The Down East Circle Loop:
Part 1: Lake Ontario to Montreal and Quebec City


By: Chuck & Andrea Wistar

Many cruisers head north each summer on New York's Hudson River, transit the Erie Canal, and arrive in Lake Ontario. There, three popular choices present themselves. Many simply enjoy the cruising afforded by the Great Lakes and return. The very ambitious head west and take the famous Great Circle Loop through the lakes to Chicago, and eventually down the Mississippi and other rivers to the Gulf of Mexico. Others turn east, cruise down the St. Lawrence River past Montreal to Sorel, and then return to New York via the Richelieu River, Lake Champlain, and its canal that leads back to the Hudson.

There is a fourth, less taken choice--the Down East Circle Loop. Instead of turning south in Sorel, Down East Loopers continue all the way out the St. Lawrence River, around the Gaspe Peninsula, enjoying stops in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island before savoring the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia. The return to New York via the spectacular coast of Maine and other New England waters can be a cruise unto itself. With a start and a finish at the Statue of Liberty, the loop is nearly 2500 nm. By cruising in the clockwise direction described in the picture, the considerable current of the St. Lawrence River is always with the boat and provides a welcome boost to speed over the bottom and fuel economy. At trawler speeds it can be done comfortably in 45 days. We took nearly twice that.

It is a very special adventure, and quite unlike any of the other cruises. The cruising waters are majestic with towering geology, unfathomable depths, foreign cultures, exotic and abundant wildlife, and waters of vast scale and diversity. It's also a test of, but not necessarily a challenge to, the crew's spirit of adventure and discovery as well as its self-sufficiency and independence.

For two decades we had cruised our Grand Banks in Chesapeake and Atlantic coastal waters from our homeport of Annapolis, MD. In fact, we had ventured as far as Maine and the Bahamas. But by 2003 we were ready to commit full time for a few years. We had evolved a clear understanding of our particular needs in a boat to live on and cruise continuously. A pilothouse trawler was to be the foundation. We wanted a lot of other features in whatever make we selected such as inside access to the bridge, walkaround decks, easy passage from the boat deck to the cockpit, three staterooms with the master amidships, and a spacious bridge for both command and entertaining.

It took us four years to explore the many fine choices, but when we first saw a Selene 53 in February, 2002, we knew in an instant that it was a perfect fit for our particular needs. An order followed a month later, and by mid-2003 we had rented our home, stored furniture, clothes, and clutter, distanced ourselves from our professional lives, taken delivery, and moved aboard. We have had some great adventures, but none thus far as enjoyable and rewarding as undertaking the 2500-mile, 90-day Down East Circle Loop in July, August, and September, 2004.

As we considered the trip we had many questions and, certainly, a number of apprehensions: the famous tidal ranges, mighty tidal and river currents, the language barrier we would deal with for the 1000 miles we would be in French-speaking Canada, the scarcity of fellow cruisers, availability of provisions and fuel, getting emergency help, local transportation, . . . the list goes on.

As you will read, every such issue was easily managed when approached with care, preparation, and a sense of adventure and humor.

The thoroughly researched and well-written Complete Cruising Guide to the Down East Circle Route1 by Capt. Cheryl Barr was the foundation of all our planning. A Canadian cruising guide, St. Lawrence River & Quebec Waterways2 , provided guidance the entire distance out the St. Lawrence and around the Gaspe Peninsula. We found that the Richardson Chartbook gave us all the information we needed as far as Quebec.

From there on, no chartbooks exist, but Annapolis friends who had taken the trip in recent years gave us all the Canadian charts we would need. Additionally, we had the redundancy of C-Map cartridges for our chart plotter, and Maptech charts for our laptop for the entire voyage. Depths are expressed in meters. That requires a bit of a mindshift, and the first couple of times you see something indicated as 3, you have to remind yourself that it's really over 10. Any who have traveled Bahamian waters and other international venues know that the conversion is easy, and quickly becomes intuitive.

The Canadian Hydrographic Service publishes the Atlas of Tidal Currents3 , to us an essential book that graphically depicts the state of the currents in several logical regions between Montreal and Tadoussac at hourly intervals over the entire tidal cycle. This proved to be an excellent resource given that, combined with tidal influence, the current can be as much as 6 knots for or against the cruiser!

