Port Dalhousie

43.2313214,-79.2120732

Toronto Island

43°37′43″ N 79°23′5″ W

We arrived at Port Dalhousie Marina at 6:00am. We were all so tired that we fell into bed as soon as the boat was secure on the dock and slept until about 10:00am.

Catherine & Emily needed to return to London & the car was at the marina in Port Colborne so I arranged for a taxi to come & pick them up at noon.

After they were on their way home I evaluated my options: stay at the marina until the next day & then head to Toronto or go to Toronto right away.

I checked the wind & wave forecast for this section of Lake Ontario & found that the forecast for July 2 was for strong winds. That meant there would be water too rough to travel in so I would have to stay in Port Dalhousie an additional day.

I had planned to meet a friend in Toronto on the 2nd so it didn’t take me long to decide that I had to leave for Toronto right away in order to get there before dark. I cast off from Port Dalhousie at 2:30pm.

The trip across the lake took about 5 hours. I wasn’t even halfway when I could start to see Toronto’s skyline on the horizon. The photo below shows Toronto when I was still 90 minutes away from my destination.

It was Canada Day so there were lots of people boating on the water & the public parks were packed. Navigating through Toronto’s inner harbour required as much concentration as if I was driving through the city on the 401 highway.

I had booked a slip at Toronto Island Marina and was able to get docked well before dark. No partying or fireworks for me! That night I was in bed before 9:00pm & I slept straight through to 8:00am the next morning.

Cheers!

June 30 was quickly coming to an end and there was no doubt that we would be traveling through the canal & locks until early next morning (July 1 & Canada Day).

Bristol Bay entered Lock 7 first, followed by Eagle & then Santosha. By this time we also had another pleasure craft join our group – a 58 foot Sea Ray.

The photo above shows Bristol Bay exiting one of the locks after we have been lowered approximately 50 feet.

I was really nervous approaching Eagle for our first raft up. Before we left the wall we discussed with each other how we would accomplish this. Both boats had lots of fenders positioned along the sides. Eagle would get set up along the lock wall & then I would come alongside for the raft-up. Catherine and Emily would pass lines from our boat over to Eagle’s crew & they would secure the two boats together.

Eagle has all the latest & greatest technology aboard. The Captain could handle this boat with a joystick & the twin diesel engines combined with bow & stern thrusters allowed him to make the boat do just about anything he wanted. Meanwhile, little Santosha has a single engine & a small bow thruster.

As I said before, Eagle is a beautiful boat. Earlier in the afternoon I did some research online & determined that she is worth about 35 time more than Santosha (yes, that’s thirty-five times)! And now I would be rafting up against this boat 4-6 more times in the dark! No pressure there, eh!

Despite my nervousness, I managed to raft up with Eagle through all of the locks without any incident. Emily & Catherine & Eagle’s crew did a great job with the lines & tie ups.

The photo above shows how we were rafted up during each of the lock passages. The boats drop approximately 50 feet during each lock operation & there is generally a fair bit of turbulence in the lock that causes the boats to shift around & to try to move away from the wall. Eagle’s owner did an awesome job holding our two boats in a stable position in each lock.

It was all a bit surreal going through the locks in the middle of the night with echoing voices coming over loudspeakers & vhf radios & the sound of water moving through the locks & engines revving up & down.

Finally, about 4:00am we entered the last lock on the canal. As the lock gates opened we said our goodbyes to Eagle & her crew. The owner was very kind to let us raft up with him. He was bound for Cape Cod & he told me that he had been through the Welland about 20 times – so he truly knew the way.

We entered Lake Ontario about 5:00am & headed for Port Dalhousie Marina about an hour away.

We had been up for 23 hours & our journey was not quite over.

Cheers!

And so our Welland Canal “adventure” continues…

We were just comfortably tied up on the canal wall near Lock 7 when the canal authorities told our group to move further up the wall to make space for a freighter that was coming towards us & would be tying up on the same wall.

Repositioning Santosha this time was much easier as the wind gusts were dying down a bit & the crew from Eagle took our lines as we approached our new parking spot on the wall.

The photo below is a “sister ship” to Eagle. Unfortunately I did not take a decent quality photo of Eagle but this one is virtually identical. Eagle is built by Riviera & is 58 feet long. A really beautiful boat.

We also received an update from the canal authorities informing us that it would be at least 9:00pm before we would be permitted to move through the next locks. Apparently a freighter further down the canal had a small collision with one of the safety gates in a lock & that basically stopped all traffic through the locks until the damage was repaired.

Now that we had to stay in one place for at least another 6 hours, we started making plans for dinner & to take some short walks along the shoreline.

The photo above shows the Bristol Bay along with its barge. Santosha is much further down the line behind Eagle.

The Captain of Bristol Bay walked down to visit with us and pass on the latest information he had about when we might start moving again.

Apparently the canal authorities were considering making the pleasure boats stay tied up on the wall overnight while Bristol Bay would be permitted to move on. The canal authorities were concerned about having the pleasure craft in the lock with the ship & barge during nighttime hours. Thankfully the Captain of Bristol Bay said he had no problem sharing lock space with us.

The freighter came to tie up behind us around 6:00pm

It was pretty slick how they tied up to the wall. Once they were close enough one of the crew was lowered from the deck by a small crane & then he caught the lines from his mates up on deck. It only took one person on shore to tie up this massive vessel.

