SVJoli: 7/5/19 - Welland Canal

We were at the staging docks for the Welland Canal in Port Colborne at 7:00 am. Bryan used the designated public phone to call the lock master and we were told to wait, they would call us on VHF Channel 14 or Bryan’s cell phone, and if we didn’t hear from them by 11:00, we should call again. NOTE that on 7/15/19, the Welland Canal Lock Schedule for pleasure craft will change and you can only go down-bound on the designated days. For now, there is no specific schedule and they will take pleasure craft as time is available. Had a quick breakfast (cereal and fruit) and at about 9:00, noticed that the public phone had been ringing. Denny hopped off the boat and answered the phone. They were ready for us to go into Lock 8! Got through Lock 8 by 11:00 with no issues but were again told to wait while a cruise ship, Victory I, passed us going down-bound and a freighter, G3 Marquis of Winnipeg, passed us going up-bound. We had to tie up to a concrete wall with giant bollards, more geared toward freighters, but it was not a bad spot and it was a good time for a lunch break. We waited a couple hours and then made it through the rest of the locks fairly expeditiously. When we got to the last lock, Lock 1, we had to wait for an up-bound freighter to come out of the lock before entering. There was also a drawbridge on our side of the lock with lots of traffic waiting on it. We had the green light but were waiting for the freighter to pass us when Seaway Welland contacted us on Ch. 14, instructing us to “Hurry up, you have a green light, the bridge is open!”. We were out of the last lock by 7:30 pm and headed west on Lake Ontario to Port Dalhousie Pier Marina. We secured to the end of D-Dock at 8:30. It was a long, tiring day and we were so happy to have Denny & Ellie and Frank & Billye with us to help. We all enjoyed our marina showers and Billye’s meatloaf for dinner (delicious).