Hull to Hawkesbury

We left Hull Marina--just across the river from Ottawa on the Quebec side, at 8:05am with cloudy but fairly warm 18 deg C conditions. Had rain overnight. Moving along at 7 knots we powered downstream the Ottawa river. By 1:36pm we pulled in the Chateau Montebello. This is the world's largest log building, and now a Fairmont resort. They allowed us to tie up in their marina for a visit however if we want to stay over night it would have been CAD$93 plus taxes (weekends even more expensive). That's around CAD$4.00 per foot per night; we've been paying from CAD$0.90 per foot to CAD$1.75 per foot for overnight dockage (with power hookup, water and use of hot water showers ashore). At any rate, Montebello is extraordinary and we're glad we stopped. Also used this opportunity to get fuel at the dock as well.
Continuing on, we made Hawkesbury at 4:59pm. 1 minute to spare as they were just locking up for the night--guess I better call ahead on the VHF radio now when we approach marinas near the 5 o'clock hour.
Hawkesbury, on the Ontario or south side of the Ottawa river, is clearly inhabited by a lot of French-speaking folks. We walked the town looking for the library to get internet access for our laptop but couldn't find where the library was. A good ol' Tim Hortons we did find so we couldn't resist a stop for a sandwich and our homemade mocha. Our 'secret' was to purchase a small CAD$1.17 coffee and a small CAD$1.17 hot chocolate and carefully mix them together. It's always good to find a bargain even if you make one yourself!


Pecan in the a.m. at Hull marina.


Rideau Falls on the Ottawa side of the river.


Chateau Montebello. You can stay there now; Fairmont has special packages that'll get you a weekend for CAD$250 per night per person (double occupancy).



Because of all the dark wooden logs and beams, flash photography doesn't work too well inside the Montebello Chateau central lobby. And our little point and shoot Canon digital camera didn't allow for adjusting the exposure (no tripod either).


We spied a Rosborough tied up behind a house along the river in the town of L'Original on the Ontario side. And Bill of Sea Queen Too saw us as well. He waved and we motored over to say hi and have a chat.