Navigation is very straightforward. Canadian marks are a bit different from our familiar fat-waisted nuns and cans. Instead they are slender and tall, but red and green are the international buoy language. Exceptions abound in the greater St. Lawrence down river from Quebec where the waters are more like the open sea. Huge lighthouses and towers guide the constant flow of ocean-going freighters that traverse these waters. They are welcome and helpful aids to recreational cruisers as well.

We left Annapolis in early July and arrived in Oswego, NY, on the shores of Lake Ontario an easy two weeks later via the Hudson River and Erie Canal. Each has been subject of much writing, and deservedly so.

Then, on a clear, bright, and calm morning in early July, we departed Oswego and set our waypoint nearly due north across a very flat Lake Ontario. It is 50 miles to Kingston, a city of about 155,000, at the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River. We crossed the international border and arrived at the city's Confederation Basin.

We quickly learned that in most Canadian cities, the municipal marina is modern, clean, well staffed, affordable, and right downtown. We cleared Canadian customs by phone. Our ATT&T cellular service offered compatible Canadian coverage for just a $10/month surcharge and we were able to use our phones in all but the most remote places.

Immediately we were in a "foreign" country, but we never were made to feel foreign. Certainly, the spelling, currency, history, government, customs, units of measure (metric), and outlook are different from our own, but friendly people are friendly people the world over. Such was the case everywhere we went on our journey. We spent a delightful couple of days touring, walking around, and engaging the locals who were universally welcoming to us. The shops and restaurants were wonderful, and we could have tarried longer.

Departing Kingston, we were in the mighty St. Lawrence River and "officially" in the Thousand Islands. Actually, there are some 1,800 granite isles sprinkled liberally throughout the first 50 miles of the river's headwaters. Some are not much larger than a big boulder; some are many square miles in size. Most are tree-covered, and perhaps half are populated with seasonal homes, large and small.

On arrival in Alexandria Bay, NY we were told multiple conflicting stories about clearing US Customs, but finally discovered that there was a picture phone at the town dock. We walked over a mile with ship's papers and passports, interacted visually with a Customs agent somewhere in cyberspace, and finally were told it was ok to stay. The border is so porous, yet in the name of homeland security it is assumed that bad guys would go to all the trouble that we did to clear in.

Mail and some spare parts were waiting, and a pesky freezer problem was quickly fixed, so we departed to run just 10 miles down river to Cedar Island where we were guests of friends. We had a "Golden Pond" experience in the peace and tranquility that only an island in the St. Lawrence can provide. It deserved the champagne toast we gave it. We enjoyed it so much we hung around for three full days, exploring nearby isles and waters by dink. The shores of the St. Lawrence on both sides are dotted with attractive towns, rolling farms, and gorgeous homes.

The section of the river from Lake Ontario to Montreal comprises the St. Lawrence Seaway, jointly developed and managed by Canada and the US to serve ships from all over the world on their way to and from ports throughout the Great Lakes. We slipped through the first of seven locks, Iroquois, with ease - just a one-foot drop, but they were still happy to collect the $20 fee. On to Massena, where we found a great anchorage near the Eisenhower Lock and settled in. The water was crystal clear and 72 degrees. Upon reaching Montreal, we would be back in tidal seawater and the temperature would be about 20' less so we took the last dip that would be possible for a couple of months!

Bright and early the next morning we called the Eisenhower Lock and were amazed to be immediately invited through--all by ourselves! It is huge, and paired with the Snell Lock a mile down river, vessels are dropped a total of 80 feet. In many ways it was easier than navigating some of the locks in the Erie Canal because we could loop our bow and stern lines around floating bollards. This eliminated the need to actually tend them, though we paid close attention. These were the first two of six major locks on the St. Lawrence Seaway that took us down an average of 45 feet. Each dumps about 25 million gallons of water per cycle!

Exiting the Snell Lock, we were effectively into Canada for the duration of our Down East Circle Loop, not to return to the US until September. We began to savor a taste of the 1-2 knot tailwind that the natural river current provides. Seeing 10-11 knots on the GPS became a new routine for our 9-knot displacement trawler, Celebrate. Only rarely did we share the waters with ocean-going ships, although such traffic can be a consideration at times.

