Old Port Marina, Montreal, QE to Waddington, NY.
After some coffee and cereal on board, we showered in the marina’s portable shower cubicles, which were actually quite clean and acceptable even though just a little cramped. While we were settling our bill we told the attendants about the raccoon. “Oh yes, we know about him. He lives under the main dock. We’re waiting for an animal catcher to trap him.” We told them they had better hurry because, if he got on a boat, he could do a lot of damage to the boat and perhaps to the crew also. By 0900 hrs. we were waiting to enter Lock 1 of the Lachine canal, which starts only a few yards from the marina. Once again we had the luxury of floating docks in the locks, and very nice young dock attendants, one of whom tried to teach me how to tie up without bending down by flipping the rope onto the cleat. I wasn’t a very good student! The Lachine canal is a very pleasant alternative to the main canal around the Lachine rapids for small boats – 8’ maximum clearance. By 1215 hrs. we were through the canal and across Lake St. Louis to the Lower Beauharnois lock, where we had to wait 1.5 hrs while a freighter came through the other way. At the Snell lock we were lucky to be hailed by a man in a pickup who said the lock was ready and phoned in to have it opened. We didn’t have to moor and went straight in. This lock has floating bollards, which rather tower above a small boat like the C when the lock is empty. So, instead of trying to loop our line over the bollard, I tied it to a smaller fitting level with the boat. Unfortunately the bollard is much lower when the lock is full, and I only just got the rope untied in time to prevent us being pulled down as we neared the top! We stopped for gas at Bainsville, Ontario, and stopped for the day at the town dock of Waddington, NY. We had a pleasant dinner at a bar on the edge of town, but had to kill several dozen mosquitoes, which got into the boat with us before we could get to sleep.