Watching Our Progress - on a Live Map

Throughout our cruise, interested passengers could watch our progress through the canal system on a live relief map.

Several screens on the middle deck constantly showed where we were.

One was in the lounge, another was in the library.

With his love of maps, Terry would probably have one eye on the map at all times, the other on the scenery outside the window.

I rarely glanced at the maps... The constantly changing scenery we traveled through fascinated me much, much more!

Floating "Cottage"

One of the surprising things I discovered on my recent Rideau Canal cruise was that most of the passengers aboard the boat, the Kawartha Voyageur, were not first-timers like me. Some had taken a cruise on the boat before, many more than once. One woman boasted that it was her 41st cruise! Another mentioned that he was on his 20th.

The company offers six different Ontario waterways cruise throughout the summer. Repetition did not seem to be a deterrent for those who regularly took one or two cruises annually. Two couples I talked to were even on their third cruise of the 2016 cruise season, having done one after another.

This is the way we always start our summer, one woman told me.

Another added: Some of our friends wonder if we're ever bored doing the same cruises on the same boat year after year, but we're not. I usually tell them that people with cottages go to the same cottage year after year and they don't usually complain of boredom. We don't find it boring to do the same cruises either.

Perhaps it's because life on the water is always so peaceful - and interesting. No two days are alike.

There's a lot to be said for vacationing on a floating "cottage" - where food is prepared and all passengers have to do is enjoy the view!

(The view we were enjoying in this photo was sailing through the Hog's Back Locks in Ottawa. The top deck of the boat is roughly level with the road.)

"Granite Highway"

Evening "entertainment" was part of the cruise... One could attend or not.

The most interesting "entertainment" I attended was a talk by naturalist, Bond Strand while we were docked at Westport.

He spoke about the forest and animal life around us on the "granite highway" - part of the Canadian Shield that extends south from northern Canada through many of the places we were visiting and on into the United States. We were able to quickly identify this rocky terrain, unsuitable for farming, where forests prevail - and animals move unimpeded.

Hearing his stories - and seeing the many examples of forest life he brought to show us - like these antlers - awakened in me an interest in life around the canal.

After his talk, I suddenly became more aware of the rocks, the birds chirping in the trees, the poison ivy beside the path - and the holes dug by snakes in the dirt.

His talk transformed the perfect "postcard" I was observing from the safety of the boat into a live biosphere that I immediately wanted to learn more about.

Moving Feast

On my recent five-day Rideau Canal cruise, I spent most of my time sitting on the top deck of the Kawartha Voyageur, watching "cottage country" pass by.

It was so beautiful!

At times I felt as if I were in the middle of a moving postcard - one beautiful scene after another.

(In reality we were doing the moving!)

The beauty never ended!

From time to time we would notice birds swimming around us...

Or standing near the shore

Once the moving object in the water was a seaweed cutter...

Another time - on a nature walk - we came across this turtle laying eggs in the warm soil.

Several times a day, another kind of feast awaited us - a delicious food feast, typical of cruises.

And even indoors, we could watch the scenery go by...

Non-stop beauty!

Rideau Canal Cruise

A few weeks ago, I took my first cruise - a 6-day trip down the Rideau Canal from Ottawa to Kingston.

The boat was moored in downtown Ottawa when I boarded it.

It didn't move that first night.

I was a tourist in my own town!

My single room was small, but adequate. It had a toilet and sink. Showers are down the hall.

In spite of being in a  new space, I slept well in my floating bedroom!

The next morning, we weren't planning on leaving until after lunch, so I took a stroll along the canal...

I ended up at a nearby pedestrian bridge that is covered with locks.

(A sign of affection, I've been told!)

After lunch we sailed south towards Carleton University, where we moored for a second night in Ottawa.

We had to pass through quite a few bridges as we sailed down the canal.

To fit under some of them, parts of the upper deck - like the plastic awning - had to be lowered  and all on the top deck were required to sit down.

It was a tight squeeze (partly dependent on the height of the water level in the canal).

Hartwell Lock, at Carleton University, was a much quieter place to spend a night.

By the time we arrived, I had a lot of admiration for this ingenious boat (the Kawartha Voyageur)  - and its resourceful crew.