Miles Traveled 0.4
Total Miles Traveled 5024
Day 293
Today was the North American Summit held in Ottawa, and
it pretty much shut down the waterway and major roads around the downtown
area. We kept getting conflicting
reports of when we could cross the Ottawa River and tie up to the lock wall to
enter the canal tomorrow. One report
said after 8 p.m. and another said 11:59 p.m., I flagged down a patrol boat
this morning and they said all times are subject to change, but the 8 p.m. time
would probably be correct. There were
patrol boats and helicopters in the area all day.
At 7:40 p.m. there were several patrol boats between us
and the lock so we decided to move the boat to the pump out station at the
marina to empty our holding tank before entering the canal. We did not have to cross the orange restricted
zone markers to get to the station.
After our pump out it was 8 p.m. and decided to wait about 10 minutes to
see if the patrol boats started to move.
One of them came toward the marina and I asked them if we could proceed
to the lock wall. They gave me thumbs up
so I called “Gypsea” on the radio and we crossed the restricted zone markers
without a patrol boat speeding toward us.
Canada Day, which is the same as our Independence Day, is this Friday
July 1st. The canal through
Ottawa will be full of boats and we want to stay on the downtown lock wall
during the celebration. By being at the
lock tonight gives us a better chance of locking through in the morning before
all of the spaces are taken downtown.
Approaching Ottawa……..
The “Flight of 8”, eight consecutive locks raising us
about 79 feet, then we pass under a bridge to downtown Ottawa.
We are the first boat at the wall, and should be the
first boat into lock #1 in the morning.
We could sit here a few hours tomorrow though, if the lock master
decides to lock the boats waiting at the top to come down first.
2 comments:
Going to miss watching fireworks on the boat with you & Moni, but hope you have a great time in Ottawa! We'll trade some beach pictures for some Ottawa sights. :)
I think this will be the first July 4th fireworks we have missed ever.......we are cruising on the Rideau River and did have two Canadian boaters wish us happy independence day though.
Post a Comment