And wait and wait...

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We certainly had our fair share of waiting at these commercial locks.

We got up early to catch the ST. Catherines Lock because the official pleasure craft schedule indicated that we could lock through at 10:00.

When you dock, you must use the land line to call in and announce your intention to lock through. There is a pay machine that accepts credit cards so you can pay your $30.00 per lock. We arrived at 8:00 because the revised schedule had no set time, which meant to us that they would take us through at any available time. It turns out that the commercial traffic was heavy so we had to wait until 11:00. We locked through with 2 other boats. One was a 70 foot custom built boat out of Alaska. The Captain of this yacht gave us clear instructions as to how we should raft up to him in the lock. He had no intention of having North Star scratch his million dollar yacht. How intimidating is that! It turns out that a PDQ pulled up and now they were going to be rafted to him since they were bigger than us. They in turn received full instructions. We had a good laugh about it. in the end we rafted to the PDQ and the lock master let him hover in the middle of the channel so he would not get his covered fenders dirty. Oh the stress of perfect boats, no battle scars like good old North Star.

We all made for the last lock at ST Lambert at great speed, little North Star huffing and puffing to keep up with the big boys. We arrived at the dock and I checked us all in. Imagine my surprise when the lock master said we would have a 3-4 hour wait. I asked the French folks to call back and make sure I had heard him correctly since I am hard of hearing and linguistically impaired. No, I had it right we waited 4 hours to lock through.

It was a nice sunny day but we were out of chores from our previous day's wait. You are on a dock with chin link fence all around and you must stay with your vessel. We had lunch, read, played on the computer and napped. A person must have lots of patience and not let these small inconveniences deter their travel. It is a small price to pay for the enjoyment of cruising.

We only traveled 26 miles in 11 hours but stopped at a perfect anchorage on La Grande River on Boucherville Island (N45.36 and 073.280. It is a local party place and on a week end, it must be noisy. We arrived at 6:00 on a Wednesday and there were 3 boats rafted up with music blaring, bodies swaying, and lots of rowdy behaviour. Oh the leaders of tomorrow, they inspire such confidence. The party shut down at 7:00 and the place became peaceful with kayaks and canoes. It was a perfect place.

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Photos

St atherines Lock
Yacht Oasis out of Kodiak, Alaska

St Lambert Lock
Little North Star under Oasis' bow

La Grande Riviere-Montreal 038
Peaceful anchorage