. . . Ottawa, the Start of the Rideau Canal
After taking a left turn off the Ottawa River, we headed toward the Rideau Canal and the spectacular skyline of Ottawa. Parliament rose by the edge of the river near the stair-stepped series of eight locks that lift boaters up to the capitol of Canada.
We arrived as the locks closed for the day and rafted up overnight with Henri and Carole on Idylle, new friends from Montreal, and Mike and Cindy on Aurora, old friends (nearly two weeks!) from Minnesota. By the way, about 20 powerboats of all sizes were rafted three deep to the blue line dock, too. The blue line section is where boaters are to moor (dock) who want to lock through immediately.
The next morning, after much pondering, the lock master sent Carina into the lock first. We may just be 34-foot long ordinarily, but the mast down makes us about 48-feet.
About five more boats joined us in the first lock through of the morning, including Aurora. Then the gates were cranked shut. It took three waves of lock-throughs just to handle all the boats docked overnight.
Hot, sweaty and tired, we went through all eight back-to-back locks from nine to noon. Luckily, two spaces were available downstream on the bulkhead wall downtown for Carina and Aurora, and we were able to relax, buy ice and explore Ottawa for a few hours before heading on our way further down the Rideau Canal.
Ottawa is a Disney-imagined city – or maybe Disney was inspired by Ottawa. Parts of Ottawa look like a fun ride.
(The Fairmont Hotel is to the left of the eight locks that would take us up to the level of Ottawa.)
Parts look like Space Mountain.
(We have no clue what this structure is. Google let us down.)
Parts look like Fantasyland.
(The Canadian Parliament building rises above the Richelieu Canal.)
And other parts look like Epcot.
(The Changing of the Guards at the huge war memorial across from Parliament was led by a piper.)
We didn't see as much of Ottawa as we would have liked. The parts we saw were gorgeous.
Next: Locks R Us
Hi Kent and Jane - Things have been a bit hectic for me since returning from the Flying Scot North Americans, so I haven't had a chance to write to you. We had a good week but very poor wind....my favorite was the day where the forecast was wind: 0 with gusts of...0!! Oh, well...Sounds like you are in a somewhat remote area right now. Pete Snyder let us all know that all was well with you. We are busy here planning our fall sailing events, waiting for the heat to leave us and the wind to return. Take care and be safe. Linda
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