During the period 1609 to 1616 the Frenchman Samuel de Champlain explored North America, looking for a water route to the Far East. In the process, he founded the city of Quebec, in what was then called New France. The St. Lawrence River flows over 500 nautical miles, from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean.
On June 8, 2005, my wife Joyce and I embarked on our own voyage of exploration aboard Tranquility II, covering some of the waters explored by Champlain. The big difference 400+ years has made was the building of the St. Lawrence Seaway. This waterway, with seven locks and several lift bridges, allows ships of all sizes to navigate through or around the shallow waters and rapids, which Champlain had to portage.
Our first day was a quiet 63 nm motor trip, from Sodus Bay, New York across Lake Ontario to Kingston, Ontario. This was not unusual, as we have motored across the lake more times than sailing across. Kingston is a great stopping place, with a large municipal marina directly in front of City Hall. Here we cleared Customs, obtained Canadian currency and purchased last minute items from the store. We (with our crew Jim and Carol Owen, fellow members of Sodus Bay Yacht Club) wanted an early start down river the next morning to stage ourselves to start passing through the locks the day after.
This route took us through the beautiful Thousand Islands, full of forested rocky islands with very nice "cottages" and many public park islands available to boaters. The water is clear, and in summer, quite warm.
Prescott, Ontario, settled in 1784, was our stop that night. We arrived about 6 pm and took advantage of another nice municipal marina. The four of us walked around the downtown that evening, stopping to look at the fort and stockade built in the early 1800's, to defend the city from the Americans. The scenery along the river is primarily rural, with small towns, fields with cattle grazing, farmland, etc.
The next day took us through three locks. Except for the Eisenhower and Snell locks, the other five were in Canada, as the river wound back and forth across the border until it flowed into the province of Quebec. From there on, it was wholly within Canada. In some cases, the locks were in pairs, so once through the first one, we continued on through the second. The locks had a small craft dock, where pleasure boats tied-up, phoned the lockmaster and waited for instructions to lock through (no communication with the locks was allowed on the VHF).
The first lock was the Iroquois lock. When approaching the small craft dock (which was around the corner of the concrete wall leading to the lock gates), a sign said the depth could be less than six feet. WHOA! I quickly reversed away, not wanting to run aground (we have had our share of that in the ICW). Since there was no other place to stop to report and request passage, we eased into the dock. No problem! After waiting about 20 minutes the loudspeaker instructed us to enter the lock. Surprise, surprise, the water level at both ends of the lock was the same. Why we had to wait was a mystery, as there were no other vessels around. However, the lock attendant did not hesitate to collect the $20 fee by holding out a clipboard on a pole. Depending on conditions, there could be up to a six-foot difference in water levels on either side of that lock.
One aspect of going downriver was that at times we had a 3 to 4- knot current speeding us along. Of course, when we came back up the river, we were fighting that current.
Next came the Eisenhower and Snell locks, a pair with a total drop of 83 to 101 feet depending on water levels in the river. The small craft dock here was much larger and was easily visible when approaching. We had a close and personal view of an ocean freighter locking through, which took about an hour. It was amazing how these behemoths eased into the locks so slowly, with only inches between the hulls and the concrete walls of the lock. Most of the ships we saw had many scrapes in the paint from contacting the lock walls.
The next day while entering a marina, our last stop before the city of Montreal, we were reminded that waters shoal everywhere - that was to say we ran aground. It seems a storm a few days before shifted the bottom, or at least that was the dock master's reasoning for the channel being shallower than stated in their information. Fortunately, a seasonal customer at the marina with a large powerboat pulled us off. We thanked them with a bottle of California wine.
The next morning, Joyce noticed that the Link 2000 battery monitor had not changed to "float." Investigation revealed that one of the 4D batteries was "cooking." Yes, bubbling and hot. After letting it cool, it was removed from the circuitry and the remaining 4D seemed OK. We later replaced it in Longille, Quebec across the St. Lawrence from Montreal.
Montreal was a large and very cosmopolitan city, and in the midst of the "old city" at the Old Port of Montreal was the Marina Port d'Escale. The area was full of shops and restaurants, and there was a science museum with an IMAX theater next to the marina. The Cirque du Soled (Circus of the Sun) played there on a site next to the marina (unfortunately we missed it by a day). There were galleries nearby and markers and statues commemorating the history of the city, and did I mention restaurants?
However, getting to the marina was a challenge for a sailboat. When exiting the last lock and the Seaway Canal, we continued about a mile rounding île St Hèléne, and then proceed up the River under the Jacque Cartier Bridge to get to the marina. île St Hèléne was the site of the 1964 Worlds Fair, and the Unisphere, the United States exhibit during the Fair, was still there as part of a park. The cruising guide recommended following close to the wharfs on the north (red) side of the river, to get to the marina, so that was what I did. Going upstream was a slog against a 4+ knot current. At times we were down to 1.2 knots over the bottom. Fortunately, it was only about 1.5 nm against the current to the marina. On our return to Old Port Montreal a week later, I followed close to the green marks on the other side of the river and encountered less opposing current, only about 3 knots. It seems that the red side of the river was the outside of a curve; thus the water was being forced to curve producing a stronger current. So much for the cruising guide!
