Ottawa, Ontario day 2

It’s been surprising to us how few boaters there are on the Rideau Canal in mid July 2026 compared to mid August 2019 when we were last here. We see plenty of prime spots with power along the wall. Once you pay for your seasonal pass (which was around $330 Canadian for us) the only other charge is $12 per night if you use 30 amp power. Downside is there are no restrooms or showers, but we get past that with the AirHead and Basin Baths on the boat with hot water.
Today we got our walk in doing the usual touristy things... we watched the Changing of the Guards, walked some downtown, and walked through the
Byward market. Blocks away there are an incredible number of homeless people in the streets, who spend most of the day seemingly passed out and sprawled in uncomfortable looking positions. We haven't seen any down by the canal, but there are reports of stolen petty thievery of e-bikes, power cords, binoculars etc left unsecured and even boat untyings. We use a bicycle lock to secure the power cord and 50 amp adapter, and tie at least one dock line from across the boat so anyone who wants to undo it would have to actually board the boat, which most don't.

We’re in position to go down the eight connected locks called the Flight of Eight in downtown Ottawa ending up on the Ottawa River, then moving east on the Ottawa River towards Montreal. It requires several hours to get through these locks, the busiest and most dramatic locks on the system. Hundreds of tourists are watching the locking process. They're watching the show and we are the show so don't make any mistakes.Read more