Finally, Salty Dog had a bill of health that allowed her to go onwards on her journey.  Even though the Mercury Pod Drive specialists worked on sleuthing the problem for over a week, they really never identified why the engines kept slipping out of gear, except to postulate that some loose connections somewhere were interfering with the communication between the Mercury Zeus pod drives and the Cummins engines.  At the end of it all, they essentially took everything apart, and put it back together and its seem to pass a sea test.

Saturday morning was a beautiful clear day with calm waters and the meandering path of the Rideau River led us past farms, fields and marshlands for 13 miles past Hurst Marina. We had to lock up a number of times today at Burritts Rapids Lock (Lock 17, up 9 feet), the Upper and Lower Nicholsons Locks (Locks 18 & 19, up 14.5 feet), Clowes Lock (Lock 20, up 7 feet) and finally the Merickville Locks 21, 22 and 23 (up 25 feet).  The wait for the last set of locks was considerable and in fairly shallow water.  Since we discovered that our Sky Hook function (allows one via GPS coordinates to automatically keep the boat in one position) was not working, we had to constantly jockey around to keep the boat in deep enough water but not get in the way of other boats and traffic.

Once at the top of the Merrickville Locks, we discovered that all the slips and wall positions in the Pond behind the locks were all taken.  The lock tender kindly encouraged us to tie up on the lock docks (usually reserved for locking traffic) and see if any spaces opened up and, if by 4pm there was no need to ask us to move, we could stay overnight o that wall but would have to leave by 9am the next day.  The spot ended up being very quiet and convenient for us right in the town’s waterfront park – and even though we had no power or water – was very comfortable.

Merrickville is the known as the “Jewel of the Rideau Canal” – perhaps a bit of hyperbole but actually a charming town with a number of good restaurants, and stores – and even ruins of an old 19thcentury industrial complex built on the river.   The main street is lined with 19th century stone buildings and has a bustling tourist trade.

The town was covered in Canadian flags.  This is one thing we’ve noticed in our travels – Canadians seem to love their flag – probably more so than most Americans.   Most of the homes along the Rideau Canal have multiple flags hanging – and Canada Day is well past.  Good to see that healthy patriotism and love of country is not just a US thing.