Mer Sea

Our first day out of Ottawa, we traveled with September Morn to a little marina on the canal. The locks were pretty crowded, coming off the holiday weekend, but the lockmasters did a great job of squeezing the boats in and keeping things moving. We weren’t held up more than 15 minutes at any lock! What a feat!!

 

Normally, we don’t like to stay at marinas on the canal, since there are so many free, or practically free, places to tie up. However, we really needed a pump out and to take on some water, and by the time we could get to this marina to accomplish these tasks, it was too late to look for a place on the wall of the canal, so we decided to just stay.

 

Yikes! The marina wasn’t at all protected from the wakes of passing boats, and the aforementioned boats, of which there were many, FLEW by, creating all sorts of wake! It was unbelievably rocky and rolly. This is bad enough, but Roy was cleaning the shower sump pump, and all the lines leading to it, and he had a shower full of water that spilled out when these inconsiderate boats went flying by! Not a situation made to produce good will or good tempers. Finally, as the afternoon wore on, the boat traffic subsided, and things settled down. Whew!

 

We had supper that night with Flore and Duane at a little restaurant right at the marina, and it was lots of fun. They are great to travel with because they’re flexible and independent, two great qualities that, I must say, I’ve found a lot in these cruising couples. They have great attitudes and fine senses of humor, and fun is always on the menu when we’re together.

 

The next day we traveled to Merrickville, one of the nicest towns on the Rideau. We were lucky to find two places to tie up our boats, both with power! (OK, so we had to pay $10.00 for the power…big deal!). After we were secured, I went over to the library to do some work on the internet, which I’d been sorely missing for a while! They have wifi at the library, and gave me the code to use it, so I just took my computer and got comfortable somewhere in the building, and worked away. It was great!

 

When I was finished, I dropped my computer off at the boat, and Flore and I went out to explore in the town. Lots of great shops, and such a lovely little village. Hospitable and friendly people, too. We had a wonderful time!

 

The next morning, the 4 th of July, dawned overcast and somewhat threatening. It amazes us how different this year’s weather is from last year’s. I don’t recall any bad weather at all last year. Perhaps I’d be refreshed if I checked my journals, but I do think this has been a cooler and wetter summer by far than last year.

 

Anyway, we were headed to Smith’s Falls, which wasn’t far, and we got there well before any rain. Flore and I decided that we’d like to check out the Hershey’s factory, which I hadn’t gotten to last year. It was a bit of a hike, but we donned our raincoats, and with our “Streets and Trips” map in hand (boy, do Roy and I like that Microsoft program!) we headed out. The promise of free samples and discounted chocolate was a powerful motivator!

 

I believe I’ve mentioned before that Flore is one of the few people I know who likes to walk at the same pace as I, and we covered the distance briskly, and found our way to the factory. Wow! Just opening the door produced a chocolate high! We took the self-guided tour, seeing all the stages of the making of a candy bar (you can’t believe the enormous vats of chocolate!), and then bought all the chocolate we could carry back to the boats! What fun!! We did get rained on a bit going home, but it’s only water…I haven’t melted yet!

 

That night, we all went to dinner at the wonderful Eastern European restaurant, Our Place, that we’d discovered last year. It’s wonderful schnitzel and gulyasch and rouladen, etc., and it’s all homemade and delicious. We each had different meals, and they were all wonderful. A little homemade raspberry pie for dessert, and we were all set!

 

The next day we parted company with Flore and Duane, and don’t expect to see them before next winter sometime. They’re continuing on the Loop, and we’re taking a leisurely time on the Rideau and then continuing with our own agenda. It’s been such fun traveling with them, and I look forward to seeing them again whenever.

