La Ronda Marina to Valleyfield Marina, Salabery-de-Valleyfield, Quebec, Canada

 We got an early start as we had reservations for four of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Canadian locks  in the Montreal/Lake Ontario section that are on a time schedule for up bound traffic. We were very close to the first lock at Saint Lamber so we were the first to tie up at the floating dock followed quickly by four other boats and another boat that remained standing off at the entrance for a schedule 9 am opening that was then posted for 10:20 am.  We watched one ship to upbound in our direction followed by another ship down stream which caused our delay. As soon as that shipped passed we had the green light. The lock tenders throw ropes down the fifty foot walls expecting you to catch one for the bow and tie up and then one for the stern before you shut off your engine. They also directed two boats to raft up in front of us and two rafted in front of them.  Once you leave the lock there is no stopping for the six miles to the next lock at Cote Sainte-Catherine scheduled for 11:00 am but of course we were late for that. It was the same set of lock tenders as we went through the lock. We then had to make tracks for the next two lock with Lower Beauharnois at 3 pm and Upper Beauharnois at 4:00 pm. Only one boat Sea retirement from South Carolina continued on with us as the other boats turned off into the Rideau Canal which we had come down last year. We made it to the lock a little after 3 pm to wait with three sailboats and one motorboat for a ship to lock through. We were the first to enter the lock and had turbulent water as well as tosses that I missed both times so it was not a good way to start. We made it through that lock and then on to the next lock which I had better luck catching the ropes but Glenn had a worse time as he was trying to catch the stern since the wind was keeping us off the lock wall. We were glad to get through as the rain started. We stayed on the fly bridge with our rain capes until the rain got so strong we moved to the down below helm. Three of the motorboats made the lift bridge together and the bridge tender wanted to wait for all the boats. We requested that he contact the sailboats and since he could not see them and they did not answer his radio call he opened the lift bridge for us. We followed Searetirement who had a faster cruising speed and a full enclosure out of the rain to Valleyridge Marina. The rain cleared for us to get into the slip and we had great female dockhands. We had plans to go out to dinner but the rain started up again and we were too exhausted to move. We slept in the next day and it was still raining so we stayed another day but we had to move slips for another huge catamaran. The rain stopped by lunchtime and we had a great lunch at a nearby pub on their patio and then walked the town stopping by the Metro Grocery for provisions. We walked back by the old canal that was now a marina where you could tie up to the floating docks on the lock wall. We had two different Canadian couples invite us to their social club and to provide a ride to the grocery store but we were happy just to have happy hour on the flybridge.