June 27-July1, Kingston, ON

Linda's eye infection has gotten worse overnight. Both eyes are now almost closed. We tuck her in bed and head for Kingston.

We leave Morton's Bay early (about 8 am) in the fog (not too thick) heading for Kingston. The scenery is really spectacular this morning and we think Morton's Bay may be as pretty as anywhere we have seen. The Rideau coming out of Ottawa is flat country with some slightly rolling hills. This part of the Rideau is granite boulders, some as big as large office buildings, coming right out of the water with beautiful trees all around. Reminds us of the pretty parts of Maine.

Morton's Bay early in the morning

Underway in Morton's Bay

Granite shore

Fog coming over the hill

These trees are thirty feet tall.

Beautiful

Narrow entrance channel into Morton's Bay. We go between the marker in the center and the shore on the right. We go VERY slowly. Thinking of all the small places we go in and out of in the Bahamas. We miss GOOMBAY!

Really pretty area of the Rideau with the granite islands and the fog.

Some granite islands are very close to the channel.

Canada Parks employees opening and closing this single lane automobile bridge by using human power.

Most of the locks on the Rideau are still operated by hand cranking.

We transit six more locks as we end up back at the level of Lake Ontario. Kingston, Ontario, is located at the northeast corner of Lake Ontario so we are back in the Great Lakes again. We are only a few miles from the 1000 Island area of the St Lawrence Seaway.

Confederation Basin is our marina in downtown Kingston, Ontario.

We are in the Confederation Basin Marina in Kingston and are at the foot of the very nice downtown area. We plan to be here through Canada Day, which is July 1, Canada's Independence Day

We have arranged an appointment for Linda at the Hotel Dieu Hospital (eye hospital) emergency eye clinic in Kingston, through the Confederation Marina staff. We arrive in Kingston about 1 pm, and we are getting the eye checked by 2 pm. We are finally back to the boat about 6 pm. Long day for Linda. She is very uncomfortable overnight Friday, taking eye drops every 30 minutes to clear the infection. We go back to the eye clinic on Saturday and the Doctor confirms it is a bacteria causing the infection and that the treatment they are prescribing is the right one. He is encouraging that the infection seems less severe now. Linda continues the 30 minute drops all Saturday. Rains all day. Bummer.

Ken and Debbie leave us Saturday to return to Detroit by train. It has been great to have them.

Sunday and Monday are clear and Linda continues to see her Canadian Doctors and use her antibiotic drops in both eyes every 2 hours. We will continue this treatment until the infection is cleared. Her Doctors think this will take several weeks or more to completely clear and then probably require other treatment from the expected scarring of the cornea from the infection. We decide to put the boat in storage and return to Stuart.

Tuesday is Canada Day and we make plans and arrangements to return home while enjoying the celebration.

Craft Fair at Confederation Marina: These are glass bird feeders to attach to your window so you can watch the birds come and go. Inside are special baffles make it impossible for the squirrels to steal the seed. This vendor has movies of his product that are fun to watch (squirrels get pretty upset) and Ken and Debbie cannot resist. They both take one home.

Kingston City Hall

Kingston street

Canadian Pacific Locomotive in front of old train station (now information center) downtown.

Canada Day at the Confederation Marina

Boat Parade

Very noisy (straight exhaust) very pretty (brand new, with glowing florescent dash lights, beautifully finished interior) and very fast (he was talking over 100 mph) catamaran with celebration underway, pulls into the dock behind us on Canada Day.

Tuesday is Canada Day (celebrating Canadian Confederation) and we make arrangements wind up the trip for now. The plan is to leave Kingston Wednesday morning and go across Lake Ontario (50 miles) to Oswego, NY and then take the boat Winter Harbor Marina in Brewerton, NY, where we left the boat last winter, and fly home Saturday out of Syracuse.

Tuesday night we watch the fireworks show just offshore the Confederation Harbor Marina. Linda is in very good spirits and can see some out of the left eye and almost nothing out of the right. We know we have our priorities right.

June 26, Morton Bay, ON

Today we motored about 20 miles through Upper Rideau Lake to the lock at Newboro where we were at the highest point in the Rideau Canal (409 feet above sea level) and now we start going down in the rest of the locks of the Rideau.

