Chambly Canal to St. Lawrence River, just outside of Montréal, Quebec

Up and at 'em, ready to go right with the first lock at 9 am. The first 8 Chambly Canal Locks were back to back, with a few kilometers in between- sometimes visible from the previous one. 

We had to pass 3 oncoming boats while in between the locks in a wider spot. One was 75'. Ben asked the max for the locks and they said about 100' but the largest they've had is an 88' one that was rescued from the bottom of Lake Champlain and hooked up to horses to walk along the path on the side of the canal.

There are GIANT spiders here. I'm talking just smaller than the size of a mouse. A few others were closer to half dollar size, but still much larger and scarier than our spiders at home. Every time we spot them on the walls in the locks, I hold my breath and hope it doesn't find its way onto us or our boat.

We saw a wild ferret at lock 3- that was surprising and fun to see. We weren't expecting that! The last 3 (locks 1-3) were in a row - one right into the next, like stair steps. That was new for us and kinda fun because we had everything all set up and people manning their stations through the locks. We started becoming a well-oiled machine in these locks, which was good especially because it was raining through all of the locks. 

At the last 3 locks, Ben was talking to another boating crew from NY (he thinks). They told him they were following our blog and just read it last night! Super cool coincidence, as nothing recent had been posted and our paths still crossed!

Passed Mont Saint Hilaire. It looked bB

eautiful with the fog/cloud hanging over the top of it. I'm teaching the kids to cross stitch- which is making me reminisce about my childhood summers of cross stitching with my gram. 

Another lock, Saint Ours (Lock #22 for this trip, so far), was a new style for us. There was a floating dock inside the lock that the lockmaster tied us up to and the dock floated down as the water level decreased and we chatted. This was the easiest lock, so far, for sure. We didnt have to hold any lines or hooks at all! 

During our chat, the lockmaster told us the lock at Carillon is closed again as of this morning (June 9) for an indefinite time. Consulting this site for updates: https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/qc/canalcarillon She mentioned there may be a commercial route from Montreal to Ottawa. When we asked in The Great Loop and Rideau Canal Groups if anyone has this information, we found out there is no alternate route, so we would have to take the St Lawrence River (fighting a strong current) all the way into Lake Ontario, skipping the Rideau and Ottawa completely, which would be super sad. Ben likes the history of the Rideau and I was looking forward to the largest drop in a lock (62 ft) and a guillotine style lock, which we haven't experienced yet. We are hoping it will get fixed while we are in Montréal. 

We anchored away from the current in the St Lawrence River, off La Grande Île, with views of powerlines, grassy fields, suburban houses, and Montréal.