Around 8:00pm two Canadian Coast Guard cutters passed by us – headed towards Lake Erie. The locks were back in operation!

A while later a freighter went past us & the canal authorities told us that it was finally our turn to enter the lock. By that time it was getting very dark and approaching 10:00pm.

Just before we were ready to cast off the owner of Eagle came over to tell me that he was instructed to have our boat raft up against his as we passed through each lock. This was not something that I was looking forward to doing.

to be continued…

43°7′13″ N 79°11′60″ W

We were up at 5:30am getting ready to go through the Welland Canal. This was an exciting day for all of us. The canal has multiple locks & bridges & it normally takes 6-8 hours to go through it from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario.

We had a light breakfast & were headed for the canal waiting dock by 6:15am. As we approached the dock the yacht named “Eagle” that we saw the night before was still there. The owner greeted us on the dock & helped Catherine & Emily with the lines.

He told me that he had been waiting to enter the canal since 4:00pm the day before & that the most recent update he had from the canal authorities was that it would be at least 4:00pm today before we could enter the canal. Not good news for either of us – especially for Eagle!

With this information at hand we decided to have a 2nd breakfast to help pass the time. Plus, once we were underway there wouldn’t likely be any opportunities to cook any meals until we had exited the canal.

I whipped up one of my breakfast specialties which made the crew happy & then I did the dishes, which made them even happier!

By the time that was all done it was approaching 9:00am & Catherine & Emily were contemplating a little window-shopping excursion at the stores just a few steps away on the street facing the canal. They were just getting ready to leave when the captain of the Eagle came over to tell us that the canal authorities were going to allow us to tag along behind a US Coast Guard ship that was coming shortly. With that good news the shopping plans were abandoned & we began preparing to enter the Welland Canal. With any luck we would be through the canal and on Lake Ontario before dinner time!

A large freighter passed by the pleasure craft waiting dock shortly after 9:00am & then it wasn’t too long after that when the USCG ship “Bristol Bay” came along pushing a work barge in front of it.

As soon as Bristol Bay passed us we cast off from the dock & fell in formation behind with Eagle going in front of us.

Once we passed under the first lift bridge we had to wait in a holding area for about an hour until the freighter in front of us had passed through the lock & then it was our turn. The first lock on the system only drops about 3 feet so there was no need for us to handle any lines. Each boat simply held its position in the middle of the lock.

Once we were underway again we would travel approximately 14 nautical miles before we had to enter the next lock on the system. The Welland Canal is just over 21 nautical miles long & it has a total of 8 locks. Several of the locks are connected together so it makes for a very interesting experience.

Our progress along the canal towards Lock 7 was slow because the USCG ship had limited maneuverability while pushing the barge. Plus, the wind was picking up with frequent gusts over 20 knots. These gusts didn’t create any waves on the canal but they did cause problems with maneuvering boats in lock approaches, etc.

We arrived at Lock 7, near Thorold, Ontario about 2:00 pm. As we approached the holding area we were informed that there were some problems with freighters passing through the locks ahead of us so we would have to wait where we were until at least 5:00pm.

The wind gusts were very strong in the holding area & made it very difficult for us to find a spot to tie up. On top of that, all of the mooring places were made for freighters, not for small boats like ours. After several attempts we finally managed to get safely secured & settled in for a 2-3 hour wait to enter the next lock.

… to be continued 🙀

42°52′32″ N 79°15′20″ W

I was up at 5:30am to prepare for an early departure to Port Colborne. It is a 6 hour passage from Port Dover.

The weather forecast was favorable with lots of sun & very light winds. The beautiful sunrise was certainly encouraging.

I pulled away from the dock at 6:15am and was greeted by a very different version of Lake Erie – compared to my experience approaching Port Dove the day before. The water was perfectly flat with a gentle breeze on my stern. This would be a great day for what was likely to be my my last passage on Lake Erie for quite some time.

Unfortunately this pleasantry was not meant to last. About 20 minutes after I left the dock I had a few thousand unwanted passengers join me for the voyage.

The boat was covered with tiny flys & they especially liked being on the flybridge!

Plus, huge clouds of them were following the boat & looking for a place to land. It was impossible for me to outrun them so my only choice was to retreat to the inside steering station until the invasion was over.

It was a real shame to have to go inside on such a beautiful day. Fortunately after about an hour the breeze picked up enough to clear the forward deck of bugs so I loaded up with sunscreen & bug spray & sat on a lawn chair on the bow of the boat.

I approached Port Colborne about 1:30pm. The large grain elevators at the entrance to the marina & the Welland Canal made my destination easy to spot from a fair distance away.

It was not very long before I was tied up at Sugarloaf Marina. The clouds of bugs stayed on the lake but I had a big cleanup job ahead of me because of all the dead ones still on the boat.

Once I was securely tied up I had a big G&T to cool down & to build up my motivation for the cleanup job that was facing me. Catherine & Emily we’re supposed to arrive in a few hours so I didn’t have too much time to waste! They would have no interest in boarding the boat in it’s current condition.

They arrived from London shortly after 7:00pm. After stowing their belongings aboard we went in search of a restaurant for a late dinner. We found a nice place on a street beside the canal & I pointed out the “waiting” dock for pleasure boats that were ready to enter the Welland Canal. There was a beautiful motor yacht tied up on the dock apparently in the cue to enter the canal.

Time for bed & an early start in the morning.

Cheers!