Arctic Songbird Adventures

A foggy, drizzly,  morning gave way to a sunny afternoon between Westport and Upper Brewers Lock, where we spent our last night on the Rideau Canal. We traveled with Shearwater, a yacht we first tied up with back in Burlington, VT. We got together after dinner and told some good stories, as the sky turned orange and pink at sunset. After dark, we heard some children running and laughing in the grass field and we found them catching fireflys. Being from Alaska we had never seen such a sight and we joined in the fun running around attempting to catch some. Frazier caught two and they were fun to watch as they flashed like a strobe while sitting on his hand. Carrie was busy photographing a blue heron catch the trapped fish out of the lock. It was a peaceful night until some fisherman fired up their boat at 5:30a to get on the lake early in preparation for the Canada Day fishing derby. The locks weren't ready until 9:30a so we got a late start toward Kingston. We had six more locks an...

We woke up this morning fogged in with about 100 feet of visibility after a day of rain yesterday and a nice thunderstorm last night. The forecast is for rain and thunderstorms the next two days so hopefully there is some break for Canada Day tomorrow. Westport is a cute town and we found the groceries and ice cream so all is well. The Westport museum was filled with items up to 200 years old and we spent a good bit of time checking it out while the rain poured outside. The scenery across the lakes yesterday was beautiful and this is a recreational paradise for Canadians. The Rideau Lakes and canal have thousands of waterfront cottages (some over 12,000 square feet) and most have docks, swimming beaches, and a dozen Adirondack chairs to relax in, and watch the world go by. I have been grabbing all the waterfront home real estate guides and dreaming of that quiet cottage of our own! This would be a great location for such a place. Today we will m...

It was a great day of cruising and we went through many locks. We decided to take a side trip up the Tay Canal to Perth and it was wonderful. The canal is very narrow, shallow, and winds through swamps and forests. We saw a few birds and one turtle. The lock attendant told us there were lots of water snakes but they were harmless. We didn't see anything slithering but suspect it might not be a fun place to anchor overnight! The town of Perth was voted the number one prettiest town in Ontario, according to several residents. We thought it was beautiful and loved the park, with the stream running through. There are some beautiful churches and government buildings dating to the 1800's. We are the only boat at the dock so hopefully it will be a quiet night.