After a couple of days in Montreal, we continued downriver to Sorel, where the Richelieu River meets the St. Lawrence. This marked the northern terminus of the Hudson River, Champlain Canal, Lake Champlain route, between the St. Lawrence and New York City. After a few days waiting for the wind-driven rains to stop, we returned to Montreal.
At this point, Mark and Kass Vandy (also SBYC members) arrived, so the Owens could return home. After a night with all six onboard (the C400 handled it well) we all took an overnight auto "side trip" to Quebec City and the Saguenay River for a whale watch. The old section of Quebec was fascinating, like walking through Paris. Even so, we had lunch in a Scottish Pub. The Chateau Frontenac dominated the plateau overlooking the St. Lawrence, with a statue of Champlain in front of the Chateau commemorating his exploits. Here Joyce and I enjoyed the busy, narrow streets in the old city. Everyone enjoyed the excursion, even if the car was crowded for the six-hour ride each way from Montreal to the Saguenay River.
The Saguenay River, 120 miles down river from Quebec, was considered a fiord, with high rocky cliffs on either side, waterfalls and whales. As it converged with the St Lawrence River, it forced plankton to the surface, which attracted whales to the area to feed. We saw Beluga (they were white and grew to 10-16 feet) and Minke (which grew to 25-30 feet and up to 22,000 pounds). Other species fed there during various times of the year. It was hard to photograph the whales, as they surfaced and dove quickly, hence by the time we were ready to trip the shutter, the whale had disappeared. We all agreed that the whalewatch trip was a highlight of the cruise.
After seeing Jim and Carol off, we headed back up the Seaway stopping at Salaberry-Valleyfield, Quebec. Here again we faced a challenge, this time getting through a lift bridge on the Seaway. When a boat arrived at a lift bridge, the operator was supposed to acknowledge your presence with flashing yellow lights. Upon our arrival, there was no acknowledging light. After waiting for an hour, I sounded a horn, still no response. I tried the VHF, no response. We got concerned that perhaps the bridge operator had become ill or died. Joyce called the marina where we were headed and they provided (at her request) the phone number of the local police. She then called the police and within a few minutes, the bridge opened for us. When going downstream, we had to wait 45 minutes at this bridge, and we thought the only reason it did open was because a freighter was approaching. Subsequent communications with the Seaway Authority indicated that unless a freighter was approaching, and hence got priority, pleasure craft would have to wait no more than 20 minutes for an opening. We suspected disciplinary action may have been taken with that operator.
Marina Campi, in Salaberry-Valleyfield, was a 300-slip facility close to downtown. This city was the site of annual hydroplane power-boat races, and there were even permanent bleachers built for watching the races. The next day was Saint John Baptiste Day, a provincial holiday in Quebec. There was a parade, just like a Fourth of July parade back home, complete with floats, clowns and candy tossed to kids along the parade route. The parade theme was about outdoor activities people could do that did not pollute the air. One float had people playing ping-pong, another was about swimming, etc. Interestingly, there also were two race boats in the parade, not exactly non-polluters. That evening we watched fireworks from the cockpit of Tranquility II.
Crysler Park Marina was our next destination, as it was next to Upper Canada Village. This was the reconstruction of an 1866 Canadian village. Some of the structures in the village were moved to this location, to avoid being flooded when the Seaway was build in the 1950's, others were selected and moved to the village, to both preserve them and to complete the array of buildings and shops typical of a village of that era. There was a sawmill, a cobbler shop, a flower mill, etc., all with staff in period costume. They were very knowledgeable of the subject matter of the exhibits they displayed. Pictured here is one of them explaining the weaving process in the woolen mill. We spent a full day enjoying the village and listening to the "villagers" describing life in 1866.
Continuing upstream we stopped at Brockville, then Gananoque, Ontario. Municipal marinas were available in both cities, but a hike to the super markets. The local playhouse in Gananoque was excellent. We attended a play that evening, with a two-person cast, about a retired US judge who was writing his memoirs (based on a real person). The acting was great and the intimate setting in the theater put us almost on the stage.
We returned to our home port after five weeks of cruising, relaxed, and happy we had seen so much. We had covered over 650 nm round trip. Everyone along the way was courteous and friendly. Even though at times we were fully immersed in Canadian French-speaking Quebec, we never had any problem with language, as everyone was gracious, understanding of our feeble attempts at French. Virtually all had at least some facility with English, and many had excellent English skills. Will we go again, pretty likely.