Saint Anne de Bellevue

Saint Anne de Bellevue

Our last stop before transiting the St Lawrence Seaway up to Montreal old town was the village of Saint Anne De Bellevue.  The last lock on the Ottawa is also here but at only 16 inches (due to high water) it was a speedy transit.  That, however, was after a bit of violent weather that overtook us just short of the blue line.  We could see the clouds behind us and were hoping to get tied up before it arrived.  The rain and wind did not cooperate, closing down just as we entered the twisty and narrow approach to the lock. Steve calmly kept us in the channel in spite of the wind and zero viz – fortunately – since the area outside the channel is strewn with prop destroying rocks. The markers gradually appeared just far enough ahead to keep us in a safe channel, and we finally reached the wall where we found our friends Bridget and Jacob on L’ Escargot wisely weathering the storm safely tied up.  Just a lesson in how quickly the weather can change even on a relatively narrow body of water.

On the wall at Carillon we met Folie II – with Louise – the mechanical engineer professor who bonded with Steve over discussions of oil changes, generator calibration and other esoteric “technical” subjects.  We passed them shortly after leaving the dock and were glad to see them again after the storm arrive safely in St Anne.

In Ste Anne, we also met the crew on Emily once again and they supplied us with their Montreal guide and maps to help us prepare for the days ahead. So in the same spirit, I passed along my info on Ottawa, Kingston and Picton with places in between to Linda and Ralph on Mazel Tug, a fellow looper boat heading up river – helping me as much as them. (Somehow the paper we collect expands on contact with the boat just like the cat hair and dust!)

St Anne – the most western community on the island of Montreal – was a charming reward for the bumpy weather. This tiny town seems to have more restaurants than homes, and also a great grocery store and a well-stocked ship chandler. (Oh, yes, there are plenty of cute shops too!) Ste Anne provides an easy place to catch our breath before the seaway and lots of interesting people watching this last weekend of the annual Quebec construction holiday.