To fill in from the excellent comments already made. We cruised Kingston, Ottawa, the 1000 islands and Montreal in 2008 with a 42 ft trawler with a 4' 6' draft. With the exception of Montreal we were usually the big boat in town. If you go to Ottawa via the Ottawa River - your draft is too deep for the Rideau Canal - you need to locate some stopping points in advance. Between St. Anne's (near Montreal) and Ottawa the marinas we saw were smaller and we did not notice anchorages. We tied off at a free dock in one of the towns. There was a stiff current that made the docking challenging. At Ottawa you will need to dock across the river in Quebec as Ottawa is actually a 100 feet about the river using a series of 8 locks from the river to the Rideau Canal. At St. Anne's the walls are fine for even a large trawler provided you arrive early in the day and claim a spot. In Montreal at the Old Port the docking is tight but the staff is excellent and they will use your lines to assist you into the slip. Don't think you can anchor anywhere near downtown Montreal. The current would be too fast. While we anchored out among the 1000 islands we more often used the marinas which were rather small. We arrived early and took the long walls and hoped for turning room when we left. I would give a second thought to planning to cross between Canada and the United States frequently. There are customs procedures which may delay you. As to customs, Canada's higher taxes on booze and fuel make these items more expensive to buy in Canada. Fuel up before you enter and before you get to the 1000 islands. As to liquor the Canada officially permits only a large bottle of spirits per person. However, in several crossings we have found that with a polite approach American cruising boats are permitted to bring in reasonable ship's stores of beer, wine and liquor which exceed the official limitations. We have always approached this honestly and said that we live aboard and have our normal liquor supply which consists of 6 or so bottles of open liquor, maybe 12 cans of beer and four or five bottles of wine. We always add that none of this is intended as gifts for Canadians. We have always been asked to estimate the total liters of spirits. So far this has been accepted each time. Don't know if it is still true, but in 2008 it was cheaper to buy liquor in Ontario then in Quebec so if you need something while you are on the Ottawa river stop on the Ontario side. As to phone service in 2008 both Verizon and ATT had a Canadian add on plan that eliminated the roaming charges in Canada. Both systems worked fine through Montreal. East of Quebec City the ATT service was spotty. If you go to Montreal leave St. Anne's early in the morning. You may have a 4 to 6 hour wait at the last lock before Montreal and then a couple of hours on the river to get back up to Montreal. At that lock you will be expected to dock the boat on a wall and wait until called. Frequently boats are rafted off 4 deep. If you leave St. Anne's late in the day you may be going up river to Montreal in the dark. When you enter Canada (by phone) have your passport numbers and your boat's documentation number handy. . Good luck, it is a delightful place to visit. Marty Campanella Bay Pelican KK42

Marty, did you consider the Rideau? With your 4.5 ft draft it appears from the literature and looking at the charts that you could have done it (info says to contact the canal offices in advance for any draft over 4 ft). Would you mind posting your basic itinerary on list? We're planning on following Skipper Bob's advice (and apparently yours, also) by cruising along the US shore of the Thousand Island area, then moving over to the Canadian side. Is this what you'd recommend? We are planning to take the Rideau from Kingston to Ottawa, and then the Ottawa River to Montreal via the Canal de la Rive Sud. <><><><><><><><><><><><>Mozilla Thunderbird<><><><><><><><><><> Bob McLeran and Judy Young Manatee Cove Marina MV Sanderling Patrick Air Force Base DeFever 41 Trawler Melbourne, Florida Blog: http://sanderlingcruise2010.blogspot.com/ Pics: http://tinyurl.com/yjx2vky& http://tinyurl.com/yhxjvas On 11/15/2010 7:33 AM, Marty Campanella wrote: > To fill in from the excellent comments already made. We cruised Kingston, > Ottawa, the 1000 islands and Montreal in 2008 with a 42 ft trawler with a 4' > 6' draft. With the exception of Montreal we were usually the big boat in > town. > > If you go to Ottawa via the Ottawa River - your draft is too deep for the > Rideau Canal - you need to locate some stopping points in advance. Between > St. Anne's (near Montreal) and Ottawa the marinas we saw were smaller and we > did not notice anchorages. We tied off at a free dock in one of the towns. > There was a stiff current that made the docking challenging. At Ottawa you > will need to dock across the river in Quebec as Ottawa is actually a 100 > feet about the river using a series of 8 locks from the river to the Rideau > Canal.