July 27-29, Montreal, QC

We have arrived in downtown Montreal! Beautiful day on the water. Took us almost 6 hours to go 40 miles because the 1.5-2 knot current of the St Lawrence River was against us.

Leaving Sorel.
Sorel does have a downtown.
We were just a mile east and did not get there.

Ferry crossing the St Lawrence River at Sorel.

Several large industrial complexes are located at Sorel.

VALENCIA EXPRESS with containers heading out to sea.

MSC ANIELLO follows about two miles behind.
That go fast boat is small in comparison.

Church at Verennes, QC. Steeple 206 feet

Coast Guard catamaran with special gear.
Wonder what they are doing?

Approaching Montreal.

Clock tower marks the entrance to the Montreal Harbor.
Current here is 6 knots. WOW!

In Montreal we are staying at the Port D'Escale at the Old Port, right at the foot of the Old Town of Mortreal. The floating docks are brand new this year and we have floating showers and rest rooms right here on the dock. 50 amp power and good internet.

KOKOMO II IN Port D'Escale.
Just above the harbor is the Montreal Old Town Promenade.

KOKOMO II as seen from the promenade.

Old Town Montreal is a great place for a walk in the evening.

Dinner tonight at Toque. Recommended by TV chef Rachael Ray as her restaurant choice for Montreal. 5 Diamond by AAA. We had the tasters menu. (We reserve our opinion as we both both had an upset stomachs in the morning. Bummer.)

After dinner, we walked from downtown through Old Town and found the streets had sidewalk cafes crowded with diners. Lots of people walking, eating ice cream and enjoying the evening. Feels very european.

KOKOMO II below the large floodwall at Port D'Escale.

Tourists near the Old Port.

Notre Dame Basillica.

Went to Notre Dame Basillica for their light show this evening. Beautiful Church. Designed by James O'Donnell, an Irish Protestant living in NYC, who later converted to become Catholic as the church was being finished. Constructed 1824-1829. The interior decoration was patterned after the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris and completed about 1880. Organ was added in 1891 and has 4 keyboards, 99 stops and over 7000 pipes. Awesome.

Dinner tonight at Modavie. Live jazz like Diana Krall. Found some gelato. Another beautiful evening walk in Montreal.

'Hotel De Ville' (City Hall) is under repair and has some painted canvas that resembles the building hidden behind the scaffolding and canvas. Clever.

Archway announcing Chinatown in Montreal.

Lychee nuts for sale in Chinatown.

Underground shopping mall.
Part of the 18 miles of underground shopping available in Montreal.

Bicycles available for one way rental.

Sculpture 'Illuminated Crowd' by Raymond Mason.

McGill college campus in Montreal.

Schwartz's Deli is a small place with famous 'smoked meat' sandwiches.
Tastes like corned beef. They ask: "lean, medium or fatty?".
Still only $5.90.

Mike and Sally Stetson join us for our last night in Montreal and arrive about 7pm after a seven hour drive from the New York finger lake area. Great to see them. Dinner on the boat.

July 26, Sorel, QC

We left the Chambly Basin on a beautiful day with clear skies, moderate temperatures and a nice breeze. We need a jacket or sweatshirt on the bridge today with cooler temperatures and the wind chill from the breeze.

Chambly Basin looking west toward the town of Chambly.

Chambly Basin looking north.
Mont Saint-Hilaire in the background.

Richelieu River is pretty here.
Mont Saint-Hilaire stands out in relatively flat country as we get closer.

Point Beloeil.
Low RR bridge requires us to hug the left shore.

Swift current and a narrow opening.
27 feet of overhead clearance is plenty for us.

There are many small towns along the Richelieu River. Each seems to have a large church with a tall steeple.

Beautiful display of wild flowers on the hillside.
We think they are probably planted by the homeowner.

We only had one lock today and it was just opening for traffic northbound as we approached. Nice floating dock to tie up to inside the lock. This is a much bigger lock than the ones on the Chambly Canal. Very easy transit.

Lock at Ste Ours.
We share the lock with 5 other small boats.

We moved north (downstream) on the Richelieu River, through the lock at St Ours and finally into the St Lawrence Seaway. Our trip today covered 40 miles. We had a current pushing us north that added about one mph to our speed. Probably shortened our trip by 30 minutes.

Approaching the industrial harbor at Sorel, Quebec.

As we approach the end of the Richelieu River, the shore becomes very industrial and we pass under a highway bridge. There are some large ocean going cargo ships here.

Then as we enter the St Lawrence River five large ships pass us heading west carrying cargo to Montreal or into the Great Lakes. The shipping lanes are busy today.

Marina de Sorel.

We are staying on the south shore of the St Lawrence River about a mile east of the Richelieu River. We are at the Marina de Sorel, a large marina behind a fifteen foot stone breakwater. The water level must change quite a bit with the seasonal runoff and the large breakwater and floating docks offer some protection from the elements. As we enter our marina today the wind is blowing from the north west at 20 mph. Pretty well protected marina but a very windy afternoon.

We are only walking in Sorel and we did not reach the downtown area (if there is one). We did walk to a nice meduim sized modern hotel nearby the marina to check out the dining room. Looks ok. We are just relaxing and spending the day on the boat attending to some chores.

We have come as far north as we will go on this trip (46 degrees north latitude). Tomorrow we will head south/southwest to Montreal. Stuart, Florida, is 27 degrees north latitude.

July 25, Chambly, QC

We left Ste Jean de Richelieu and started north on the Chambly Canal. The Chambly Canal was needed to lower and raise the boats around the rapids of the Richelieu River. The Chambly Canal connecting Lake Champlain with the St Lawrence River was proposed in 1785, started in 1831 and completed in 1843. The Chambly Canal required nine locks to float this section of the Richelieu River.

Park before lock 9 in Ste Jean.

Beginning at Ste Jean we enter a very small lock and are lowered about 10 feet to the next level and then motor along in a narrow canal that has been dug alongside the wide and shallow Richelieu river. We will make a drop in each of nine locks today. Busy day.

Entering lock 9.
About 30 feet wide. Smallest lock we have ever been in.

The narrow Chambly Canal with the bike path.
Wide Richelieu River to the right.

Distinctive boat moored along the canal.

We meet six boats coming out of lock 7 heading the other way.

Park before lock 3 with the town of Chambly behind.

Lock 3 emptying so we can go in. Lots of tourists watch the operation of the bridge and lock and the boats coming and going.
We are the show today.

After lock 1. Approaching Marina de Chambly.

Marina de Chambly is a block from town.

Historic Fort Chambly (1711) is visible from our marina.

We end the day at Chambly, Quebec, and like the setting of the town on the wide Richelieu River with some mountains in the distance and we like the town. Very tourist friendly with flowers everywhere and lots of people biking on the miles and miles of bike paths. A bike path runs all the way from Chambly to Ste Jean, a distance of about 10 miles. The bike path is mostly paved and follows the old path used to tow the barges along the canal. However we did not see any place to rent a bike. There may be a business opportunity here for someone in the summer.

Downtown Chambly.

Pretty homes and flowers.

Playing chess in the park.
Free theater with a magician behind.

Little people with big chess pieces.

Ice cream cone table and chairs.

Lots of restaurants and ice cream shops. We found a very nice large grocery store in town. Everyone speaks French. When they hear our English they switch and are very helpful, but we can tell that everyone here speaks mostly french. This is a very nice stop for us.