Beautiful Montreal

Wednesday July 11:   In the afternoon we met with family, John & Peter (aka: The RVGeeks of YouTube fame).  They are transiting Canada and visiting RV parks as part of their business and heard we were in Montreal, so we were excited to have an opportunity for a visit.  We met them at the Port’s main ferry terminal and walked back to show them Santorini.  We sat in the cockpit and had some great conversation comparing land yachts and seagoing yachts. Later we did a mini tour of the Old City, then went for dinner at our favorite French restaurant BARROCO where we had a wonderful time wining and dining.  After our meal we continued our pre-dusk mini tour of Old City to the lights and sounds of bars, jazz clubs with live music and everything else in between.  The streets were crowded, and we rubbed shoulders with an eclectic mix of people from all over the world.

We returned to Santorini to enjoy a planned desert of Champagne, macaroons from the famous Maison Christian Faure Patisserie, and then watch one of the world’s largest pyrotechnics competition of its kind in the world, the Montreal International Fireworks Competition.   This event has been ongoing since 1985 and it remains one of the city's top summer attractions.  The event is so large that the city closes their main bridge, the Jacques-Cartier Bridge, to all vehicle traffic at 8:00pm to permit thousands of pedestrians to have a free front-row-center seat that is guaranteed to give them a spectacular view of the fireworks show.  The show is choreographed to music.  Rather than join the masses, we decided to watch from the luxury of our boat with desert and wonderful company.  Tonight’s presentation was Austria, and their fireworks display was excellent.   It was called, "Let's Dance" and our only complaint was the music did not seem to marry well with the fireworks.

Thursday July 12:   We lunched at Terrasse, a favorite roof top restaurant we visited last year, in the Hotel Nelligan.  It has good views of the Old City and the Port.  After lunch, Karl ran some errands while Donna had a haircut.  The weather has been picture perfect, sunny, warm, breezy and with low humidity.

Terrasse and Kapt Karl looking very pensive...wonder what he is thinking!

Saturday July 14:   A couple weeks ago when we were at Chez Lin and Rays in Essex, Karl had fabulous escargot. The garlic-wine sauce was remarkable and we tried to deconstruct the dish, which had sweetness from perhaps some sherry and a touch of cream.   So for our Saturday dinner on-board, Karl served a wonderful version of the escargot sauce served over shrimp, along with a green salad and crusty bread to mop up the delicious sauce.

The evening’s fireworks display was courtesy of China.   It was their turn to demonstrate their centuries-old craft in pyrotechnics.  We were not disappointed … it was perfectly choreographed and synchronized to Chinese folk music.  The "Butterfly Lovers” was magical, the music and the fireworks were gentle and lyrical, all light and music with little noise.  It began with beautiful pink and green lotus blossoms floating in the night sky.  It ended with incredible layer upon layer of gorgeous shapes and colors superimposed one over the other.

Now having witnessed several of these firework events in Montreal, this one was a definite WOW moment!  We were not the only people to think this performance exceptional.  We could hear roars from the crowds gathered on the Jacques Cartier Bridge, cheers form the masses gathered under the Clock Tower, and of course an irritating cacophony of various trumpet horns from vessels in the Yacht Club. 

Sunday July 15:  Started as a lazy day, beginning with brunch at Jardin Nelson on Place Jacques-Cartier Vieux, a wide pedestrian avenue lined with cafes, stalls selling artworks and street musicians performing classical and pop tunes.  After brunch we strolled down Rue de la Notre Dame and passed a film sound and light crew breaking down their equipment and scaffolding.   Upon investigation, we discovered that they are filming a Netflix movie “Murder Mystery” starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston.  Both stars have been spotted around town.  Sandler reportedly challenged someone to a 1-on-1 basketball game, and later crashed another’s wedding here in Old Port.

While walking around the city, Karl noticed that almost all of Montreal's church steeples were the same metalic color.  He speculated that there must have been a special discount on aluminum paint at "Steeples- R-Us".