We were slightly apprehensive in anticipation of our first night in French-speaking Canada. We docked at the Creg Quay marina that, although still in the province of Ontario, was effectively a boating suburb of Montreal. It has great facilities, but at 53 feet, Celebrate consumed both spots on the face dock, and stood out almost embarrassingly among the couple of hundred express cruisers so popular in that region, most of which were 20 or more feet shorter.

The many curious denizens of the marina respectfully studied us. Smiles were reciprocated with smiles, and in no time we were warmly welcomed and adopted by a growing gathering of very sociable boaters--all of whom were Quebecois; most spoke both French and English, but some only spoke French. After a suitable amount of socializing on the dock, nothing would do but for fourteen of us to hop into cars and go out for some locally famous BBQ ribs in nearby Lancaster.

It was a wonderful harbinger of coming experiences with French Canadians who were universally friendly, fun, engaging, helpful, and tolerant of our poor command of their romantic language. Whether in large cities like Quebec and Montreal, or small villages like La Malbie or Montane, even if none of us had a single word of common language, there was mutual respect, humor, and helpfulness. Any cruiser in these waters can, and should, feel entirely comfortable in this vast region of our northern neighbor.

We arrived in Montreal the next day after catching some great breaks timing the 5 locks that remained in the St. Lawrence seaway. As we exited the seaway, we turned back upstream (~5 knots against us!) and crawled three miles to Port d'Escale--a huge municipal marina smack in the center of downtown. It has every modern convenience.

The next five days were not enough to do more than scratch the surface of this sophisticated "Paris of North America." With bike paths galore, parks, several universities, the former Olympic Park, the former Expo, etc., it is arguably the San Diego of Canada in terms of being recreation-friendly. It is also clean, safe, historic, charming, and full of too many good restaurants and all the world's finest shops.

Any form of commerce was easy since we used our credit card for nearly everything we needed. Conversion rates are calculated automatically and one is assured of getting the market exchange every day. What little cash we did require jumped out of any of the ATMs that are as ubiquitous in Canada as they are in the US.

With some regrets we cast off, bound for Trois-Rivieres some 70 miles downstream. The next day we made yet another 70 to Quebec. In this stretch, the St. Lawrence's wide, deep (150 feet) and swift (often 3-4kts) waters cut through rolling countryside lined with farms and villages on either shore. Each town has a huge church; all are neat and clean. Throughout most of our trip, Andrea was able to stay in touch with friends and family, as well as continue her coaching practice via cell phone.

Arrival in Quebec was dramatic. The old city sits on a plateau towering atop 200 foot high cliffs. The citadel historically commanded the river at this point from a military standpoint, just as the famous Chateau Frontenac Hotel now commands the city from a tourism standpoint. The marina is right in downtown and is protected from the 8-10 foot tides by a lock.

It should have been no surprise to us that on a summer Sunday afternoon around 5:00 p.m. we were not the only ones wanting to enter the marina. So, with 13 other boats (we counted them) ranging from 20-60 feet we stuffed Celebrate into the lock and made it through with minimum problems but maximum excitement! Modern docks, full facilities, and even free DSL connections to the Internet were welcome amenities.

As in Montreal, we could have spent more than the 4 nights we did in Quebec. It is old (400 years) and beautifully preserved in this 21st century. There are some salutes to modern times, though, but even the Burger Kings and McDonalds were in architectural harmony with the environs. We walked everywhere, excepting the 25 km bike ride to Montmorency Falls on the city's extensive bike path system. The fall's dramatic plunge into the St. Lawrence is actually higher than Niagara's.

Departing Quebec was a conflicting moment. The excitement and convenience of big cities were about to give way to the grandeur and remoteness of the lower St. Lawrence River, Gaspe, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia.

To be continued . . .


1 Yacht Pilot Publishing, ISBN 0-9731659-0-1
2 Lake Champlain Publishing Company, ISBN 2-9807834-0-4
3 Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, ISBN 0-660-60168-0

 
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