Transiting the St Lawrence Seaway
03 August 2019 | Longueuil Marina
Belinda and Kit | Hot and Humid
Picture shows; waiting at a lock for the big ships to pass through
More pics at; https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZPDYGeFYich7BWSk8
With the new radar in place and up and running, we left Kingston on July 13th to head down the St Lawrence Seaway, quite a challenging passage.
La Salle causeway bridge opened for us to leave the inner basin and we sailed toward Wolfe Island and the Seaway beyond. We'd planned to spend the first night anchored on one of the Thousand Islands but just before lunchtime we heard a strong wind warning on the VHF so decided to anchor in the shelter of Brakey Bay on the NE end of Wolfe Island. A short first day, but a pleasant sheltered anchorage out of the strongest gusts.
Next morning we hauled the anchor joined the principal Seaway route that runs through American waters to the south of the Thousand Islands. We passed lots of little island houses, many had submerged docks and water lapping right up to their doors.
Our cruising speed is normally around 5-6 knots but due to the unprecedented water levels in the Lakes, which are only just beginning to drop, the strong currents increased our speed to 7-8 knots. Soon we were passing, and being passed by, huge ships in quite close proximity; normally we would be giving them a wide berth but here we all must share the shipping channel. ..and what a bow wave they create, we were often sent rolling about like crazy!
We sailed past Boldt and Singer castles on their respective islands, looking like castles on the Rhine, and under the Thousand Islands Bridge that connects Canada with the USA.
Toward evening on the approach our next anchorage, a few hundred yards from the first Seaway Lock, we were flying along at 8 knots and wondered how on earth we could slow down to leave the main channel. However, the current moderated as we sidled away from the buoyed channel and we anchored behind pretty Toussaint Island in reasonably still waters, feeling a little nervous about negotiating our first lock in the morning.
A Canadian and US project, The St Lawrence Seaway was opened in 1959 and links the Atlantic Ocean ports with the Great Lakes ports. It stems the St Lawrence River with a series of dams and locks towards the western end, enabling passage up to the Lakes. There are seven locks, two American and five Canadian.
Designed principally for commercial shipping, the vessels that use it are roughly twice the length of a football pitch and half as wide. Each enormous lock fills and drains 24million gallons of water in a very short time. Pleasure craft over 6m long and weighing over one ton may use the Seaway, but precedence is given to commercial traffic so we were expecting a wait next morning as we approached Iroquois Lock - the first Canadian one. The procedure for small craft is to tie to a waiting dock, phone in from the phone provided and pay via a ticket machine. It went like clockwork and we were surprised to be called into the lock straight away.
In the Canadian locks the attendants hand us a rope each, one at the stern and one at the bow. We loop it around a cleat and slip it slowly as we descend - often some 45 feet. Luckily Iroquois lock only has a height difference of a couple of feet, so it was an easy introduction to the system!
Not so lucky at the American Eisenhower Lock; we arrived there later and were told they had a busy commercial shipping period and we'd have to wait a few hours, pushing our arrival at the next anchorage into hours of darkness. Dismayed, we mentioned this to the lockkeeper and he suggested that we stay on the waiting dock overnight, a good result! Procedure at the US locks is slightly different, we paid cash for the two locks, Eisenhower and Snell at the first.
In the lock next morning we had to loop our bow and stern lines around a floating bollard midships, running them back to the cleats. As the lock emptied we controlled the boat by fending off as it swung. Again, this all went well, and as there was no waiting about at Snell lock we arrived at our next stop, Valleyfield de Salaberry, by early afternoon. We were now in the province of Quebec; quite a change to suddenly hear only French spoken over the VHF. We quickly pulled out our phrase book!!
Thunderstorms were forecast next day so we spent two nights there. Valleyfield anchorage is in the middle of town and during the daytime there are lots of pleasure boats racing around. A fountain in the centre of the inner harbour is a magnet for small boats, jet skis etc. as they can circle around it and get showered on the downwind side! There was plenty to entertain us and we watched their antics from our cockpit. Nightfall brought peace and quiet to the anchorage, and an unusual sight in the front garden in one of the houses! (see Google pics).
From Valleyfield we passed under the next lifting bridge with several motor boats and made best speed toward the St Louis lifting bridge before the next lock. To our astonishment the bridge was lowered as we approached! We tried calling on VHF as we circled around but our calls went unanswered, although we heard the bridge operator responding in French to other vessels. Admittedly we don't speak French well, but English is the language on the sea and all international shipping uses English.
15 minutes went by and we saw a huge ship approaching. Well, the bridge would definitely open for him!! Sure enough the bridge lifted and we passed underneath in his wake!
Arriving at the next set of locks, Beauharnois Locks, motor boats were taking up all the waiting dock space so we tied to a concrete wharf. Kit clambered up to go and pay and report in, but the phone booth is fenced off and only accessible from the waiting dock! We tried calling the lockkeeper on the VHF channel given in the Seaway Guide to explain the situation but no response! ..although he responded to French boats!
We were feeling quite persecuted by this time! There was nothing to do but wait for the lock gates to open. Shortly after lunch an American flagged boat arrived and we heard them calling the lockkeeper in English to find out what was happening but to no avail. They asked us if we knew, and we commiserated about the lack of response to our calls.
A couple of commercial ships passed through with ample time between to lock the pleasure craft through, but we had to wait. Five hours later a flurry of activity by the motor boats signalled that we were at last on the move again, so we cast off. Once in the lock the attendants spoke perfect English! We explained that we couldn't get to the ticket machine and after a bit of pleading a sympathetic attendant consented to get one for us.
By the time we cleared Beauharnois Locks we still had 28 miles, two locks and two lifting bridges to go before Montreal!
Luckily we weren't kept waiting as long again, but it was 10pm and dark when we exited the final Seaway Lock in Montreal.
In Montreal the St Lawrence river comes racing past the City to meet the Seaway and our speed picked up to 8 knots again. It was clear that we'd never be able to fight against the current to get to the recommended Old Port Marina so we headed for Longueuil, about a mile downstream. The entrance looked straightforward on the chart except the approach channel cut across the fast running current. Peering into the darkness to identify the buoys we crabbed along the channel and managed to squeeze in between the unlit breakwaters.
We tied up on the fuel dock as there was no-one around, and had a stiff brandy!!
The Seaway locks were behind us and we had a week in Montreal to look forward to.