Monday July 16:  Yacht Club de Montreal’s staff is exceptional.  For example, Donna needed nautical charts for the Seaway Sorel to Quebec City.  We stopped at the office to inquire if the staff would know a purveyor here in Montreal.  The young man and woman on duty immediately logged on to a computer station and found us a shop within walking distance; then called the shop to verify they had the specific charts in stock, and confirm business hours.  Then they printed a map of this section of the City and highlighted the walking route. Gee, great customer service still exists.

 

Tuesday July 17:  It rained heavily overnight and the morning brought some intermittent light showers. We were not deterred and set out for Aux Quatre Points Cardinaux.  The shop was beautiful, arranged in two sections one for land and one for sea.  There were maps, a great selection of globes, guide books, nautical charts, nautical logbooks, etc.  The staff there was also very helpful. 

 

After leaving the store, we walked to Jardin Nelson for a bite of lunch and finally, to the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel for a self-guided tour of the museum, church and climb to the top of the tower.  Donna decided to take a short guided tour of the crypt and archaeological site under the church, while Karl returned to the boat to do some light maintenance in our crypt, called the engine room. 

Interestingly, the tour disclosed that Marguerite Bourgeoys emigrated to Canada from France in 1653 and founded a group of Catholic Sisters.  Refusing to be cloistered, Sister Marguerite and her followers administered to the sick and educated young girls, the poor and native peoples.  In 1657 she persuaded a work party to build Montreal's first permanent church.  She was Canonized as a saint by Pope John Paul II in 1982.  A fire destroyed the church and today's chapel was built on top of the ruins.  Beneath the current church, the footprint of the original church, including low stone walls that held up the floor and remnants of the church bell were discovered.  When excavating, a 2400 year old native campsite was discovered.  It is unknown who the people were but they predate the Iroquois.  Shards of pottery, the bones of an animal that had been roasted for dinner and remnants of primitive tool making were uncovered.

 

Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours from the Port

A view of the Port and famous Clock Tower as seen from the church tower

Although the day was not really hot temperature-wise, it was very humid and uncomfortable, the afternoon sun made it even more steamy.  Returning to Santorini’s air-conditioned interior felt very good.  Later, the cold front arrived and it was pleasant to sit outside.  We noticed police and emergency lights in the park surrounding the clock tower across the way.  Our neighbor explained that around 5:00 PM, a man had fallen from the tower and died.  It was unclear whether it was an accident or suicide.

Wednesday, July 18:  News accounts today seem to indicate the man who died as a result of a fall from the clock tower was a suicide.  The man, around sixty years old, was agitated and the police tried to calm him and talk him down but unfortunately he did fall or leap to his death.  It is hard to look at the beautiful tower without thinking about this tragedy.  A neighboring slip holder said there are recurring events at the Clock Tower ... last time was in 2014, when a man jumped from the tower into the St Lawrence and was rescued by a fisherman.

It was a spectacular weather day, high 80F bright sun and not a cloud in the sky made it a good day for us to walk to Atwater Market.  We followed the bike path along the St Lawrence and then the Lachine Canal to the Market.  We bought a baguette, some duck and pork terrine, lamb and pork shish kabob, tomatoes and assortment of fresh berries.

Stash Cafe

Later in the day, and since we walked a total of 7.5 miles along the river and canal, we felt  justified pulling out all the stops for heavy dinner, so we walked to Stash Café for an early dinner of Polish cuisine and rye vodka.  We sampled pirogue stuffed with meat, mushroom and sauerkraut and potato and cheese; also small potato pancakes for appetizers.  Karl had pork and sauerkraut and Donna had fillet of soul almandine for dinner.  No room for desert!!

We returned to Santorini to catch the last of the fireworks displays we would see on this trip.  Tonight it was Canada’s turn, and the program titled “Immortals" featured lesser-known songs from recording artists who have died in recent years.  Starting with Michael Jackson's "Earth Song",  moving to David Bowie's "Under Pressure", Amy Winehouse and other artists.  The event ending with Leonard Cohen’s rendition of "Hallelujah".  We would give mixed reviews to the choreography on this show, although the finale of Cohen’s Hallelujah was perfection.

