Cruising To Montreal
In July of 1999, two Flotilla 38 families, the McDonalds and Keslofs set out for Montreal, Quebec. The most difficult leg was hauling the McDonalds' 27-foot Bayliner overland to Lake Champlain and launching in Vermont opposite Fort Ticonderoga. From there we proceeded north to Burton Island State Park. Vermont has a number of island state parks accessible only by boat; some have excellent marina facilities with showers, stores, snack bars, etc. Burton Island (photo right) is one of these where you can have a campfire on shore a short distance from your boat, docking here will only cost you around $25 a night.
It's an easy trip from Burton Island to the Canadian border at Rouses Point, NY. The formalities of boarder crossing took just a few moments; you pull up to a dock where an official issues your boat a temporary Canadian boat registration. North of the border you enter the Reichelieu River where the Quebec countryside with its farms, red-roofed homes, silver roofed churches and old stone forts make for marvelous scenery.
At St. Jean, Quebec the river itself becomes non-navigable and you must enter the Chambly Canal, which is a series of 10 locks that eventually lower you down to the Chambly basin at the Town of Chambly, Quebec. The transit of the canal actually takes half a day from when you enter the first lock at St. Jean. Much of the canal is only wide enough for one vessel, so you must maintain a steady speed of 6 knots as you travel between locks to be on time for bridge openings or to pass oncoming vessels (photo left) at certain widened areas. Beautiful homes, quaint villages, nature trails and bike paths line the canal. Four to five boats go through the locks at one time, some locks are miles apart, others are together, arranged like stairs as you drop from one right into the next.
The locks are basically antiques that have been maintained to function the same way for some 150 years, they are still hand cranked by the lock attendants (photo right). Occasionally we would have to wait at a docking area near a lock while another set of boats was coming through. At some of these temporary docking areas there would be farm stands where you could buy fresh vegetables.
In the photo at left we are passing a Canadian Coast Guard buoy tender in the Reichelieu River. Another interesting feature of the Reichelieu were the seaplane bases, there were at least 3 between Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence.
Dropping down inside a lock (photo right) Mike Keslof, FSO-CS, handles a line as we prepare to re-enter the river at the Town of Chambly. We spent the night there and toured the town's historic fort that overlooked one of the waterfalls that the canal bypassed. Back in the river and heading north there is one more set of falls to get around. Just before coming to the St. Lawrence is the Ours Canal, a shorter arrangement with just one set of modern locks.
Finally you enter the St. Lawrence and immediately encounter ocean-going ships. In the photo to the left we are looking over the bow of the Glory-Be to see a large ocean going vessel passing us as we head up the St. Lawrence River towards Montreal. The bow wakes from these huge ships give you quite a ride when they pass and in some places another ride when they bounce off the riverbanks and come back at you.
When we arrived on the Montreal waterfront we were overwhelmed, it was magnificent. Beautiful old buildings were lined up opposite the docks that were filled with beautiful yachts; it was like being on the French Riviera. The marina was fantastic, huge docks so big that the laundromats, showers and toilets were right down on the floats close to the boats. Cost was only $1.25/foot Canadian. In the photo above you can see the Montreal waterfront in the background from down on the docks. Pictured above, you can see (going from right to left) Sheila McDonald, Susan Keslof and John McDonald, ADSO-PB, skipper of the Glory-Be. On the swim platform of the boat is Mike Keslof, FSO-CS, and if you look close you'll see Matt McDonald, SO-PB3, sitting at the helm. At the far left standing next to his boat is brother-in-law Captain Tim Potvin from Colchester, Vermont. Tim is a very experienced mariner in Quebec waters so he led our 2-boat flotilla to Montreal. In the background is a stone quay with a pavilion that featured food and live bands. Beer vendors were outside right on the quay as well as all kinds of street entertainers, singers, puppeteers, magicians, whatever.
Once you crossed the street from the marina there were shops, sidewalk cafes, cobblestone streets, horse drawn carriages, many of the side streets reminded me of being in Paris. In the photo right are the McDonalds passing a pedestrian mall that is lined with sidewalk cafes and quaint bistros.
Here are two views of us at our favorite activity, outdoor dining at sidewalk cafes in the cobblestone back streets of the Montreal waterfront. At this one we had a wonderful blend of French and Canadian cooking, steak au poivre but made with caribou steak. Needless to say this was an outstanding cruise, it was great to visit a foreign port while traveling on a Coast Guard Auxiliary Facility.
