Merrickville to Ottawa

 Merrickville definetly did not disappoint. We all enjoyed our stay.
Getting away from being tied to Symmetry overnight was most eventful. 45 seconds of boating hell. We were gently backing up  to ease away from Symmetry. Getting a little close to the concrete wall. The engines were not responding as expected so Peter gave them a shot of power to get the boat moving in the right direction. An entire series of oops began to happen. Now we were going forward at great velocity very close to Symmetry towards another concrete area near the dam at the front of the boat.  And closing in fast. Oh No! Oh No! Go Back! Still at high velocity Reverse. Now screaming by Symmetry in Reverse. Again headed for the concrete wall behind. Oh No! Oh No! Forward! Now! Yes and he finally was able to get away from the concrete wall, away from Symmetry, and under control going forward and slowed down. On each pass, we had missed Symmetry by about 18 inches, and travelling at mach speed. Or at least what felt like mach speed. Way too fast for such close quarters. Apparently there is a nasty current in the pond, which may have contributed. Unsure of where the rudders were positioned during the fiascal. And not enough time to slow the boat down before needing to rev it up to get it to respond. It was amazing that we didn't touch Symmetry, or either concrete wall area front or back. All is well that ends well. We hope to never do this again.

Once away from Merrickville we were off to Hurst Marina near Manotick. Beautiful canal running, with some pretty scenes along the way. 48 miles, and 7 locks.
Canada Geese fenced into a field. Protecting them until it is time to fly south. He, He, He.

 Along the way was a bridge that was turned by hand. It is hard to believe that these bridges can be moved by pushing with one hand. Here you can see the Parks Canada girl with a bar in the middle that she pushes around in circles to make the bridge open. A miracle of science.

Ice Cream Pontoon boat at a beach area.

We left Hurst Marina in reasonably good time to make our final push to Ottawa. While it was only 26 miles, we knew we had 7 locks. 3 of the locking areas had two locks "in flight" and a single lock. We arrived Ottawa later in the afternoon than we wanted.

 The canal along the way is very scenic. And we did not have much traffic at all. Saturday was the beginning of the Quebec construction workers holidays - 2 weeks. All construction shuts down and they hit the waterways. We have been cautioned about boating in these areas during the next 2 weeks. So far so good.

Orientals keep everything they catch.

They sure pack them in.

Peter is auditioning for a job with Parks Canada.

As we get closer to Ottawa, the Rideau Canal narrows, and is concrete and fenced on both sides. Beautiful Sidewalks also on both sides. We shared the waterway and walk way with every form of transportation imaginable. Kayaks, Sea doos, ducks, rollerbladers, walkers, runners, bicyclers, wheel chairs, motorized wheel chairs. Ottawans sure know how to enjoy their waterway. And they do.

These wheelchairs were travelling faster than us.

 We arrived Ottawa a little after 3. Getting a spot along the wall with power proved to be a challenge. We all got onto the wall but were separated. And we all finally got power for the night. We would move the boats closer together on Sunday as boats left to move on and created spaces.





We were off to the Byward Market for dinner. On the sidewalk we came along this girl all in white posing as a statue. She was really quite good.  The Byward Market area is a very lively area, buskers, musicians, sidewalk painters. All very talented. And every restaurant type you can imagine. If you want it, you can find it here.

Peter taking a pic of Murray Clan with Oscar Peterson

 Sunday morning we joined Jim, Linda, Josh, and Leah to go to a Baptist Church. They were a very welcoming congregation. Asked us to join them after the service for coffee, and we did.
We then were off to the National Arts Center to see if we could get tickets to the live theater production "The Book of Mormon"  We were able to get tickets for the 1 pm show. So grabbed a quick sandwich from the cafe and find our seats. The show is very humorous, and a very irreverent satire about the Mormons who try to baptize Africans in Uganda. Perhaps not Jim and Linda's favourite choice of theater production, but they were really good sports. And as always, Linda found some good things to say about it.

 There is a flight of 7 locks (yes, that is right, I said 7 locks in flight) that will lower us from the Rideau Canal to the Ottawa River.  "In Flight" means that you leave one lock, and go immediately into the next lock. It will take 4 hours to lock thru all of them. We will have to be on the blue line very early in the morning, i.e. 6 am. to be sure to be in the first locking sequence. Then, wait till about 11 am for our turn. They first bring the boats up from the Ottawa River, and then lower the boats from the top. You know what we will be doing all day on Thursday. Either waiting for turn, or locking thru.

This morning when we went to watch the changing of the guard on Parliament Hill, we noticed that there were no boats coming up. Now we are wondering if there are no boats to come up, if they will take us down early. We will have to wait and see.

Now here is one of those "Finding Waldo" Puzzles, only I want you to find "Peter".
63 years old, and still such a ham.

Changing of the Guard.

Parliament Hill is a very active area. Last night we went to see a fantastic light show at the parliament buildings. All FREE. Our tax dollars at work. And WOW what a show. They project lights onto the front of the parliament buildings, with a commentary over loud speakers, depicting the history
of Canada. Makes you proud to be Canadian. Very well done.

  Then this morning we returned to Parliament Hill for the "Changing of the Guard" ceremony, and the tour of the Parliament Buildings. The Central Block. Pic to the right is of the House of Commons. A construction area during the summer break.
Again, tickets were FREE. How do you like that!
The House of Commons, is where the members of parliament debate, and create new bills and legislation.

Here is the Senate where they approve the bills that the House of Commons create. Senators  are appointed, and keep their seats till age 75. At which time, the Prime Minister suggests the names of people who should be made Senators to fill the vacant seats. Like Pamela Wallwin and Mike Duffy. The embarrassment of our country.
And that is all I will say about that. I do not want to get started. This is not the platform for that discussion. And you can be happy I don't get on my soapbox.

Peter has found a local diesel service place that will clean the injectors for the port engine. Back to the boat, remove the injectors, and he is off for a local bus ride, that will take him to diesel service shop, 45 minutes one way. He has replaced two injectors for the port side already. They are an improvement, and we have never travelled so long with both engines running continually, since we bought the boat. But it is still surging once the engines warm up. He wants to replace all of the injectors on the port side, and have that done completely. On our travel down the Rideau Canal it seemed that the starboard engine was doing some surging and revving up over 2000 rpms. Perhaps that will be the next job. Thankfully they behave when we slow down and are docking/tying up.