Bon-Secours Angel overlooking the Old Port

Rouses Point to Montreal

July 07-14, 2018:  Rouses Point to Montreal

Leaving Rouses Point on Saturday July 7^th and entering the Richelieu River heading north, it is 70 miles up-river and through the Chambly and St Ours Canals to the St Lawrence River and then another 30 miles down the St Lawrence to Montreal. 

We passed the ruins of Fort Montgomery, actually the second Fort Montgomery.  The first Fort was built following the War of 1812 to protect America’s northern border. Construction began in 1816 and unfortunately the Fort was completed before survey work was done.  It turns out the Fort was constructed north of the 45^th parallel and therefore in Canada.  It was nicknamed Fort Blunder and a second fort was constructed on the American side of the border. The ruins of this second Fort Montgomery are now on private property.

Ruins of the "new" Ft Montgomery

There was a short wait while three boats, travelling together, cleared the Canadian Customs Dock.  Then it was our turn.  The stop was brief, the Customs Agent was very polite and the only questions were regarding firearms, alcohol and length of stay; there was no physical inspection of the boat and we were on our way in short order, now flying our Canadian courtesy flag on the bow pulpit. 

We decided to run at “trawler speed” about 8+ KTS (near 10 MPH) on the River Richelieu to conserve fuel and to enjoy the scenery on this magnificent sunny, breezy day.  Once in the canal portion of the trip, the posted speed limit is 10 MPH (8.5 KTS).  Imagine how much of your environs you would absorb by traveling in your car at 10 MPH!  

The Chambly Canal is a Canadian National Historic Site, administered by Parks Canada.  The nine locks and seven, swing, rolling and lift bridges, requiring an opening for you to pass through, take from three to five hours to transit.  All but one lock and the bridges are mechanically operated.  Much of the canal is lined with greenway, bicycle paths and picnic areas.  Flowers both wild and cultivated also line the way and there are glimpses of the Richelieu River rapids that necessitate the canal for navigation.  Passing through villages along the way, you may tie up to a dock and have lunch or an ice cream or visit a bakery. 

Lift bridge leading to a lock

Waiting for southbound vessel to clear lock - can you spot Kapt Karl?

In 2017 passage through the canal was at no charge in celebration of Canada’s 150^th anniversary of the Confederation.  Imagine our surprise when we arrived at the first lock and asked about payment for passage, only to be told it was "free" for that "day."  We inquired the reason why, and the lock tender handing us the lines shrugged and said he did not know.  Donna later Googled and discovered it was the 175^th Anniversary of the date in 1843 that the first vessel transited the canal.  

Coming through 2nd of flight of 3 locks into Chambly

Since we were the only boat locking through northbound -- we passed only one vessel locking through southbound --  Parks Canada did not lose much in the way of fees for the day!

We arrived in the town of Chambly and tied to the dock outside the final flight of three locks mid-afternoon.  For a small fee, you can stay at the dock overnight, which we did.  After the day-trippers left, we had the dock to ourselves.  

The town was celebrating both the 175^th anniversary and Multi-Cultural Day.  The main street was blocked to vehicular traffic and several music venues were set up.  As we walked thru town to our favorite restaurant we heard jazz, African and Latin bands and later enjoyed dinner at La Cochonne Rit’s sidewalk café.  The day culminated with fireworks over the Chambly Basin directly in front of Santorini.  We are really living a charmed life!

Sunday July 8^th we enjoyed coffee in the cockpit on yet another beautiful morning, bells ringing from the church steeple across the water.  The day’s journey is a short three hour run to this [below] portion of the Richelieu to the single lock at St Ours.  A 25 knot wind kicked up while we waited along with another vessel outside the lock for southbound boats to lock through, and the wind made our maneuvering in the narrow "wait zone" a bit tense.  After fifteen minutes we entered the lock.  There is only a five-foot lift (or drop) at this lock and you use your own lines to tie to a floating dock inside the lock.  After exiting, we tied up to the dock on the protected north side of the lock to spend the night.  You would never know the wind was blowing so hard as the walls on either side of the lock entrance protected us.  A lovely park with a gift/snack shop surrounds the St Ours Lock, along with campsites, walking trails and great views of the rapids.  You can also cross over the top of the lock and walk up hill to a restaurant.

