More than two dozen boats stranded on the Rideau Canal near Kingston, Ont. have finally been able to leave the docks they’ve called home for the past week – or longer in some cases.
Last week’s 100-millimetre rainfall caused an unexpected and unprecedented rise in water levels along the canal – forcing Parks Canada to close the lock-stations.
“Now we’re into day eight,” Berrlin Collins said. He and his wife came from Colorado as members of the America’s Great Loop Cruisers Association. Collins admits they’ll be skipping some of the stops they originally planned to make.
Others, like Patrick Mitchell of Montreal, Que., have had to keep a close eye on any updates from Parks Canada. But those haven’t come – and if he had known how long the wait would be, he’d have made different plans days ago.
“If we would have known right away – because we were in the uppers (narrows) – I would have probably turned around for sure,” Mitchell said.
Others voiced similar concerns over communications from Parks Canada, especially after a large passenger cruise vessel, the Kawartha Voyager, was able to make its way through the lock-station, after so many had been waiting days to pass through.
“It was also a little bit of a trial,” said Dale MacEachern, Parks Canada’s external relations manager for Ontario Waterways.
“Send them through and they’d give us a bit of feedback as to what their experience was.”
That feedback must have been positive.
Rideau Canal staff announced late afternoon they would work into Monday evening in order to allow the boats through the locks towards Kingston Mills and eventually, Lake Ontario.
This would allow some to continue their trips, and force others to make the trip home a little faster than they might have wanted to.