On Monday, September 9th we pushed off the docks at The Montréal Yacht Club.
It was a bright ☀️sunny fall day with a little chill in the air. We loved our time in Montréal (and highly recommend any Loopers visiting dock here). Because fall is here and we need to finish our Summer 2019 “Mini Loop” it’s time to move on 🙂.
Our next big port destination is Burlington, Vermont. It should take us about a week to arrive.
Today we plan to head out the Saint Lawrence River to Sorel, make a sharp turn to starboard onto the Richelieu River and enter the Chambly Canal.
Then...over the next few days: Complete the Chambly Canal, clear Customs and enter 🇺🇸The United States of American, continue south on Lake Champlain to Burlington.
We traveled aboard Thistle on this section of the Loop in the opposite direction in the summer of 2014!
The Red line 🖍indicates or travel plan.
We saw a few luxury yachts departing Montréal.
They are heading out the Saint Lawrence River and then down
the east coast for the ❄️winter.
Snow Bird 🐦 yachts (too large 😲for Canal travel).
More tankers on the Saint Lawrence.
And another ☝️ “one” (Or 10)?
All smiles to be back on the water 😄
Many beautiful churches dot the Richelieu River.
Every tiny town seems to have huge church.
They look similar, but all slightly different.
The day turned gray, but church steeples were shining!
The River was very calm with a perfect reflection.
We arrived at Saint Ours Lock ....
With quite an unexpected surprise⁉️
What ..... this is our only way back to Brewerton, NY
for winter storage !
(Except to turn around and retrace our entire summers journey😱.)
After checking in with the Lock Master we decided to “wait and see”
if the Locks would open in the next few days.
Thistle docked on the Saint Ours Lock wall...it was very very very remote!
Luckily 🍀
we had provisioned well at Marche Atwater.
The Chambly Canal is a National Historic site of Canada, with
Nine Locks running along the Richelieu River.
Opened in 1843, serving as a major commercial route for trade between Canada and the USA.
The canal connects the Saint Lawrence River with the Hudson River via Lake Champlain.
Since the 1970’s traffic has been strictly recreational.
Once again we got lucky ✅ and the Canal reopened the following morning!
Some fall 🍁colors starting to show.
DANGER⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️
It’s on all of the navigation charts...
And we remember this from the summer of 2014.
A narrow bridge entrance with strong currents and shoaling.
We made it .... 😇Thank you Captain Greg!
Fort Chambly🛕
The Lock Masters home.
Chambly Canal Locks are very tight!
Only two boats our size will barley fit ...
After clearing 100’s of Locks over the past few years,
these were definitely the most stressful.
The modern Saint Jean de Richelieu Bridge.
Yeah... we completed The Chambly Canal!
With the limited fall Lock hours and Lock mechanical issues
it took us an extra two days to complete the Chambly Canal.
Docked on the Saint Jean de Richelieu Lock wall for the night.
We enjoyed a (much needed and deserved)
celebration dinner with another couple that
we had locked with over the past few days.
On September 12th we cleared US Customs @ Rouses Point, NY.
Thistle flying our yellow 🟨 quarantine flag (required to fly until you clear customs).
Yippee...We Cleared :) Captain Greg taking down the yellow quarantine flag!
Celebration time...
Back in the 🇺🇸USA😍🎼
Docked for the night at Barcombs Marina.
Our next stop was Plattsburgh, NY on Lake Champlain.
And another lucky surprise!
Every September the town of Plattsburgh hosts a
Battle of Plattsburgh Commemoration.
We just happened to be there for the 🎖celebration.
The original Battle of Plattsburgh was fought on September 11, 1814.
It was the deciding battle of the War of 1812.
The War determined where our border would be with Canada.
The British wanted Lake Champlain.
The Battle of Plattsburgh was fought on the Lake for a few intense hours.
After seeing that control of the Lake was no longer a possibility.
The British fleet turned North (back to Canada)
A treaty was signed a few months later ending the War of 1812.
The parade.
An ending Fireworks 💥 show...in the ☔️rain?
September 15th we docked in Burlington.
(A week after leaving Montréal .)
That evening there was a spectacular sunset.
Good Night...Sweet Purple 💜Dreams!
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