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.