July 16                                               Montreal, Canada

Weather forecasts were favorable for moving on downriver.  We were about 70 nm from Montreal.  This distance was an easy day of cruising for us; however, we would have to go through four locks and some delay could be expected.  We decided to make an early departure to ensure we would reach Montreal well before nightfall.

The morning was clear, cool, and beautiful.  We left Cornwall before 8:00 AM on calm water.  Our GPS indicated at our normal speed we would reach our destination before 3:00 PM.  We saw many impressive homes on the shores of the river.  The area appears to be economically prospering.  Two large manufacturers of aluminum are located nearby, the large Port of Cornwall is active, and the river is a conduit for trade.    We encountered a railway bridge with an elevator lift and had a thirty minute wait for an opening.  We enjoyed our leisurely cruise and reached the Beauharnois Locks a few minutes before noon. This lock is actually two locks, both downlocking. 

As instructed, we docked and I checked in by telephone.  Payment was by credit card and the ticket would be given to an attendant inside the lock.  We were advised on the light board we would be delayed until 3:30 PM.  As we waited, another smaller boat with three young men docked near us.  One of them, Michael, came over and engaged David in conversation.  He informed us that when the lock opened, we would go first, they would follow, and tie to our starboard side.  This was standard procedure for this lock.  The lock was huge and we could not see the necessity for rafting when there would be plenty of room for us to be placed individually along the wall.  At 2:30 PM, a large freighter emerged from the lock and we were allowed to enter.

  

Michael was correct.  We were required to raft with their boat on our starboard side.  As the stern of our boat tends to move out with the descent of the water and I am not strong enough to prevent it, we were not a good anchor for the other vessel.  Michael easily boarded our boat and came to my aid.  He remained on board through the next lock (which we entered immediately) and again helped me.  He and his friends were enjoying a day of vacation and he insisted it was great fun to assist us and see our boat.

We were now at 4:00 PM and had to make a decision to either stop at a marina or continue.  The weather was great, we had only two more locks, commercial traffic had been light, and we thought we could easily make our destination in three hours—well before dark.  We would continue.  Soon we were seeing the cityscape of Montreal in the distance.

The approach to the final two locks is by a long, long canal with a speed limit of 6 knots.  We slowed our speed and reached St. Catherine Lock just in time to see the green light turn to red and the massive doors closing.  Michael had told us there was no necessity to check in or buy a ticket so we were spared the difficulty of docking the boat.  We waited, waited, and waited.  Eventually, we saw the silhouette of a massive bridge rising above the lock doors.  We waited, waited, and waited.  Two hours after our arrival, an enormous supertanker slowly emerged and we finally were allowed to enter.

Unhappy with the outward movement of the stern of our boat in the locks, David and I devised a different plan.  Although the stern cleat only can be reached by bringing a line through the small opening on the siding of the aft deck, it would be a more stabilizing location for the rear dock line than the midship cleat.   After catching the forward line, I would quickly sescure it to the bow cleat and then rush to the aft deck to pull through the rear line.  David would take my place and I would return to the bow, untie the line, and hold it tight as the boat descended.  To our delight, this plan worked perfectly. We were able to keep the stern in place near the wall.

We were subjected to another wait at St. Lambert’s Lock, the final one on our journey.  Now it was after 8:00 PM and the sun was starting to set.  I took advantage of the delay, went to the galley, put chicken breasts in the oven, and prepared some vegetables.  We would be too tired to go out for dinner once we were in the marina.  Forty minutes later, another tanker came out of the lock and we were admitted.  Employing our new procedure, we easily handled the boat as it slowly descended.

It was now dark.  We had never run The Bottom Line at night and had never been in the huge basin of Montreal during the day or night.  There was a strong current and the turbulence made it difficult to consult our chart.  The GPS was our only guide; but to our dismay, the display became very dim.

 We could see the lights of the city and a huge entertainment park on an island near our turn in the river.  It was larger than Six Flags Over Texas and brightly lighted.  As we were passing, we noted a sea of lights from boats that appeared to be anchored in front of the park.  Within a minute, we learned why they were there.  Fireworks began to explode overhead.  It was an impressive show but we could not be distracted as we were trying to dodge the many boats and maintain our course.  As we slowly moved forward, we were hailed by a police boat and told to go back.  No one was allowed to leave until after the fireworks.  At this point, David and I started to laugh!  It was now past 10:00 PM. 

During the delay, I consulted the manual for the GPS, found the solution for our display problem, and easily fixed it.  Now we could find our marina!  The fireworks ended after thirty minutes.  With hundreds of other boats, we began to move through the darkness down the river.  In addition to the current, there was considerable turbulence from the boat traffic.  David tends to become very calm when there is a crisis and he skillfully and patiently steered our boat through the mayhem to Vieux Port of Montreal, our final marina for this first part of our journey.

Vieux Port is nestled between huge commercial docks used for tour boats and cruise ships.  We used the famous Heritage Clock Tower as our location marker.  The marina was past it on the starboard side.  It was well-lighted and dock help was waiting for us.  We were assigned a slip next to the back wall of the marina.  This should be an excellent place to leave the boat next week when David returns to Texas and I join the Kimbell Museum group in Belgium.   It was now twenty minutes until midnight.  It had been a challenging day but we were safely in Montreal.  Dinner and several glasses of wine were celebration for our achievement.