BoatBanter.com - View Single Post - BlueJacket 2008 Cruising Plans: Down East Circle Route

Wayne.B

On Fri, 4 Jan 2008 09:54:24 -0800 (PST), wrote:

I've heard that the trip down the St Lawrence is less pleasure & more
work.... rocks, fog, commercial traffic, fewer pleasant places to
stop... but we hope to get to PEI & Nova Scotia one day ourselves.

It's true that there are parts of the St Lawrence River that are not
very interesting. Except for the Thousand Islands region, Clayton and
Alexandria Bay, much of the western end is a flyover zone.

One strategy is to come up through Lake Ontario as planned, visit the
Thousand Islands, and then back track a few miles to Kingston,
Ontario. If you draw 5 ft or less you can take the Rideau Canal
system north from Kingston to Ottawa and the Ottawa River. The Ottawa
River then goes south east to Montreal avoiding all but two of the St
Lawrence seaway locks. After Sorel, 90 miles northeast of Montreal,
the river widens out and becomes more scenic. The trip through the
Rideau Canal is very memorable, probably second only to the
Trent-Severn.

As Doug mentioned, another seaway avoidance route is to go north into
Lake Champlain, a very scenic area, and then continue north to Sorel
via the Chambly Canal and Richelieu River. The Chambly is also draft
limited to about 5 feet. It is very quaint with many hand operated
bridges, small towns, mountain scenery, etc. Unfortunately you also
miss Lake Ontario and the Thousand Islands that way.

If you go via Oswego, you can re-step the mast there. Via Lake
Champlain you can step it in Sorel or further east on the St Lawrence.