 

We were headed for a sidetrip from the Rideau, to Perth via the Tay canal, a short canal that was built to connect Perth to the Rideau and connecting waterways. There was some question about the depth of the Tay canal, so when we got to the first lock, we parked Mer Sea and Roy talked to a local who was docked there, and also the lockmaster. The consensus was that taking Mer Sea to Perth wasn’t a really good idea. It might be OK, but it might not…

 

Those weren’t odds that we liked, so we decided to leave Mer Sea on the wall, which had an electric stand we could use as well, and take the dinghy on the seven mile ride to Perth. What a great idea that turned out to be! The ride was beautiful, with waterlillies and lovely shoreline, otters and birds all along the way. It was so nice to be close to all that nature, and we wouldn’t have appreciated it nearly as much from the pilothouse. It was also great exercise for the dink!

 

Perth is a really nice town, and we had a fine time exploring. In the hardware store, we found something that we’d been looking for for a while, a ¾ inch bolt to help with removal of the main engine impeller when we need to perform the odious task of changing it. You just never know where you’re going to find stuff!

 

The ride back to Mer Sea was just as lovely as our ride to Perth. One of the unusual things for us was going through the two locks in the dinghy! Gee, those locks seem big when we’re right on the water! If it weren’t for the engine we probably would have just portaged, but the engine made the rig too heavy, so lock through we did!

 

It had been our plan to anchor out in Big Rideau Lake the next day, and to visit the town of Westport by dingy, but we didn’t like the weather forecast, and we remembered the weeds from last year, and checked out the chart and couldn’t find a really good anchorage with deeper water, so we decided to go to Portland instead. It turned out to be a good choice. The marina in Portland was very nice, and the people there were unbelievably friendly! We had a lot of fun visiting with them, and we took a walk around the little town as well. Not much to it, but it was nice enough, and we were able to get a few essentials at the little grocery store. Roy was happy to be somewhere where he could wash the boat with decent water pressure, and Mer Sea was once again spiffed up!

 

The next day we headed for Jones Falls. We were still in radio contact with September Morn, and it turned out that they were waiting for the lock in Jones Falls as we were arriving! An unexpected surprise! We got to hug them and say goodbye one more time as they proceeded through the lock and we tied to the wall for the night.

 

There is a lovely park at this lock, and we walked all around it and really enjoyed the setting. We decided to eat dinner at a little restaurant that is part of a small hotel nearby, and had a fine meal there. It was a bit poignant, as we spoke to the owner after our meal, and he told us that he’s the last of four generations of family ownership. The kids have no interest in running the place. So when he’s done, he’ll sell the place, and who knows what will happen to it. Oh well, I guess it’s just the way things go.

 

We were in touch with our friends Randy and Audrey, on Heart Tug, and plotting how to meet up with them. It seemed that they’d be able to get to our next stop, Brewer’s Mills, the next day, and we’d all spend the night together. Then we’d go on to Kingston and Belleville, while they stayed on the Rideau, and we’d meet up again to cruise a bit with them after that. Sounded like a plan!

 

It was SO good to see Randy and Audrey!! What a fun couple they are! We did lots of catching up after we were on the dock, and then plotted a “pot-luck” dinner together on their boat. Afterwards, the boys washed their respective boats with canal water, and later we gathered for dinner. We had such a good time! It will be great fun to spend some time with them after we get back from visiting Suzan and Mike in Belleville!

 

The next morning, we left bright and early, trying to get to Kingston before the wind had a chance to really whip up the way it seems to like to in that town. This is the least attractive stretch of the Rideau, through a shallow, unremarkable river, and we made our way through it without incident. We pulled into Kingston with the ubiquitous wind doing its thing, but were able to get Mer Sea into the dock unscathed. That’s always our goal in that marina. A fairly low standard, but it works for us!

 

I really love Kingston, and took a long walk just to enjoy being in a city with more than everything you could possibly need. I made a stop at the grocery and liquor stores before going back to the boat. It’s so easy to provision in that town.

 

So the wonderful Rideau is behind us, and we have the wonderful Suzan and Mike in front of us, not to mention Randy and Audrey, and possibly Jim and Peg, on Sanctuary, as well! Stay tuned for all the fun!