St. Anne de Bellevue to Montreal

It was an early 6 am start on Tuesday July 7th as we pushed off the Parks Canada wall at St. Anne de Bellevue to head for Montreal.  We crossed Lac St. Louis through a bouyed channel and entered the St. Lawrence Seaway canal.  With a speed limit of 6 knots it was slow cruise through the Seaway.  We encountered two large freighters.

Noah the photographer enjoyed taking pictures of the ships and bridges.

After 3 hours we arrived at the first of the commercial locks we needed to pass through.  St. Catherine lock.  At 7 am each morning the Seaway Corporation posts the schedule for ships and recreational boats.  The St. Catherine lock was not to open for recreational boats until 11 am (oh no, after such an early rise it looked like we would have to wait 2 hours).  But it was our lucky day and they let us enter the lock at 9:30 am.  We descended 30 feet in 8 minutes it was a huge lock, we were so tiny in it.

Another hour's cruise to the next lock on the Seaway, St. Lambert.  We arrived and entered it immediately.  Thank goodness because the skies had opened up and we were in a downpour.  Fun times, we descended that lock in the pouring rain.  As soon as we were done it, the rain stopped and we headed for sunny Montreal.  We passed le Parc Olympique, La Ronde and the Port of Montreal.  There was a crazy 5 knot current in the Port from the water coming out of the Lachine Rapids.  We pushed through fine, but it would be tough for a sailboat.  We entered Vieux Port around noon time.  It was sunny skies.  We plan to stay here for 2 days and enjoy the sites.