Day 95...Chaffeys Lock to Westport Harbour

MONDAY, JULY 2, 2012

     We went  into Chaffeys Lock (Lock 37 up 11 feet) at 8:30 a.m. and out under the bridge 20 minutes later.  We are still going up so we started at the bottom. We enjoyed our time with the people at Chaffeys Lock.

     The theme today is water.  We passed many islands in Indian Lake.  

Then we had to watch for the ferry that crosses the narrow channel into Clear Lake.  See it on the left.

The next narrow cut took us into Newboro Lake.  The water was very clear.

     Our only lock of the day was next.  It was Newboro Lock (LOCK 36 up 8 feet).  If you look really carefully over the flag on the stern of the boat you can see the lock.  Ok, so I got started talking and forgot to take a picture until we were out of the lock.  We left the lock at 10:00 a.m.

     Just above Newboro Lock we reached the highest point of the Rideau Waterway at 407.5 feet.  The channel markers will be changing sides with the red markers on our port side.  These large floating markers are the way they were.  Of course, I wasn’t fast enough to show you the way they will be all the way to Sorel.

     For a while we will also be going down in the locks instead of up.  We will hand or throw a rope to the person on the side of the lock; he/she will loop the rope around the cable and hand it back to us.

     We wound our way through another narrow part of the waterway proceeding into Upper Rideau Lake.  We aimed for the village of Westport.

     Everyone says this is the prettiest part of the Rideau.  We are taking our time and enjoying the scenery. We have been told that there is not as much to see past Ottawa so we will speed up then and go more than 6-10 miles a day.  We traveled 11 miles today in about 2 hours for a total of 1770 miles

     We stayed at Westport Harbour.  We would never go back except for a day trip even if we were going to be in the area.  This marina is the only one in town and they know it.  You can’t even anchor in the harbor so it is there or nothing.  I was satisfied with everything except the office staff, Internet and showers.  I don’t think we would‘ve spent the night if we had known about the deficiencies.  My computer would not take the password to use the Internet (and they could care less) so we had to walk up the hill about a block and a half and sit outside (in the heat) the Visitor’s Center to use theirs.  We also had to walk there to use the showers that cost money.  This is the first marina, we’ve ever been expected to pay extra for showers.  Remember a loonie is $1.00 and a toonie is $2.00.  We couldn't afford our usual showers at these prices.

     It was a pretty marina on an island inside of the harbor.  Everything was well maintained.

     The couple on the boat behind us had two poodles with pink ears.  One was tall poodle and one was short.  We thought the kids might like to see them.

     There was also a little blue tug staying at the marina that was 15 feet 3 inches long.  The older guy built it himself.  Isn't it cute?

     More about the village of Westport later