24 Jun 15

Having exhausted the delights Prescott, we decided to press on downriver and through our first St. Lawrence Seaway lock. The dock lines were slipped at 08:08 and we motored out into the stream. The wind was light, so we motored all day, first 10 miles to the Iroquois Lock, where we were lowered down 5 cm (yes, that’s right - about 2 inches), after waiting about half an hour for the “Algoma Mariner” to lock through upbound. Another 10 miles found us passing Morrisburg, and we were tied up at Crysler Park Marina before noon. After lunch, we biked over to the Crysler Farm Battlefield site, where the Canadians delivered a resounding defeat to a much superior American force (marching on Montreal) in November of 1813, thus committing themselves to second world status for all eternity. Or, at least that is how the Americans see it. The Canadians see it as a glorious slap to the upstart rebels and are actually happy to remain independent to this day; the mind boggles. Oh, well, we will just have to resign ourselves to enjoying the very favourable (US$ to CAN$) exchange rate. Dinner aboard. We are actually have about 4 days in hand relative to our planned arrival in Montreal on 1 July, so, tomorrow, we plan to hang out here and take in Upper Canada Village.

44-56.138’N, 075-05.647’W

25 Jun 15

Having all day with nothing to do but Upper Canada Village, we slept in. After breakfast, while the Admiral was cleaning up, I got it into my head to wax the hull, or at least part of it; I got about 12 or 13 ft of the port side done before we left, and, man, it looks good. We rode the bikes over to Upper Canada Village and got in free, courtesy of Crysler Park Marina’s vouchers (thank you very much), and what a pleasant surprise it was; so much better than Williamsburg - in my opinion - because they have stuff that works: a woolen mill, grist mill, and saw-mill all powered by water turbines, blacksmith shop, tin-smith shop, broom-maker, bakery (using flour from the afore-mentioned grist mill), and a cheese factory (we found out why cheddar cheese is orange - Google “rennet”). And the locums/artisans running the place were very cool and interested in their particular areas. There were a number of old houses and lots of old tools and it was great to see how things worked. This was a good deal, even at the full CAN$18 price; for free, it was a no-brainer. We were there most of the day - from 10:00 until 16:00. Back at the boat later, I nearly finished waxing the port side during happy hour. Dinner aboard.