More locks

We stopped in the tiny town of Newboro because they have a doctor who checked Linda who has developed an infection with some pain behind her eye. She thinks it may be an allergic reaction. He gives her some medication and we continue toward Kingston where we will have an opthamologist look at it tomorrow.

Some of our route is through narrow passages.

Granite rocks begin to show.

The large dam at Jones Falls. Big engineering and construction project for 1826.

Jones Falls dam overflow. These pipes are made from wood.

Above the Jones Fall Locks.

Ken handles the bow lines in the locks today

Debbie handles the stern lines

Morton's Bay is spectcular.

We stop for a look at the dam at Jones Falls, the largest building project on the Rideau. Then through four more locks at Jones Falls, and then a few more miles to a pristine area known as Morton’s Bay. There is a VERY narrow entrance into a bay about 300 feet wide and a mile long, lined with forested granite walls up to 150 feet tall. VERY pretty. We tie to a park dock at the foot of the bay and have a beautiful setting for overnight.

June 25, Westport, ON

We motored about 30 miles from Smith Falls through two locks, then Lower Rideau Lake (we bypassed Perth which is five miles up a canal out of the way, but would allow another day to see Perth if we were planning again) to Big Rideau Lake (bypassing Portland) and then one more lock and then through Upper Rideau Lake to Westport which is a nice small town in the northwest corner of the Upper Rideau Lake with lots of older buildings and stores. We are docked tonight at the town dock with power and Internet access and are a short walk across the footbridge to the town.

Leaving Smith Falls. Some of these 5th wheels rent here from the city for the season.

Debbie handling the lines as we enter a lock going up.

Waiting for another boat using the lock ahead. Scenery is very pretty as we wait.

Arriving in Westport on a windy afternoon.

Owen and Ken enjoy the bakery sign. Debbie gets us some special pasteries.

Church on the corner

Shopping street Westport. Shops are nicer inside than outside and no t-shirt shops.

Historic stone building

Spring of fresh water still flows. Was flowing during the stagecoach days of the 1860's.

Westport spring

We spent a pleasant afternoon and evening in Westport and think we saw the whole town. This is a favorite stop and we agree. Nice little town with all the services needed.

Morning visitor.

Debbie and Ken put rain-x on the cabin windows. Still a light sprinkle from time to time.

June 24, Smith Falls, ON

We head south again on the Rideau Canal about noon and go 20 miles and through 4 locks to Smith Falls.

Most of the locks on the Rideau are hand operated by Parks Canada employees. They say it is a nice summer government job.

Linda geting ready for another lock as we line up the boat to enter.

This is a larger town and we do a self guided walking tour. Not as much charm as Merrickville here. There is a Canal Museum (closed when we get there) and a Hershey Chocolate factory (too far a walk). We are docked at the city park, where there are a few marina spots (with power tonight for KOKOMO II) combined with an RV campground.

Canal Museum is in building on left.

Historic home - now a Sushi restaurant.

June 23, Merrickville, ON

We put in a full day on the water today. Weather is cool and overcast and the rain comes and goes. We left Ottawa at 8:45 am and headed south on the Rideau Canal. The start of the trip shows us very manicured parks and beautiful homes along the canal as we leave Ottawa. We make the first bridge in time for it's first opening at 9:00 am and travel all day. The speed limit in most of the canal is 10 kmh (6 mph). We cover 42 miles and go up 15 locks and end up in the charming small town of Merrickville about 6:30 pm as the rain finally stops.

Ken and Debbie underway a few miles from Ottawa

We join this boat in the first lock leaving Ottawa and share all our locks today heading upstream to Merrickville.

Downtown Merrickville

Stone Church on the corner.

This gal and a friend have come from Ottawa (three days paddling) and are camping along the way.

Here they are starting their return trip as it starts to sprinkle. The locks accommodate watercraft large and small.

Linda and Debbie touring the old mills ruins with a guide.

Linda, Ken and Debbie.

British "Block House" built in 1826 to defend the Canal.

Merrickville is now a nice tourist town with some very interesting shops and restaurants. We enjoy the ambiance.

Hats off to our crew today for a very long day and for handling the lines for all those locks in the rain! We walk the small town and have a nice dinner out. We are docked on the wall of the dam above town and have no power as only one 30 amp power plug is available and KOKOMO II requires more. Another nice night on the generator.