Cruising – Page 2 – Hydrotherapy Travels

Cruising the Rideau Canal

The Rideau Canal is North America’s oldest continuously operating canal. This 125 mile long chain of rivers, lakes, cut canals and locks was built between 1826-1832 as a military defense route to connect Ottawa with Lake Ontario. Although the canal has never been used for military purposes, it is now used primarily by recreational boaters to move from Ottawa to Kingston on Lake Ontario. It is managed well by the Canadian Park Services Dept.

We arrived at the first lock in Ottawa and ascended eight locks in rapid sequence to rise from the Ottawa river to downtown Ottawa. We had to wait for a couple of hours halfway through this lock series for a thunderstorm to pass over us. All 49 locks on the Rideau are still operated manually by turning hand cranks to open and close the lock gates as well as control the flow of water in and out of the locks. The lock interiors are made of massive limestone mortared blocks. Many of the locks are staffed by college-aged park employees who are extremely helpful and friendly while assisting boaters like us moving in and out of the lock gates.

We just missed the last set of four locks heading into Kingston, ON by a few minutes. We are now secured to a place on a wall above the lock awaiting the first opening tomorrow morning. From here we will cruise south to Kingston and head west on Lake Ontario to pick up the Trent-Severn canal system which will ultimately take us into the north Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. We are now enjoying warm sunny days and comfortably cool evenings. We are not missing the Florida heat and humidity!

Cruising the Ottawa River

After several days of great sightseeing in Montreal, we left early the next morning to begin a new path westward to cruise on the beautiful Ottawa river. We had to first backtrack through the St. Lambert lock and unfortunately we were delayed by several hours at the second lock (St. Catherine) while the maintenance crews repaired one of the lock gates that would not close.

After the unexpected delay, we traversed the second lock and made our way to the mouth of the Ottawas river at St. Anne De Bellvue. Although we did not make it in time to enter the lock there, we were able to tie up to the wall leading to the dock for the night. We took advantage of this unplanned stop to grill steaks on Hydrotherapy and have a quiet meal aboard enjoying the great outdoor summer weather.

The following day we made our way westward through the St. Anne De Bellvue lock as well as the Carillon lock which was another 20 miles west on the Ottawa river. The Carillon lock was unusual in that we were carefully directed by the lock personnel to tie up to a floating dock within the lock as well as to other boats that were in the lock with us. The lockmasters did a skillful job making sure all nine boats could safely be in the lock together as the water level rose 62 feet to the level of the upstream river.

From here the beauty of the Ottawa river completely impressed us. We were surrounded by rolling hills, green farm lands as well as impressive private homes and properties. We were lucky to arrange dockage at the Chateau Montebello marina adjacent to the Chateau which was built in the 1930’s completely from logs moved by train from the western United States. This luxury hotel is the largest log structure in the world. We enjoyed two nights of fine dining there as well as some hiking and a pleasant dinghy ride along the river.

Our next cruise was an easy pace up to the capital city of Ottawa. It is a beautiful city with rich architecture, a spectacular Parliament and over 130 foreign embassy buildings located there. Tomorrow we head south through the heart of downtown Ottawa on the Rideau Canal which was constructed in 1832. We will encounter a series of 44 locks to arrive in Kingston, Ontario located on the St. Lawrence river.

On The Road Again!

After a seven week break from our Great Loop journey, we are now back aboard Hydrotherapy and have resumed our travels North and heading into Canada.

We flew home end of May so that we could be there for the arrival of our newest grandchild. Worth and Erin welcomed their beautiful little girl, Lillian Elizabeth, on June 14th. Grace is a doting and loving big sister and is so proud of her baby sister!

We also were able to celebrate the 5th birthday of our oldest grandchild, Selby and spend time with her little brother Graham.

it was a time to spend with family and see friends whom we had not seen since February, when we began our boat journey.

We also were able to spend a week in Highlands, NC with Lauren and John and Selby and Graham. We had a great time hiking to beautiful waterfalls and vistas and visiting the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.

