We knew we were going to want to make an
early start because of all the boat traffic we encountered yesterday, but we
had no idea we’d wake up at 5:00 a.m.
This is the sunrise from our anchorage.
We did wait until 5:30 to start to weigh anchor. There were tons of weeds on the anchor
rode so it took Gary about 15 minutes to pick them all off of the chain.
We found ourselves pretty much alone on
the water. At about 7:50 we
entered the Richelieu River passing Sorel. I just knew we were lost because for the first few miles the
scenery was industrial. I liked
the colors on the dredge, barge and tugboats along side of the river.
Then the river opened up to houses and cottages along the shore. Some
were close to the water. Others
were on low bluffs. And others
were on even higher bluffs. Most of them had direct access to the water with
boats of all kinds.
Just before we stopped for the day, we saw
a cable ferry crossing the river.
These ferries are different than the ones we’d seen before because they
are pulled across the water with a cable that runs in front of and behind the
boat. We were never sure how close
to the surface of the water the cable is so we never passed them while they
were operating because we didn’t want to get hung up on the cable.
We locked through Saint-Ours (up 5 feet);
our first and only lock of the day.
We tied to a dock in the lock again. It couldn’t have been easier.
We talked to some Canadian boaters later that told us that ours
is the French word for bear.
There wasn’t a town nearby but quite a few people were enjoying picnics
in the park on this Sunday afternoon.
We were looking forward to a quiet time to rest and relax. We traveled 29 miles in 4 hours and
45 minutes. Our total mileage now
was 2046.
While I was working on the boat (OK, so I needed to wash dishes.), Gary took
some pictures of the very busy lock.
The boat traffic was nonstop.
There were boats coming and going all day long. They would zoom up to the lock so they
wouldn’t get locked out. Of
course, that meant a lot of rocking and rolling with the wakes.
There were also quite a few very loud,
go fast boats (How do you like my technical term?). They would circle around waiting for the lock to open,
playing loud music and dancing. I
guess you can tell we didn’t have much peace and quiet until the lock
closed.
He also took a picture of the restored
Lock Master’s House for me. It is part
museum and part snack bar now.
This dam at Saint-Ours was built in 1969
to raise the water level all the way to Chambly to aid travel on the
river. This modern dam is unique
in North America because it uses variations in water pressure, not electric
motors, to operate the floodgates.
The Vianney-Legendre fish ladder opened in
2001 to provide fish with a passageway around the dam. It allows the fish to travel upstream
to reach spawning grounds and other habitats.
After everything settled down, we enjoyed a
quiet, restful night with the trees across the river on one side and the wall on the other.
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