traversed 7 locks going up and 1 lock going down today. The engines were turned off for each locking, and for the first several, Clyde came up on deck to see our new location for the day. Well, he got fooled too many times and finally lay seemingly petulantly under the salon table with a look that said, “Let me know when you are REALLY finished, OK?”

We had close encounters with a few French Canadian couples on their boats and I got to practice my French a bit more. I was pleasantly surprised at how well I was able to communicate, despite forgetting so much vocabulary and being quite rusty with the grammatical elements. It will surely be needed once we get E of Quebec City, where few people speak anything but French until you get S into New Brunswick.

At several points, we saw birds that we later realized were loons. That was a first for us, too. They are larger than we both imagined. With the water so clear, you could watch them dive under water for perhaps 10 feet before they were no longer visible. There are no dolphins, pelicans, or alligators here, but nature is surely abundant and very beautiful.

We looked at several anchorages today, but finally decided on one along the N shore of the Big Rideau Lake. It is a fairly long and somewhat narrow bay oriented N/S with no homes. The bottom is 22 feet deep where it was wide enough to anchor safely, so we have to let out enough anchor rode to be prudent and that means we could swing just a little closer to shore than might be comfortable. I believe that our anchor was well set and we will be just fine.

Diane suggested that we take showers off the stern of the boat while the water was still hot and the sun was still high in the sky, plus the fact that we were alone here. It just may be that someone else will anchor here for the night, which is their right. A shower always feels good, but especially so on a boat for some reason. We enjoyed the second night’s ration of the hot sausage, potatoes, onions, and green beans.

The wind died completely about 1800 and with the sun streaming in the large windows, it got warm in the boat. I was not brave enough to dive into the water, but did sit with my lower legs dangling for a while to cool down. I estimate the upper layer of water to be near 65F. While I have not been too cold for much of this trip, despite the unseasonably cooler temperatures, Diane has been chilly a lot. Today was the first day I saw her in summer attire (once we stopped moving) in quite a while.

Some could argue that today was boring in that we did not go ashore except to buy the lock pass. We did no exploring of towns, and the only social interaction was at the locks, where, frankly, we both spent a lot of time chatting with other boaters in the locks or tourists wondering at the spectacle of the locking experience. We, however, found it like yesterday to be a wonderful way to just observe nature and relax, surrounded by the beauty.

Tomorrow, we might opt to stay at a dock, however, to visit the town of Merrickville.