An ice-breaking party

Nancy and John invited us and all the other neighbours on Cathcart Street to an impromptu party last weekend, which we very much enjoyed. The wording of the invitation was topical, referring to the icebreaking operations on the Rideau River that will start in a week or two and which several of our neighbours will be able to observe all day long from their homes. The dynamite blasts will certainly rattle our homes, as they do every year. And apparently I'm not the only person who worries about the effect this also has on the local wildlife.

The invitation, including a picture of the demolition team in their orange jackets at work by the river, read as follows:

It's almost that time again.

The boys will soon be on the river playing with their toys and making lots of noise.

That means it's time for our own ice-breaking party where we start to say goodbye to winter and say hello to each other after a long season of semi-hibernation.

Join us [...] for beer, wine, sherry and snacks ... 

A nice idea, John and Nancy! Thanks.

A black and white day by the river

We walked home from town along Sussex Drive this afternoon, during the latest snowfall. Across the river, artificial snow makers are adding to the amount for the sake of the Winterlude playground (aka Snowflake Kingdom, the biggest snow playground in North America!) being constructed over there, in Jacques-Cartier park. The machines are in operation night and day.

Below is a picture of the Ottawa side of the river, showing Nepean Point and the Alexandra Bridge over the frozen, snow-covered river. The bridge is currently closed to traffic because it's being given a new coat of paint, to prevent steel corrosion. On an average day, when it's open, this interprovincial bridge is crossed by 22,000 vehicles.

The pictures on this page, by the way, are colour photos, not black and white ones.

Good news for Au Feel de L'Eau

Aqua Taxi on the Gatineau, last summer

The Aqua Taxi service owned by Au Feel de L'Eau has had some good news this month. They are not only going to be sailing on the Ottawa and Gatineau Rivers this summer. They've also been granted permission to run their electric water taxi on the Rideau Canal.

Du nouveau pour 2014! Nous sommes très heureux d'annoncer que nous offrirons un service d'Aqua-Taxi électrique sur le canal Rideau dès la saison prochaine.

I'm very pleased to hear this. There are already cruises available through town from May to October, up the Rideau Canal to Dows Lake and back, but no opportunity to get off the boat at the far end. Your only option is to disembark at your starting point. The Aqua Taxi will change that. Since there isn't a convenient bus running from downtown to Dows Lake, it's a service Ottawa tourists and residents have needed for years.

I wonder if I shall see them bringing their boat up through the eight locks by Parliament Hill.

An exercise in patience

Waiting for a bite

According to her status update, a Facebook friend of mine went ice fishing with a friend near Rockland today. She called it "The ultimate exercise in patience."

A lot of the river ice is slush covered at present, in poor condition because of the mild week we've had, wet and slippery on the surface, but the ice is still 18" thick on average (45cm).

New Year and very cold

The other night, out of doors at 30 below, we saw a girl set off to walk her dog across the Rideau River to the park on the other side. There's no danger of people falling through the ice now as it must have thickened considerably during the last couple of weeks.

The average thickness of the ice in Baitshop Bay by Petrie Island, on the Ottawa River, is now reported to be 30cm. Last reported ice condition: "excellent" for fishing.

Today the Rideau Canal was opened for skating which means the ice is of a good thickness there too.

All 7.8 kilometres of the Rideau Canal Skateway are now open between Rideau and Dows Lake, including Patterson Creek and the Hartwell Locks. Last night a full sweep and flooding was completed. Sweeping operations were completed this morning. We ask that skaters use extra caution this afternoon. There are many areas with very rough patches of ice and with the volume of skaters, the condition of the ice will continue to deteriorate throughout the rest of the day.

Happy New Year, Ottawa!

When to go fishing in winter

There's plenty of perch under the ice at Petrie Island

... ice fishing, that is.

The tributaries of the Ottawa River are frozen now, more or less. There's a rumour that the Rideau Canal will soon be open for skating, and the ice fishermen will also be getting impatient to practise their sport on the Ottawa River itself.

I came across a website that reports the current depth of the ice on the Ottawa near Petrie Island, a popular ice fishing spot. The ice there is already 10" (25cm) thick in places. This website is run by The Petrie Island Ice Fishermen's Association, PIIFA, an organisation that's been in existence for 10 years now.

It all started back in 2004 with a few ice fishermen sitting in a hut discussing ideas on how to combat the increase of vandalism, thefts and break-ins of that season. A few beers were shared and many ideas were tossed around. In the end, the group decided to start an association of ice fisherman. The main task of the association would be to bring hut owners together, so everyone could get to know each other and become a more tight-knit group for better security.

It has become, as they say, "huge" (and popular). Their website includes a fish catalogue, a page of wood stove recipes, and an Angler's Gallery of the proud fishermen with their catches.

The ice has to be 30cm thick before you are permitted to erect a hut on it. (Any day now.) All fishing huts must be off the ice by March 15th, but that leaves you plenty of time to catch fish till then.

A future for the Chaudière Falls

Chaudière Falls from the air, summer 2009

Great things are being planned, it seems, for the lands around Ottawa's Chaudière Falls, and about time too. Much of this industrial landscape has been lying there unused since 2005. The Windmill group of developers has signed a purchase deal with Domtar, who used to manage the site, and will turn the area into a major tourist attraction. Their plans include:

...establishing waterfront restaurants, cafés and public parks, setting up public gathering places that provide views of the river, building a mix of low-rise, highrise and affordable housing, redeveloping some of the heritage buildings, and creating various historical installations honouring the area’s logging and industrial history.

The company also says the project will be carbon neutral and will include on-site stormwater management, the use of solar, wind and other ecologically friendly systems. And it will be connected to a “safe and cohesive” pedestrian and cycle network, a “seamless” public transit system, and, to top it off, “an uninterrupted tourist experience.”

It will offer marvellous views. Because much of the site is in the middle of the river, on the Albert and Chaudière Islands beside the falls, Windmill is calling its project The Isles / Les Îles and is intending to apply some Algonquin names to the new features; the Algonquin people, who are being consulted, have a historic claim to this land, which they see as sacred ground. A spokesman for Windmill promised they

would not neglect First Nations’ concerns. He pointed out that as part of its due diligence Windmill has already consulted with interested parties, including the Algonquins of Ontario and the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg band of Algonquins. Both groups have been positive in their responses to the company’s plans, he said.

(Ottawa Citizen)

"Various historical installations" within the new development will recall the site's logging history as well.