Day 323: Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Port to Port: Ottawa to Kars, Ontario

Underway: 8:36 am      Motor Off: 5:10 pm      Miles Traveled: 24      Stayed At: Town Dock

First Things First: First time seeing docks cantilevered out over the water.

Mile 0 to Mile 24: We reluctantly left Ottawa this morning to start our way back south again. Ottawa has been a short but amazing stop. I would leave a lot more time to explore this town if I ever am lucky enough to get back here. We didn’t need to leave early this morning since the next lock in the sequence doesn’t open until 9 am and is less than an hour away. I used the time wisely. I found a gas station less than a mile away so I carted our gas cans down there for a fill, I got coffee on the way back and even had time to take some pictures along the way.

We went through 7 locks today. The first ones – No. 9 and 10 – and No. 14, 15 and 16 were step locks. These are time consuming expecially when the waterway is busy like it is now. We locked through with the same 4 boats each time. Each boat has to go in slow and get secured to the cables running up and down along the sides before the next boat comes in. We actually were rafting in between two other boats so we had to go extra slow to avoid hitting anything – especially someone’s $200,000 gelcoat. Two big power boats came in behind us – also disconcerting when they come in and stop with their bow sprit/anchor only a foot or two from out solar panel. Exiting a step lock to go into the next step/lock is also a special challenge since there is no maneuvering room. It’s like a dance. We were successful, if slow and had a productive day. (There are 44 locks in the Rideau Canal System so we should get pretty good at this dance by the end).

We didn’t get quite as far as we had hoped but we found a nice free dock in Kars, Ontario with no other boats on it so we decided to take advantage of the opportunity instead of anchoring out as originally planned. Lucky we did since it gave us a change to meet Kathy and Cameron (hope I spelled that right), two retired teachers who live near the landing/dock. I was walking up the road and they were outside by their truck and horse trailer and we started chatting (funny how that happens). A few minutes later they offered to let us use their car to go to a good restaurant – the Red Dot – in a nearby town. Well, if the choice is between leftovers or going out to eat after a long, hard day in the sunshine, going out wins almost every time. We invited them both with but Cameron had a meeting so only Kathy joined us and we had a wonderful dinner learning a little about each others lives, families and adventures. It will be another wonderful random experience we will remember for a long time. (Thanks Kathy and Cameron for the hospitality).