The Lost Village of Long Island

Dinner and Games Tonight at the Lost Village of Long Island – 

Uneventful cruise today on the Rideau Canal. We are getting closer to Ottawa, but have two more stops before we get there. We are getting accustomed to the daily drill of locking through multiple locks. Lock, cruise, lock, cruise, lock, cruise, and lock again, then tie up to a lock wall or dock, explore if possible, make dinner and relax while enjoying our new surroundings. At the end of this day, after transiting four locks, we arrived just before the Long Island Lock-14-15-16 and the lost village of Long Island.

Once surrounded by a thriving village in the mid-19th century, Long Island Lock, just southwest of Ottawa, now sits in the middle of grassy fields. Villagers abandoned the once-growing town when a stone flour mill opened in a nearby town. Today, we found a dock, rather than a wall to tie up to. It was more of a lake setting than the canal.

A group of kayakers going through locks today slowed us up a little. The lockmasters like to get each group from one lock to another, altogether, before they close the doors. Consequently, we had to wait at each lock for the kayakers to catch up. After a long stretch of water, they all turned to shore to rest, and we continued on at a little faster pace.

Dinner on that night was a soupy mirepoix of veggies, beans, and leftover chicken. A staple for meals on Kismet lately. Getting low on produce and protein, but we’ll stock up again in Ottawa.

Every night it’s a different setting, on that night we enjoyed a more open environment with glassy water surrounding us. Small fishing boats quietly moved around us. All is good for the crew of Kismet as we wait for the heat of the day to subside a little before we make dinner and get ready for a game of Sequence or Dominos.