The Welland! St. Catharines, ON, Port Colborne, ON

After a beautiful crossing on Lake Ontario we arrive at St. Catharines, ON Canada (26NM). We now kibitz amongst ourselves about the Welland Canal. It is absolutely ridiculous how little information is available. We have paid our $200 transit fee and run through every on-line site for additional information on how to proceed through this series of locks which lift you from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. These locks are a bit more intimidating as they convey freighters. The commercial traffic has priority and so you never know when you will be able to enter a lock. There are eight locks and generally all are 40 foot up-locks. A little area familiarization is called for so we check out Lock 1 after dinner and see a few sailboats passing through but still have so many questions. We put the questions on hold for an afternoon and rent a car to visit the Canadian side of Niagara Falls and the beautiful little town of Niagara-on-the-Lake. Their flower budget must be astronomical as I have never seen such a manicured town in my life. After a nice lunch we are back to solving the Welland Canal Conundrum and we drop by the Lock 3 Museum and Visitors Center. We are directed at this time to the St. Lawrence Seaway Administrative Building which of course will not allow you in the building with out an appointment. Larry finally kicks it old school by using the boats VHF radio to hail Lock one and ask them for a phone number to get further information. This gets us the info we need, however it may not be info we want. We are told we have to enter the Welland Canal and tie up to the port wall where there is a phone booth…YES…I just wrote the words ‘phone booth’, You use this phone to contact the lock masters which will let you know what time you can expect your opening. We depart bright and early the next morning and after making the call we get an opening in 20 minutes (could have been hours!). We hop to it and set our fenders and lines, don our life vests and gloves. Lock one does not present huge issues but is a bit bouncy at times. We are just happy to be on our way. It is not a fast trip by any means but considering we were thinking this might take hours if not days, we are thrilled to be allowed into each of the eight locks with out much delay. The summer interns are delightful and the lock masters are very efficient. You must consider the immense size of these locks that fill with 20 million gallons of water with in 20 minutes. They are meant for huge cargo vessels and we are the little boat in a very large bath tub. We really have to prove ourselves in the ‘stair-case’ locks. Locks 5, 6 and 7 that lead one into another. No break, grab your lines that are thrown down 40 plus feet and hang on for the ride. Lock 7 is the craziest, as it fools us with a slow fill and then turns into a tempests boil, driving us from wall and almost wrenching the lines from our hands. The adrenaline subsides as we get a rest before the last lock and before you know it (ok…eight hours later) we are done with the locks and at the mouth of Lake Erie (26NM). It has been another epic day. I can’t aptly describe how such a slow motion journey can turn into such a thrill ride at a moments notice but I am just happy to be writing about it on the flip side, healthy, everything in one piece with a cold beer in my hand. Please check out Larry’s video of Lock 2 and 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kLCofipudk&feature=youtu.be

Entering the very shallow, little marina at St. Catharine, ON

Checking out Lock One on the Welland Canal…trying to get a feel for the process. Notice the ship in the distance that just exited the lock.

The lock one bridge goes up to let the boats pass after up-locking

This sailboat is just starting her journey of eight locks

The U.S. side of Niagara Falls…American Falls

Horseshoe Falls are magnificent but the sound is really what gets you

The pretty little town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON

The Prince of Whales Hotel built in 1864

Maggie and Owen take a break before Lock Two

Preparing to enter the Stair-Case Locks of 5, 6 and 7

The massive hydraulic suction cups used to keep the freighters stationary while up or down locking

Inside Lock Six preparing to grab the lines the lock masters through down to you

The water boils up from massive valves below the hull of the boat

After the crazy experience of Lock Seven is contained (FYI - that line should not be that tight or that far from the wall) I get a chance to get a photo of the nice interns that helped us during Locks Two through Seven.

This is the normal size of traffic on the Welland Canal

The end of the Welland Canal…the last elevator bridge and the marina is in site…and so is my beer.