MONTREAL, QUEBEC TO SAINT ANNE, QUEBEC

Thursday, June 25th, 2015

Day 325

Miles Traveled: 39

Total Miles Traveled: 4784

  Our journey leaving Montreal was a little different than we arrived.  This time the strong current was on our stern (back of the boat).  At one point, we were going over 13mph (if you remember from a previous post we usually go about 8mph without current).  Once we turned into the Canal de la Rive Sud (South Shore Channel), the current abated.  This canal, about 22 miles long, takes the Saint Lawrence Seaway around the Rapides de Lachine (Lachine Rapids) near Montreal.  

Canal de la Rive Sud

 

  Along this canal are two federal locks, Saint Lambert and Saint Catherine, which are not part of the National Canadian Park System and associated Canal System Locks.

Saint Catherine Lock

  This canal and its locks are frequented by large ocean going vessels using the St. Lawrence Seaway for commerce.  We met a small one between the two locks.

tow and large barge on canal

  After leaving the protection of the Canal de la Rive Sud, we entered Lake Saint Louis.  Although it looks like a very large body of water, most of it is shallow.  We had to follow the marker buoys for the channel very close.  There are several other channels that come off of the main channel and it was important to sort out which were the ones we were to follow and which ones were not.

Lake Saint Louis

  At the northwest end of Lake Saint Louis is the Saint-Anne-de-Bellevue Lock.  This lock is a part of the Canadian National Park System and has places to dock along a wall both above and below the lock.  There is a small town adjacent to the lock with shops and restaurants nearby.  We decided to go through the lock and tie up on the other side so in the morning we would not have to wait for the lock to open to begin our days travels.  The locks of Park Canada do not open until after 9:00 am.  Like the Saint Ours lock on the Richelieu River, this lock had a floating dock within the lock to tie off to while the water level was adjusted.  This is the easiest type of locking we have experience so far.  Saint-Anne-de-Bellevue Lock raised us a "whopping" 3 feet.

  After getting tied up at the lock wall mooring (docking) area, we took a walk about town.  There were mostly restaurants on the main street.  We walked about 3 blocks away from the main street and found a small grocery store and picked up a few items.  We had leftovers aboard from our eating frenzy in Montreal, so, "leftovers it was" for dinner.

  When Angie tried to start the generator to reheat the leftovers, the day went from good to bad.  The generator tried to start but immediately died.  After that, it wouldn't even try to start.  Dan tried to determine the cause of the problem, but, he was unable to do so.  This upcoming part of the trip was supposed to be about anchoring and staying at free locks walls.  This would require a generator that worked.  We did some research (as best as we could without internet) and found a few marinas on the Ottawa river that listed repairs as a service.  Hopefully, one of them will be able to fix our broken generator.  Life isn't always roses on The Loop.   

  Of note, today was Angie's birthday.  Her birthday present will be getting the generator fixed.  Until then, the candles are not glowing on her cake.