We returned to Syracuse on Friday. We had Hydrotherapy buffed and shined and a few minor repairs done there while we were gone. We resumed our journey on Saturday and headed west on the Erie Canal until we turned north onto the Oswego River. It was a time consuming day as we had eight locks to get through. We docked at the Oswego Municipal Marina for the evening and left this morning to cross Lake Ontario to get on the St Lawrence River. We are now cruising into the Thousand Islands…where Thousand Island salad dressing originated!

We loved our time at home with family and friends and now it is time to resume our 6,000 mile Great Loop journey! Tonight we are anchored near Cape Vincent, NY.

Beyond the Locks

The fog lifted and we have enjoyed beautiful weather cruising up the Hudson River from NYC. We stopped at some picturesque marinas as we continued north. Just beyond Troy, NY, we entered the Erie Canal system. This series of locks was originally constructed in the 1820’s for the purpose of moving commerce from Albany, NY to Buffalo. The original small barges were pulled by mules. Now the Erie Canal is managed by the NY State Canal System and is used primarily by recreational boaters like ourselves. Our only previous lock experience was passing through a few locks in the Okeechobee waterway several years ago. The first eight locks on the Erie Canal heading east to west are encountered one after the other, each raising the water level approximately 20 feet. With just two crew members, we had to quickly learn to coordinate manning a weighted rope hanging from the lock wall on both the bow and stern while the lock was filling rapidly with water.

We kept ascending in elevation with the first twenty locks. With Lock #21 and Lock #22, we are now starting to descend again as we work our way west. We are near Syracuse, NY now and soon will be turning north on the Oswego river to venture into Lake Ontario.

Weathering the Storm

It was a beautiful day with calm water, sunny skies, and no wind when we left the marina in Chesapeake City on Thursday morning. We docked at the marina in Cape May, NJ under the same sunny skies we left in the morning. Thursday was a three state travel day. We started in Maryland, passed through Delaware on the Delaware River, and ended in New Jersey.

We knew a weather system was heading across the states and heading to the Eastern shore and that we would need to stay in Cape May for a few days until the system passed. What we didn’t know was how severe this system would be and how long we would need to stay here. It’s now been five days and we can’t foresee leaving here for probably another four to five days. The winds are relentless and are sustained at 30 mph with gusts to 50 mph. There are now 10-15 foot seas in the Atlantic. For the past several weeks, we have been cruising down rivers, bays and canals. We now need to head north in the Atlantic for 125 miles before we can travel up the Hudson River. We won’t be moving from our safe dock anytime soon. It’s actually difficult to stay upright at times as we have walked into town to get groceries and to the beach to see the waves crashing onshore.

We couldn’t have been stuck in a better place. Cape May is simply charming. It’s well known for its Victorian houses dating back to the early 1800’s and the pedestrian village is a short 2 or 3 mile walk from the marina.

We knew we would need to test our flexibility at many times along this journey and we are waiting patiently (!) for this weather system to get a move on so we can, too!

Changes in Latitude

We continue to travel north on the Chesapeake Bay. At times we have crisscrossed from the eastern shore to the western shore and back, as we try to visit as many of the notable small towns as possible. We cruised into the beautiful historic port of Annapolis yesterday and enjoyed our walking tour of the Naval Academy today. Once again, we are so incredibly proud of these fine young men and woman who will soon become our country’s military leaders.🇺🇸

It’s remarkable to know that we have traveled over 1,500 miles on the water since tossing our lines in Sarasota in late February. With Sarasota located at 27 degrees N latitude and Annapolis being at 39 degrees N latitude, we have noticed the surrounding water temperature has dropped to 52 degrees Fahrenheit with the air temperature averaging in the 50’s, as well. In fact, for every one degree of latitude change we move 69 statute miles further north. Therefore, we are 828 miles north of Sarasota where spring weather is still trying to break through.

Unlike cruising in Florida, we have not had to run our generator or use our air conditioning for the past six weeks. We are able to keep our refrigerators and freezer cold while underway utilizing an inverter system which converts battery power to 110 volt ac current to supply these appliances. This allows us to keep these essential appliances operating without having to turn on our generator. While docking at marinas, we utilize the dockside electrical power pedestals to supply all the electrical power we need.

We will soon be moving further north to cross from the upper Chesapeake to the Delaware River and Cape May, NJ via the C & D canal (Chesapeake Bay and Delaware River).