Navigating the Saint Lawrence Seaway

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Ah, like ships passing in the night.

I was referring to the trip down the Atlantic side of NS and thence to Marblehead and points South.

But, now that you mention it, we had tough passages across the Gulf. Gaspe to Magdalines first was VERY snooty, then dead calm. Then a week later from the the Magdalines to Rocky Harbor started out very light wind, then got nasty NE, then died again. Up river from that was fine and going around the Great Northern Peninsula was fine, except from LaSie to Exploits. That was "interesting'. Coming out of La Sie was a washing machine, then turning the corner we had 8' following seas with zero wind. Pushed my thundering 13hp WOT, still rolling gunnel to gunnel. The Wife didn't get sick but her shoulders hurt for 3 days from hanging on.

Good stories. What its all about right?

My mistake Howard. I thought you had described your journey down the river as mostly a beat into the wind. As they say, the memory is the first to go .

We did the northern crossing of the Gulf, going from Mingan (Havre St. Pierre) north of Anticosti Is. to the Bay of Islands. Our crossing was 40 hours of easy sailing followed by six hours of hell. We got caught within sight of land by a fast moving northerly front that came in 12 hours ahead of prediction. We got beat up pretty good, but I figured it was just Newfoundland asking us to prove ourselves before allowing us entry.

We to had an easy run around the northern peninsula. Running the Straight of Belle Isle was easy, although we waited for good conditions. But coming out of Great Harbour Deep (Orange Bay) and crossing White Bay was one of the tougher days of the journey. Rounding Cape St. John and coming into Notre Dame Bay was also a tough day.

[Michel Sacco]

The info you found on the PDF is accurate.
I'm the publisher of a cruising guide for the St.Lawrence River but I don't cover the Seaway
You can have a look at a chapter of the guide on this link: https://www.escalenautique.qc.ca/pdf/ape2_2020.pdf

https://www.escalenautique.qc.ca/boutique/

Ports Cruising Guides in Ontario does publish a guide describing the upper St Lawrence River and the Seaway.

Have a nice cruise.

[sailpooka]

Originally Posted by longjonsilver

i have found this on the locks:

https://greatlakes-seaway.com/wp-con...craftguide.pdf

Does anyone know of a good cruising guide to the SLS?
thanks
jon

Good cruising guide: "Down East Circle Route" by Cheryl Barr

[JMR1138]

Great string. We are planning an outbound trip from Lake Michigan and hoping to do it in 2021.

Two quick questions for those with experience -
1) Is this even feasible with current covid restrictions?
2) Any sense as to the time this will take? We want to leave early enough so we can enjoy the trip, spend some time in Maine and still make a reasonable amount of progress down the coast before 'caine' season.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by JMR1138

Great string. We are planning an outbound trip from Lake Michigan and hoping to do it in 2021.

Two quick questions for those with experience -
1) Is this even feasible with current covid restrictions?

No, not if you're an American. Will things change in 2021? Maybe... but I doubt it will be in the Spring. Maybe by late Summer, but I'm predicting more like the Fall.

Originally Posted by JMR1138

2) Any sense as to the time this will take? We want to leave early enough so we can enjoy the trip, spend some time in Maine and still make a reasonable amount of progress down the coast before 'caine' season.

We took something like six weeks to sail to Newfoundland from Lake Ontario, but we always go as slow as possible. I'm sure you could do the trip a lot faster, but it's still a long way.

Assuming the locks open to recreational traffic this year, I'm sure it won't be till mid-May at the earliest. Weather will be cold and damp through to mid-June with more fog, so leaving early is a challenge.

It's an awesome route, but not one I'd want to do fast. But then, I don't like to do anything fast, so there ya go .

[AiniA]

Originally Posted by magicmoments

Does anyone ever go upstream from Nova Scotia to Lake Ontario.

I have done it on a Niagara 35. It is a good test of one's patience. You can use the tide to Quebec City (supposedly to Three Rivers but we didn't notice much above QC. You just get used to 2.3 knots over the ground. Not a bad trip but slow.

[JMR1138]

Thank you!

Damn...already gave notice. Maybe I can apply for Canadian citizenship 😀

[seadrift]

I have not seen any mention in this thread of the Atlas of Tidal Currents (St, Lawrence Estuary, bilingual) published by the Canadian Hydrographic Service, ~CAD $35. This is invaluable for any slow-moving craft between Trois-Rivieres and Saguenay. Chartlets for each of nine reaches of the river show current direction and speed for every 20 minutes in a 12 hour tidal cycle.

Farther downstream I have not come across any official current information, though I certainly detected differences between GPS and paddle wheel readings. The exception is the Great Bras d’Or Channel, Cape Breton, for which current information is included in the CHS tide tables (now online only). However, after two southbound passages in the channel, I am not much wiser how apply the data…

[hpeer]

Speaking of the Great Bra d’Or channel, obviously not part of the SLS. But I screwed up my exit timing and came out full tide into a NE wind. Thought I would rip the mast out. Luckily I had read you could hug the east bluffs (stb side going out). I worked my way over and things eased up a lot.

Definitely worth paying attention to.

What a wild ride!!!!

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by seadrift

I have not seen any mention in this thread of the Atlas of Tidal Currents (St, Lawrence Estuary, bilingual) published by the Canadian Hydrographic Service, ~CAD $35. This is invaluable for any slow-moving craft between Trois-Rivieres and Saguenay. Chartlets for each of nine reaches of the river show current direction and speed for every 20 minutes in a 12 hour tidal cycle.

Yes indeed, an invaluable tool. We found it absolutely essential to understand and follow these currents. In fact, the one day we miss-read the predictions we ended up with an awesome sail, but moving backwards as the tidal current swept us along .

Here's a great online tool which allows you to see, hour by hour, the predicted tidal currents. We used this extensively whenever we could get cell data (which was surprisingly available most of the time).

https://slgo.ca/en/ocean-forecasts-application/

You can see the tidal currents all the way through the River, in the Gulf, and even up to the west side of Newfoundland.

[BoatBumm]

I am planning to someday soon, maybe in 2022, to do the Downeast Circle Route. As a result I recently purchased Cheryl Barr's “Down East Circle Route”. It covers the Seaway pretty well, BUT it’s already 10 years from printing. I exchanged emails with the author asking if an updated edition was in the works. Her answer was: “No, but things haven’t changed much”. I hope she’s right. Otherwise I agree that in English at least the cruising guides for the St Lawrence, other than for the Thousand Islands section, are few and far between.

[hpeer]

Cheryl is probably right. The physical characteristics don't change much. Tide info will not change. Marina info and obviously not will change. We relied upon Active Captain a lot but I see they have purged a lot of posts including some of mine from 2016.

[Barkingmad]

Some great info, glad this thread was passed along. I'm leaving down bound from Presquile Bay in a few days. I think I'm heading for Shelburne N.S.
I'll have an extra hand from Prescott to Montreal for the locks, the rest of the trip will be "solo", I don't trust the dog to stand watch.

[longjonsilver]

Originally Posted by Barkingmad

I don't trust the dog to stand watch.

Isn't he naturally suited for the dog watch?

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Barkingmad

Some great info, glad this thread was passed along. I'm leaving down bound from Presquile Bay in a few days. I think I'm heading for Shelburne N.S.
I'll have an extra hand from Prescott to Montreal for the locks, the rest of the trip will be "solo", I don't trust the dog to stand watch.

If you want more possible anchorages I can probably dig some out. We sailed to NL from Lake Ontario and only stopped in two marinas the whole way. Finding decent anchorages wasn't always easy, but it is possible.