We were parked just below the St Ann De Bellevue lock which opens at 9 every day, so we cranked the engines a bit before that time and moved in front of the gate. It opened and we went in with smaller boats in front and behind. This was the first lock containing a floating dock that we tied up to. It’s the easiest way to go since we just tie up in the normal way we always do and then float, up in this case, with the dock. It’s even easier since there are plenty of Parks Canada employees in the green shirts on the dock to take your lines and tie up. The dock does take up room so I can see why they don’t usually have them in locks.

Twenty five miles later we hit the larger and deeper Carillon lock, also with a floating dock. Six boats went in before us, some tying to the floating dock and others rafting to them. They asked us in but misjudged the floating dock space so we went against the lock wall on the other side which allowed us to poke our nose further forward.

We came to Montebello Municipal Marina after another 25 miles. Montebello was the only place to stop along the lower Ottawa river that we had heard about, so it was the obvious place to stop. We probably chose the worst of the 2 marinas. The other was the Chateau Montebello Marina which was crowded but certainly more upscale. The chateau is a large 5 star log hotel with extensive grounds. A nice place to hang out but takes a bit of walking out the long entrance road to the town. We normally like to dock right down town when possible and our marina was closer.

There was really not too much to the town, but we did enjoy going through it. We also spent an evening at the hotel and had dinner there. There were several functions going on because people we saw were dressed really well. Not he awkward formals and suits like we see when the high school prom kids come down to the water for photos, but like scenes of the rich and beautiful people at high class hotels and parties in the movies. They had several upscale restaurants but we felt comfortable at the Bistro downstairs.

The wind was never worse than 11 mph off the water at our marina, but that was enough to kick up waves to rock our dock and the other boats around us big time. Waves splashed clear over the dock. We’re heavy enough to be the only relatively still object in sight, so we’re not feeling the motion much. When we came they were careful to center us on our T dock opposite the main dock in to shore. Our part did rock and roll less than the rest of our long dock. We will be careful to completely untie our boat before we take off tomorrow. If we don’t we’re sure to rip out the entire T dock and take it with us.