Sainte Anne-de-Bellevue

August 15 – 16, 2011

For the guys, it was a miserable start to the day because I got up first and started singing Happy Birthday to Ursa, 13 years old. My singing is SO bad.

We had an easy morning, only having to go 25 miles to reach Sainte Anne-de Bellevue Canal and lock. They call it a canal, but it is really just a lock with a big cement corridor, much like the Carillon Canal and lock we just left. The lock is at the mouth of the Ottawa River, between Lac Saint-Louis and Lac des Deux Montagnes, which had a 3' difference in height between each other before the lock was built. When we locked through there was only about 9'' difference, so we could hardly tell we even moved!

The original purpose of a lock at this location was to facilitate the shipping of timber on the Ottawa River and movement of immigrants to the interior. Today it is used solely for recreational purposes and is the most visited lock in Quebec, with 175,000 visitors. Although it is now operated hydraulically, in keeping with their environmentally friendly image, Parks Canada elected to use a vegetable-based oil rather than a petroleum-based hydraulic fluid.

FLUKE on the canal wall

We were glad to lock through and see that the tie up wall was mostly vacant; we really didn't expect it to be an issue since we had waited for the weekend to end before arriving. There were signs indicating that boats were permitted to raft up 2 deep on each wall, and we heard that that is a frequent situation on the weekends and holiday periods.

We sure were surprised when we pulled over to tie up to the wall and we passed a French Canadian boat and we heard the guy that jumped up to help us say Krogen Whaleback. He was the first person we ran into in Canada that knew what kind of boat it was. He was so excited to see a Whaleback (he had only read about them) that we invited him aboard for a tour.

If you look at the picture, the area on the left side is a row of restaurants and bars one after another. The smell of food is ever present, and was driving me crazy. The area between the restaurants and water is a pretty walking area with trees and flower plantings, very quaint and picturesque. I took the photo from a pedestrian overpass that is coupled to a major highway and train track that skirts the village and goes over the canal. That makes for a lot of traffic noise.

Downtown village street

Sainte-Anne-de Bellevue was founded in 1703 and is the oldest community on Montreal's west island. The tiny French village has a European flair with narrow streets, small shops and boutiques, open air restaurants, lots of pretty flowers, and of course, ice cream shops.

Hudson Bay home

Walking along the main street parallel to the waterway soon takes you into a more residential area of restored homes. This beautiful stone home, while private, warranted a placard in the yard telling about how it was once used by the Hudson Bay Trading Company way way back in the early days.

Just another little beauty

Part of the charm of the village is that the waterfront area is not blocked by huge, modern McMansions. Simple, but elegant homes allow you to see through to the water and don't crowd the streets.

Right on the outskirts of the village is the MacDonald campus of McGill University. A woman we had spoken to in the village park told us that the students sell produce from the University gardens out of a building on the campus. So, we, who are always interested in getting fresh fruits and vegetables, decided to try to find the place.

Mr. Egg Plant Head

It was quite a hike to find the farm building, but walking across the well-kept campus was pleasant. The students sell whatever excess is coming off their research plots, so the type and quantity of produce is varied daily. A couple of varieties of apples were available, but in big quantities. I told the salesgirl that I had a space issue on the boat, and she was kind enough to weigh out half. Fresh tomatoes and green beans went into our bag. I laughed when I saw this cleverly decorated egg plant at the check out counter.

We didn't just stop here to admire the cute little village. We planned to leave FLUKE at the dock here to visit Montreal, rather than take her into that city. Our mooring pass would enable us to stay on the safe wall for free. The marina rates in downtown Montreal are exorbitant, and the marinas are located right on the extra-busy waterfront. Plus, an important factor for really slow boats like FLUKE, there is a wickedly swift 2 mile upriver current to get to the city docks, and we didn't want to have to deal with that.

The lockmaster helped give us advice on our transportation options to get into Montreal, so we thought we were ready to visit the capital city of the province of Quebec.