Back on the dock for another night at Jones Falls

44°32′49″ N 76°14′20″ W

Today was a small round trip day. My nephew Wayne & his son (my grand-nephew Jaden – aka “Master Boat Detailer”) drove down to Jones Falls from Ottawa & we took Santosha up to Chafey’s Lock.

Wayne was quick to learn the ropes in the lock!

We had lunch at the Opinicon, had a little tour around the property & then went to the local LCBO to replenish my stock of Radlers.

After that Jaden bought a round of ice cream cones & we boarded Santosha & headed back towards Jones Falls.

As the last day of the long weekend there was lots of “cottager” boat traffic on the water today. Anything & everything was on the water today. Even the swans!

You couldn’t have bought better weather for the long weekend in this part of Ontario.

Wayne & Jaden each took a turn at the helm. Unfortunately they had to be back in Ottawa by 6:00pm so they weren’t able to stay for supper. Too bad, I was going to dip into my special reserve of Spam & treat them to my special BBQ Spam Steak recipe. Oh well, I’m sure the Spam will keep ‘till the next time.

Cheers!

Overnight at Jones Falls

44°32′49″ N 76°14′20″ W

I was up at 5:30am this morning & made a hearty breakfast of bacon & eggs. Santosha was tied up close to shore on a long finger dock so all of the other boaters on the dock had to walk past my galley window on their way to the washrooms. As a result I was greeted with lots of smiles & friendly comments.

Jones Falls was almost 28 kilometers away so I wanted to get an early start. I pulled away from the dock shortly after 7:00 & was treated to a cool morning with no rain in the forecast. It was really refreshing after all the past heat & humidity. There were lots of fishermen out along the way trying their luck.

I was making good progress until I got to Brass Point shortly after 8:00. There were already a few boats hanging around the swing bridge across the channel & it took me a few minutes to realize that we were all way too early because the bridge didn’t start opening for boating traffic until 9:00 – in about 45 minutes. Oh well, that’s more time for another cup of coffee & a snack!

Just before boaters arrive at Jones Falls they are treated to a bit of a “folly”. An enterprising cottager went to a great deal of effort to position a small sailboat on the edge of a small cliff & then he put the sails up! It’s quite a sight. I will try to get a better picture the next time I go past.

I arrived at the lower lock at Jones Falls around 11:00. There were already about 10 boats in the queue to go up & there are 4 consecutive locks here so I was probably going to have to wait almost 2 hours for my turn. Oh well, time for more coffee & lunch!

Finally, around 1:30 it was my turn to go up the locks.

At last I reached the top lock & managed to tie up for the night at my favorite spot. Time to celebrate with a tall Margarita! Here’s the recipe:

Be careful – you will often find that one of these quickly leads to another! And be sure you use Sanpellegrino Grapefruit drink. It makes all the difference! Many thanks to Brent & Rachel Temmer for sharing this treat with me.

Cheers!