As we sat in our cockpit with Clio, enjoying a cool drink, a young couple who recognized Santorini and stopped to chat.  As it turns out, we met them at the dock in Chambly last year when they helped us tie up and we chatted for quite a while before they headed home for the night in their boat.  Today, they happened to be in the park at St Ours with friends picnicking when they spotted our boat.  Serendipity!  They told us that they live just outside of Chambly and often cruise this stretch of the Richelieu between Chambly and St Ours without locking through on either end. 

St Ours Lock

On Monday July 9^th we had planned to go the short distance (25 miles) to anchor off shore in the Village of Contrecour along the St Lawrence.  However, after listening to the St Lawrence Seaway weather forecast for strong winds and gusts over 40 MPH in the afternoon, we decided to get an early start (6:00 AM) and head directly for Montreal fifty miles away.  When we reached the St Lawrence at 7:30 AM, the wind was already blowing 14 MPH from the southwest.  The wind and river current travelling in the same direction and on our nose made for pretty smooth cruising, although not very fuel-efficient.  We followed a huge freighter most of the way and were passed by others headed out to sea.  It was a pleasant journey and we were lucky again.  The wind really started gusting as soon as we passed through the breakwater of the Yacht Club Montreal making our docking a bit of a challenge, but overall our trip to Montreal was stress-free.

After settling-in from our trip we walked up to Rue Notre Dame to the bank, the SAQ (wine  store), and and cafe to buy some quite delicious Panini sandwiches.  It's good to be back in Montreal. 

Clock Tower in Old Port Montreal

Chapel and Museum Marguerite Bourgeoys

The Hudson, Kingston to Waterford

July 1, 2018:  Leaving Roundout in Kingston on a quiet Sunday morning.  One word for the weather, HOT, 80F at departure time 8:30 AM.  The National Weather Service official forecast is 99F and blazing sun.   We are traveling 65 miles to Waterford where both canals, Erie to the west and Champlain to the north begin.  The day takes us through heavily wooded shores and Catskill Mountains to the west, and beautiful estates on the east shore.  We pass under the Rip Van Winkle Bridge.  Does anyone remember reading Washington Irving’s story, published in 1819 about a Dutch-American villager who falls asleep in the Catskills and awakes 20 years later having missed the American Revolution?  Irving later admitted, “When I wrote the story, I had never been on the Catskills.”

USS Slater

In Albany, we passed the last floating WWII Destroyer, USS Slater, now a museum.  During WWII 563 Destroyer Escorts were deployed in the North Atlantic and Pacific theaters to protect troop carriers and battleships.  Donna’s Dad served in combat on the destroyer USS Schroeder in the South Pacific as a sonar man.  Like most WWII Vets, he never talked about the combat part of his service but he left behind a diary (illegally kept) that catalogued the action.  Pretty sobering stuff!

July 2–3, 2018:  Traveling the Champlain Canal

After a peaceful evening in Waterford, we head to the Champlain Canal.  

Waterford, a [flooded] island near the park during our last visit in June 2017

July 1, 2018 ... what a difference a year makes!

Taking the road (canal) less travelled!

We are going to stop in Schuylerville after transiting just four locks.  Although only a 25-mile trip, the sun is blazing again today and another 99F forecast.  It is hot standing on the boat deck handling the lines through the locks.  All of the locks "lifted" us, the least was 10 feet, and the most was 25.5.  We were delayed at Lock #4 as a tug pushing a barge was locking through southbound.  Karl asked the lock tender if he was having a busy day, he answered affirmatively!  Funny, we were the only northbound boat, and the total southbound traffic consisted of a single sailboat and one tug pushing a barge ... hate to think what a slow day must be like for a lock tender.

Hmm ... what to do?  Take the the lock ... or jump the waterfall!

Overall, it was a quiet day reaching the end of the Hudson River’s navigable waters, the River narrows and the shores are lush with stands of deciduous trees, dotted with homes.   Just south of Schuylerville, the shores became more pastoral and hilly. It took us 4.25 hours to transit this 25 miles stretch.  

