My April Diary
(NOTES BY DONNA M RASMUSSEN A.K.A MRS. CAPTAIN)

April 18th, great news! Anders called this morning and told me they loaded the ship in 7 hours so they got away earlier than expected! Wow! So now I'll be meeting Anders and the "coolbeans" at 9:30 tonight! yahooo!!! So very excited! So I'm keeping really busy this morning so that later I can try to take a nap since he says we won't get to Hamilton until 1 in the afternoon. It will be a long trip but I'm really very excited about seeing my Husband..:o)!!!

Its 6:00PM and I've been trying for 3 hours to take a nap so I won't be exhausted and fall asleep standing up while in the canal. But its just not that easy to sleep in the middle of the day for me. So I get up and look at the Seaway map and yep, theres the Ship just showed up in Eastern Lake Erie after calling in at Long Point. They'll be passing by the house here in a hour probably! Now there is NO way I'll be able to sleep!!! I could regret this later though!

6:15 PM I use the binoculars we have on sitting on the ledge of our front windows to scan the horizon. I look back and forth to where I expect the ship to be but I don't see it. I acutally can't see the ships that often out on the Lake. Usually only when they are coming directly from Nanticoke to the canal or vice versa as normally they are much to far out on the Lake to see them. But of course 15 minutes later I try again. And then I totally get the biggest smile on my face and the butterflys start hopping! Theres the ship! Way out there its basically just a grey shape but for sure can tell its the ship I'm going to be on in just a few hours! I am now wondering what am I going to do for the next few hours!!

 

 

 

 

Well its now 4:00Pm on Friday April 20th and I'm back home already! ..................... So heres what happened!

I drove to Port Colborne on Wedneday night, I left at 8:00Pm and got to lock 8 to wait for Anders to call and tell me where I was going to meet him at the lock or above the lock since they were going to be taking on supplies. He called to say a tanker was in the lock (which I could see) and he was having to wait for another ship that had been fueling at shell oil and now ready to go. So I'ld be waiting a bit so decided to go to Tim Hortons for a yummy cafe mocha. So after that I drove back to the lock to wait for my phone call. Finally it came and Anders told me that I would be meeting him above the lock , so I'ld need to walk down since I can't leave my car there since most times the gate is locked. So I grabbed my camera and bag and started "hoofing" it down to the spot where the ship would "park". I got there and still had to wait about 1/2 an hour, there were supply trucks waiting and a few cars waiting for crew members who were getting off for awhile during the time the ship was going dwon the canal. By the time the ship got there and I got aboard it was 10pm. It was going to be a long night! They say the average trip through the canal is about 10 hours.

Photos above : Going down the flight locks It was around 6AM at this point Yep same time I got up yesterday morning. :o)

Photos above: Exiting Lock four into daylight . - Always liked seeing these train tracks going no where! (the rest of them are lifted up on the otherside of the lock) - Bow thruster kicking us off the lock wall and on to lock 3 after going under this bridge ahead of us.- Back out on the bridge deck looking back at the flight locks. It was now 6:30AM

Photos above: Going under one of the lift bridges in the canal. - Sliding the wall into Lock 3. - A bike rider riding on the path that follows the canal the full lenght, great place to walk or bike! - Just a nice view I saw in the fog and the calm water reflections. It was now 6:38AM

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Photos Above: Still facinating to me as when I see this lock in front of me, I really can't see how the ship will fit! Soon we are in and the gates close. It was now 6:53AM >>>>>>>