July 9 – Poonamalie Lock
44°53′34″ N 76°3′20″ W

We left Jones Falls at 8:00am & headed towards Smiths Falls. We were not too sure about how long it would take us to get through the multiple locks that were ahead of us so we were prepared to stop somewhere before Smiths Falls if it was getting too late in the day.

On this trip today we experienced a wide variety of waters. Big Rideau Lake is a very large, beautiful lake that is over 200 feet deep in many places and we also went through several narrow channels that were only wide enough for one boat at a time & the depth was less than 5 feet.

Davis Lock (#38) is a pretty spot with nice overnight finger docks that have electricity & small picnic tables with umbrellas. Chaffeys Lock (#37) is a bustling little community of tiny cottages side by side & a LCBO store with a dock.

In between Chaffeys Lock & Newboro Lock there is small cut about 75 feet wide that links Indian Lake to Clear Lake. As you pass through the cut you can see a small self-serve ferry/barge that can take two cars at a time across the cut.

The barge has no engine – car drivers have to pull the barge across by themselves by hand with a cable that’s attached to each end of the barge.

A few hours later we passed through Newboro Lock (#36), which is the highest point on the Rideau system so the rest of the locks we will be passing through on the way to Ottawa will be taking us down rather than up.

At this point the channel marker buoys also switched from green on port & red on starboard to red on port & green on starboard. The channel marker buoys are always red on your starboard side when you are traveling against the natural flow of the water.

Going down in the locks is much easier than going up. There is far less turbulence in the locks so the crew does not have to work so hard to hold the boat against the lock wall. However, it can be a bit tricky getting your lines around the lock’s guide cables because the deck of the boat can be 2-3 feet above the lock wall before it starts draining. Thankfully Parks Canada has lots of staff at each lock & they are always ready to lend a hand with the lines.

Our next lock was at Narrows Lock (#35). This was a challenging lock to enter because it is right at the end of a small lake & the wind was very strong on our stern, trying to push the boat sideways into the lock.

After passing through Narrows Lock we traveled for about 90 minutes & then stopped at a small marina in Rideau Ferry for some diesel fuel, fresh water & a pumpout.

Photo above: entering a narrow cut – sound your horn before entering to warn any boats coming the other way!

Our busy day was coming to an end so we decided to spend the night at the upper side of Poonamalie Lock (#32) which was only about 3 miles from Smiths Falls. It was a good place to stop after a long day.

We were the only boat on the dock wall for the night so it was kinda nice to have the place to ourselves.

Some trivia: Poonamalie Lock was named by one of the Royal Engineers who was working on the lock when it was first built. He had been to India & thought the area reminded him of that country. Poonamalie means “cat hill” in the Tamil language. (we didn’t see any cats on the hill).

Cheers!

July 8

Jones Falls Upper Lock: 44°32′44″ N 76°14′18″ W

This past January Catherine & I went to the Toronto Boat Show & while we were there we attended a seminar presentation about the Trent Severn & Rideau River & Canal systems that was given by Parks Canada staff. That added greatly to our interest in making this trip.

The Rideau system was built between 1826 & 1832. It is North America’s oldest continuously operated canal & connects Kingston to Ottawa. It is 202 km in length & has a total of 46 locks. The entire system is Ontario’s only UNESCO World Heritage site.

We left Kingston Mills Lock (#46) at 8:00am. I had been talking to another boater the day before who had traveled the entire Rideau System numerous times. He told me that the overnight docks at Jones Falls locks were very nice & that would be an easy day’s trip for us.

It wasn’t long before we approached our first lock at Lower Brewers (#45) & I explained to Catherine & Emily how to handle the boat lines at the bow & stern while we were “locking-up”.

Each lock has a series of cables attached to the walls. Boaters loop a line around the cable & hold on to it as the boat rises or lowers in the lock.

It can get quite turbulent in the lock when it is being flooded so it’s important to hang on tight or the boat could be pushed away from the wall & bump up against other boats in the lock.

After exiting this lock we traveled less than 2km & entered Upper Brewer’s combined locks (#44 & 43). These 3 locks together lifted us a total of approximately 24 feet.

After leaving Upper Brewer’s Locks we entered Cranberry Lake & passed through the Brass Point (wooden) Swing Bridge that opens for boaters on demand.

The other side of the swing bridge was Whitefish Lake with Jones Falls Locks (#39, 40, 41 & 42) just a short distance away. The upper lock (#39) was to be our destination for the day.

When we arrived at the lower lock (#42) other boats were already in the process of “locking-up” so we had to wait about an hour for our turn.

We tied up on a waiting dock just in front of Hotel Kenny, which was built in 1877 and still operates today as a guest lodge. Lots of character & it reminded Catherine of the summer she worked at Rawley Lodge in Port Severn on Georgian Bay back in 1974.

We walked over to the hotel to get some ice cream, figuring we had lots of time to enjoy it but by the time we got back to the boat the lock master was signaling us that it was our turn to enter the locks. That was the fastest ice cream cone I ever had!

We exited the upper lock at about 5:00pm & tied up on the overnight dock immediately in front of the lock. It was pretty hot & the water looked very refreshing so we all took a dip in the water right behind the boat. What fun!

After our swim I fired up the BBQ & cooked our supper while Catherine & Emily got the rest of the meal ready.

It was a great way to end an adventurous day on the water.

The next day we continue on our journey towards Smiths Falls.

Cheers!