This is the Schuyler "Yacht" Basin

After another peaceful evening at Schuler Yacht Basin, a very small marina and campground, we head out to transit the rest of Champlain Canal.  At Lock #8 we have reached the summit of 139 feet and will descend Locks #9, #11 and #12 (Lock #10 was eliminated).  Along the way, we came face-to-face with a large tug pushing a gravel barge in a very narrow canal ... the crusty tug Captain called to us over VHF radio “boat in front of me, what are your intentions?”  Kapt Karl replied: “pull over and let you pass?”  Duhh!  Tug Captain: “not much room, come down my side and stay close to me.”  Strangely enough, as the tug passed us, we saw two smaller recreational Canadian vessels following behind the tug, apparently fearful of trying to pass.  So they decided to hailed the tug, and the tug Captain responded: “what'da ya want!”  Canadian vessel, “is this a good place to pass you?”  Tug: “do whatever you want ...  but if you don’t reach the next lock 20 minutes before me, they will make you wait for me to arrive before you can lock through.”  After we safely passed the tug port-to-port, we watched the two Canadian boats attempt to pass, then again tentatively hang back, then try again.  The third time was the charm for one of them and they were all out of sight before we could see if the second boat passed the tug and no idea if they were able to get to the lock 20+ minutes before the tug. The irony of all this is that the posted canal speed limit is 10 knots, meaning that the Canadian vessels needed to travel at 35+ knots in order to make it; or, end up waiting an hour for the tug to clear the lock first,  Commercial traffic has priority, and lock tenders will not permit commercial vessels and recreational vessel to "lock thru" together.

Looking back at boats attempting to pass the tug

We left the last lock in Whitehall and entered “The Narrows” of Lake Champlain, an area of marsh on either side that is a spawning area for many varieties of fish. 

Skene Manor 1874 looking over Whitehall

Lunch in Whitehall anyone?

The Narrows of Lake Champlain

The Lake began to widen and the Green Mountains of Vermont and Adirondacks of New York appeared on either side of us.  We ended our day at our planned anchorage in a basin below Fort Ticonderoga.  The Fort was originally built by the French as Fort Carillon and then held alternately by the British and the American Revolutionaries.  The hill across from the Fort, is Mount Independence named by Ethan Allen’s Green Mountain Boys.  They were encamped there when they got the news in 1776 of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The late afternoon was breezy and the temperature comfortable, at last!

The eve of Fourth of July found us in the shadow of Fort Ticonderoga.

July 4–5, 2018:  Lake Champlain to the Chambly Canal

We headed up the Lake to the village of Essex and a chance to do our laundry and enjoy the most beautiful town on the Lake.  The entire village is on the National Historic Register and offers a summer playhouse, library and a number of small shops, an Inn and restaurants.  It is a treat to stroll past the lovely homes and their beautiful gardens.

Starting in 1790, the Essex Shipyard (next door to our marina) built a variety of ships, including three commissioned for the War of 1812 as well as cargo vessels and canal boats.  After the railroad became the primary mode of moving goods, the shipyard built sloops and steam ships.  We hope friends Joe and Terry will join us here again in August.

 

 

Not everyone arrives in Essex by boat, on water ...

Overview of Essex Marina

 

SANTORINI rested comfortably

We depart Essex at 6:45 AM in the rain in order to beat the predicted afternoon winds of 25-35 knots and 4-5' seas.  It was calm for the first hour and the clouds began to clear as we passed Burlington.  Then the waves began to build but we were lucky to be in the lea for some time and did not experience beam seas when we were on the open stretches.  We arrived at Gaines Marina at Rouses Point just as the big waves and strong wind gusts hit in earnest.  Rouse’s Point at the top of the Lake is a good spot to stage our entry into Canada and the Chambly Canal.  We are not sad to leave Champlain behind, as we will be revisiting the Lake for most of August upon our return from Canada.  

CLIO in her favorite place when cruising ... bird watching ... life is good!