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.)