South Nation River

Saturday August 10, 2013

Lat
Long

We decided to leave Ottawa on Saturday. We had a great spot and were having a great time, but counting out the days, we really needed to keep moving. 

There are no less than 8 locks arranged in a single flight from the last of the canal down to the river. All things being equal, the trip down takes 1 ½ hours, the trip up takes 2 hours. The service begins at 9 AM to the key is to get into the first batch of boats so that you do not have to wait the 3 ½ hours for the next group. So we were up at 7 AM and second in line “on the blue” by 7:30 AM, which is where we enjoyed our breakfast. We coordinated the move with our friends so they got our spot. Weed in the strainers.

Done!

The “voyage” down was uneventful. Just a lot of starting and stopping and maneuvering. The locks are a great tourist attraction so all this was done with 100 or so people watching and taking photos and even asking questions. There was a group of people for Austria who were most intrigued and were delighted when they discovered that both the Blackmans and Peaches had visited their home town, Schruns in Austria. The important thing was that we made it and Tide Hiker did not get scratched.

First in the river job was to find a pump-out and load some water. This we did at the first marina, and as usual it did not work very well, and cost $25. We continued about 25 miles down the river to an anchorage in the South Nation River. It was a muddy stream but about 500 feet wide and reasonable deep. By sunset the wind had died and we spent a very calm night.

Great having crew!

The Ottawa river is quite substantial, typically about ½ mile wide and 20 to 30 feet deep with only a few shallow spots. The country side was pretty without being spectacular. The weather was cool and sunny, we ran the boat from the Flying Bridge all day. The anchorage is in a side river, its very protected and calm. The TV will only pick up a few stations, all in French.