Surprises About Canada

. . . Things We've Learned Along the Way

Because our plans were to be in Canada just a short time – and never in Quebec, we weren’t as prepared for or well read about this country as we should have been. Surprises along the way have been:

The gold-colored coin is a dollar, the silver coin with the gold
center is worth two dollars, and the twenties are examples
of the bills.

Hard currency in Canada is more advanced than in the States. Canada has done away with pennies and dollar bills. When an item or service costs an amount that does not end with “0” or “5,” the change received back is rounded up.  For example, if we give a clerk a $5 bill for a $1.98 candy bar, the clerk will give us $3.05 in change. We’ve found we have so many coins that it’s a relief not to have pennies to deal with.

To replace paper dollar bills, Canada introduced $1 coins and $2 coins. Men probably hate the idea because of the weight in their pockets.

Most merchants won’t accept large bills because of counterfeiting. When U.S. money is exchanged at a bank, it’s better to ask for $20 bills or smaller, not $100s.

Canada is a much more manicured country than expected. First, we didn’t expect Canada to be such an agricultural center. And then we didn’t expect the hundreds of well-groomed farms that line the rivers and canals of Canada. In the southern states that we’re most familiar with, hundreds of farms line the rivers, but they don’t seem as uniformly cared for or successful. Canadian cities are clean with no trash around. Flowers are planted and flourishing in every available space. The little window into Canada that we’ve seen is very impressive.

Laundry is expensive. As in the States, machines are coin operated. In fact, the machines look exactly like those in U.S. Laundromats. It’s just that they take $1 coins, not quarters. One extra large load of wash cost us $8, wash only.  A fellow traveler paid $22 for laundry.

Robert and Laurie-Anne were terrific help at the Sainte-
Anne-de-Bellevue Lock, especially Robert who locked us
through during the storm.

Parks Canada people are extremely friendly and helpful. In describing them, one of the Skipper Bob books said that the Erie Canal employees are striving to be like Parks Canada staff. We can’t speak to that, but do know the Parks Canada people are extraordinary.  They are required to be bilingual and trained to answer countless crazy questions of canal travelers, with a smile on their faces. They were especially helpful during our bout of bad weather at Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue Lock.

Twisted wires on the windex were from
a harsh, quick storm while at anchor.

The weather has been extreme. Granted, the weather has been extreme just about everywhere this year. First, we had about 10 days of sweltering, mid-90-degree heat. It brought to mind the words of our Looper friends, Stan and Annie, that they were never hotter than in Canada.

One late afternoon, thunderstorms moved through where we were anchored past the Sainte Ours Lock with Aurora, the 22-foot Hunter sailboat with Mike and Cindy aboard. Lightning and thunder hit very close, making us happy the mast was down. The next day we noticed that the windex wires at the top/now-the-end of Carina’s mast had been twisted by high storm winds. Aurora’s windex wires were twisted the same way. Kent described it as the worst thunderstorm he’d ever been in on a boat.

Two days later, we were moored (docked) at the Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue Lock waiting a few days for high winds and afternoon storm fronts to pass through before traveling on. The front that day moved head on at us with wind gusts of 50 or more, creating waves of three to four feet. Both boats were lucky not to have been damaged – the storm was that fierce. Both rocked like hobby horses against the lines, such as Aurora here.

The Parks Canada staff helped us by opening the lock for us, giving us the protection of the gates and walls, and by locking us through to the other side for the night. We gave them cookies and our heart-felt thanks the next day.

Credit cards may or may not work here.  Debit-credit cards may work, although ours haven’t yet. Part of the reason may be because Canadian bank ATMs are affiliated with either MasterCard or Visa. Are U.S. banks this way, too, with foreign credit cards? Maybe. We have a Visa debit-credit card and have only found MasterCard banks. So far, groceries, marinas, and convenience stores only take cash or a Visa or MasterCard credit card. A few also take American Express, but not everyone. . . just like the States.

The boat traffic has been fierce.  Timing is everything. Skipper Bob books recommend getting to the Trent-Severn Waterway by July 1. Yes, we’re late. The reason for the advice is because many, many Canadians take two to four weeks off at that time. It seems that most of them own a boat and are racing around for dear life. We can’t blame them. Their boating season is so short. We’d probably we racing around like fools, too, if we lived here.

What’s next? The Rideau Canal (to the left) that will take us to Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Today, we tackled the first eight back-to-back Rideau Canal locks lifting us up to the beautiful city of Ottawa, the capitol of Canada. We’ll take a quick break to see parts of the city, then continue on through the amazing canals and countryside of Canada.

Carina at the blue line mooring with Idylle from Montreal and Aurora from Minnesota. The blue line indicates that boats are ready to lock through immediately. The three sailboats were there with over 20 power boats.