Alice's Last Lock !

Paul Hallman
Jul 8, 2021
5 min read

After the storm blew through the Rideau Lakes we awoke to a fresh hot day, AGAIN, and our plan was to travel through the Davis Locks, Jones Falls, Upper and Lower Brewer Locks and Kingston Mills Locks. These locks are at the beginning of the Rideau Canal and wind through what were rivers, creeks, rock cuts and around water falls that existed way before the construction started in 1832. The lift of these 12 locks is 129.81 feet, several are two and three tied together. The views from the locks are amazing and for our crew, we were excited to get through the final stretch of the Rideau Canal Waterway.

At the Davis Lock we met up with Le Soprano, a 1987 42 foot Carver with a couple from Gatineau Quebec. They are heading to the Bahamas via the Rideau and Trent systems followed by the great lakes to Chicago and onward down the Mississippi, a trip the Captain would like to do but the little woman has no interest in. Jan wrote that bit.. lol.. We travelled through many of the locks with them and we both took up most of the acreage in the locks. The owner and his wife were kind enough to give us a tour of their totally revamped boat and it's amazing how a 34 year old Carver can look so fabulous. We are hoping to travel with them for part of the way back through the Trent Canal but won't be able to catch up again for a couple of days as we'll hang out in Kingston for a few days.

Locking through with Le Soprano

Davis locks were a short drop (we were going downward in the locks) and the cruise to Brewers locks was pleasant with lots of vista views. The weather was hot and humid and there wasn't much breeze so in the locks it was very hot. We weren't complaining because the previous week it rained through a few locks. Alice didn't have to wear her raincoat this week at all.

Jones Falls is a pretty popular lock. Many boaters have a desire to overnight here and many have commented on it's beauty. Princess Louise, Daughter of Queen Victoria, had said while visiting Jones Falls, that "It's the most beautiful place in Canada".

Many visitors and Parks Canada employees all say “You have to see Jones Falls,” and they would accentuate in hushed tones, as though they were divulging the location of a hidden treasure. This verdant location by virtue of its layout is indeed beautiful and frankly, unspoiled. There are two establishments that have been serving the public for some time: Hotel Kenney and the Shangri-la cottages and camping. You can swim at the Shangri-la’s tiny beach or picnic on its grounds. The locks offer many picnic spots and tables.

The view in Jones Falls is spectacular. Unfortunately, as a result of Covid-19, Hotel Kenney has been closed and is for sale. Just another victim of the pandemic.

Hotel Kenney at the foot of the Jones Falls Lock

We left Jones Falls and passed through the Upper and Lower Brewers Locks (another set of 3 locks) and then headed to our final lockage at Kingston Mills. This is the site of the first mill built on the Rideau, the King's Mill, built here at Cataraqui Falls in 1784. The site today features a lovely set of three locks, a turning basin, a detached upper lock and a visitor's center. The main CN rail line crosses over the lower locks on a bridge originally built for the Grand Trunk Railroad in 1853. The falls, first used to power mills, still generates power today using a small hydro-electric station that was built in 1913.

As you go down the locks, the view is fantastic and we thought that this was the prettiest lock of the entire Rideau Canal system.

Locking through Kingston Mills Locks

We had passed through all the lock stations on the Rideau Canal system and were now heading down the Cataraqui River to Kingston. We were careful to keep the buoys in sight to be sure we didn't have any navigation issues before docking. We knew that it was Red on left and Green on right as we went down the river. As we were about 1/2 way to Kingston we saw a row of red buoys on the left and one green, inline with the other reds. It looked odd and Alice, trying to be a smart alec, asked the Captain if this was a sobriety test meaning we had to weave between the red and green buoys. We stopped the boat, checked the charts and really questioned the position of the one green buoy. We finally decided that we should follow the navigational guidelines and keep the green on our right so we weaved around the green buoy. Then boom- - - we bottomed out. The bow was sitting on mud bottom and it's a good thing we went very slow. The Captain reversed the engines, and the props started to "dig into the mud bottom" trying to back up and get outta that spot. We finally did make it and then went back onto the course we were on. That buoy was not in the correct position and must have moved during a storm in the last couple days. We were so busy trying to keep out of shallow water that we didn't get any photos of the channel.

There was one bridge in Kingston that had to lift to let us out of the river and we were not sure of the schedule. We arrived at the bridge at 4:15 pm and we read the sign that said every hour. Little did we know that they do not open at 5 pm (rush hour in Kingston) so we had to wait till 6 pm. Overall we were 1 hour and 45 minutes hanging out in winds and rough water. We tied up for a bit and had all kinds of trouble getting off the wall in the winds. Another scratch in the hull to mark our trip. This was not a fun time.

Today was the last leg of the trip for Alice as she left our ship and headed to another port. Some might thing she left because she had enough of us and others might think she left because we had enough of her. Well, it was all part of our Pre-planning as she had to get back to London for work early next week.

In all she took part in 44 locks on the Trent Canal Waterway system, 11 locks on the St. Lawrence Seaway, and 47 locks on the Rideau Canal. But more to her accomplishments, she washed and dried every dish every day and put them away immediately. Alice was no regular dishwasher - she kept us SHIP SHAPE and we are so appreciative of her efforts and perfection.

We enjoyed her company and the many interesting things she found and introduced to us during our trip. She should have been a tour guide as there wasn't much she didn't know about the places we visited. We'll miss her smiling face every morning.. not just because she did the dishes and tended to the lines but because she's just darn fun to have around.