Chaffeys Lock and Mortons Bay

 Chaffey’s Lock & Mortons Bay

On Sunday July 10th we headed off to Mortons Bay for a secluded anchorage but on the way we had a planned lunch stop at Chaffey’s Lock. It was a short cruise of about 27 miles and only 3 locks. The cruise took us thru the some beautiful sections of the Rideau. We arrived at Chaffey’s Lock at about 11am.

The lock is located right across the street from the Opinicon Hotel which is a vintage property that made it’s mark back in the early 1900’s catering to wealthy fishermen. They had boats and guides that would take people on charters looking for Pickerel, Large mouth Bass and Northern Pike. Again it was a place frequented by rich and famous of the era.

The Hotel was bought a few years back by a woman who owned a company called Sofi. I forget exactly what they do, but it is a world wide company. Anyhow she dumped a ton of money into a complete restoration. Unfortunately they no longer accept guests at the moment, but they still have a four star restaurant and an ice cream store.  

Yes we did have some and yes it was spectacular. Rumor has it that the new owner was not satisfied with the previous vendor so she set up her own creamery. After lunch Sue took a dip in the basin leading to the lock to swim with the fish. The water visibility was at least 15 feet. We then finished our day by passing thru a narrow cut that might have been 25 feet wide.

Next Chapter has a 15’ beam leaving very little room to sneak in. On the inside was a very secluded cove loaded with Loons. We set the hook and enjoyed a quiet peaceful evening. The next morning we splashed the dinghy and motored over to the side of a small mountain. The night before on the boat we saw some people on the top at a lookout.

We assumed there must be a trail and we were right. We hiked up to the top and had a great view of the cove where Next Chapter was swinging on her rode. Unfortunately neither one of us brought our cell phone to take a picture. We hiked back down and started our final day on the Rideau with the port destination of Kingston, Ontario. The top section of our cruise was another area dotted with little rocky pine tree covered islands. As we passed thru Little Cranberry Lake all of a sudden BANG! Don’t you just love a cliff hanger?

The View looking back out of the cut from Mortons Bay.  

Inside Mortons Bay. To recall Morton’s Bay, I have to add expand on our experience with the loons.  During the day, pairs will separate and fish for salamanders, leeches and minnows.  At dusk the pairs reunite. It happens at dusk, right when the sun is setting with the last bits of sun on the water.  You will hear one loon call.  A very distinctive wail of sorts.  It’s a single loon letting it’s mate know “I am here”.  And then the response…from it’s mate, sometimes a mile away….a sound like no other, that haunting wail  saying “I am here.”  

Probably can’t see the writing on the bench but this is where the fishermen would sit at the end of the day to talk about the ones that got away. It was known as the Liars Bench. I know what you all are thinking!

Now this is waterfront property. No need for a lawn mower. This house was super close to where I was swimming.  I was pretty much eye level to the kitchen, hopeful it might be a swim up bar I swam by.  No one appeared, so it was back to Next Chapter.  This was my second dip in Canadian waters.  The first was a cannonball off a dock in Clayton, New York with Kevin Knight!!! What were we thinking?  The water has warmed up in three weeks time since Kevin and Tina visited. In junior high school students were required to include 50 hours of volunteer work starting in 8th grade.  If I was going to do something for 50 hours it better be something I really enjoyed.  I had been swimming on the Red Devil YMCA swim team and noticed that after our practices the pool was used by children with physical needs.  I soon learned their instructor was an Adaptive Aquatics teacher.  She said I could observe and shadow her and before long I was growing my hours on my volunteer and my interest in working with children with special needs. My second swim in Canadian waters brought back lots of fond memories of a girls who liked the water and still enjoys a dip now and then.

Beautifully restored Opinicon Hotel

So as Mike mentioned this once defunct property is a vibrant vacation spot (lodging soon to open).  It employees many towns people in landscaping, food service, house keeping, maintenance etc.  We thought it was pretty awesome that this woman choose to return to this small town where she grew up and put a bunch of money back into it.  When you enter the very chic lobby you are greeted by eager high school aged young people so proud to show you around.