Day 26

Yesterday we left Montebello for Ottawa. Prior to taking this trip I always thought that the St Lawrence was a fast moving Chanel of water. Somewhat like one sees on Quebec City. However, it is a meandering relatively shallow (25'-60') river with many marshy islands. To do this trip without a GPS would be totally confusing and probably fraught with multiple groundings.

So, leaving beautiful Montebello we were treated to miles of beautiful marsh and then small villages and farms. Very few boats on the river on the weekdays. Always there is the clown in the fast moving Bayliner that is proud of his 4' wake and likes to zoom by real close. Could this be R.G.?

We had been told by quite a few boaters that when we got to Ottawa we should stay at the Casino because it was free. Well when we got there they had changed the rules and now you have to pay. So we did. They have a rule that if you spend a certain amount of money you get the dockage fee back. We were $2 short of the the required limit so thought we would put a few bucks into the slot machine. Actually Marti wanted to play blackjack but chickened out. Thanks to the house rule we not only got the free dockage, but another $28 as well.

The casino is actually built on the edge of two quarry's. Each quarry is now a lake and to get into the quarry you have to get off the Ottawa River into the Gatineau River and then thread the needle by traversing a very, very narrow cut in almost a tunnel to get into the quarry lakes. A bit intimidating, but very protected once inside. Today we will tour Ottowa.