- We've arrived in Smith Falls, isn't it beautiful?
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- We spent seven days on the Rideau Canal
in Ontario, Canada with Le Boat.
These are the experience we had and the places we saw
as we cruised in a luxury houseboat
along this incredible UNESCO World Heritage site.
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Welcome to the Horizon 3 with Le Boat.
Come on in for a tour.
Le Boat has a fleet of boats on the Rideau Canal
at their base in Smith Falls.
You can choose from the Horizon 1 that has two cabins
to the Horizon 5 that has five cabins and five bathrooms.
We invited my brother and sister-in-law,
Jim and Janice, along for the week and we found
that the Horizon 3 was perfect for two couples,
but it could easily accommodate three couples no problem
as it is a three bedroom, three bathroom layout.
- This is amazing.
- The Horizon 3 has three bedrooms and three bathrooms,
and there's a big king size bed for the stars,
the people in charge, and then the two smaller beds.
So come on, let's take a look at the master suite.
I think I wanna hang out here for a few days.
Wow.
Oh, I get to. Lucky me.
So the bathroom's in here, as you call it the head.
And the bathroom here in the main suite is separate
from the shower.
The shower is over here.
So come on over.
This is in the Horizon 3,
you have that separate shower and bath.
But let's go, I wanna go see the smaller rooms here.
Which are pretty awesome.
Okay, this is extremely spacious.
These are so much bigger than I expected.
This is a double bed in here
with another bathroom and shower.
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All right, this is so spacious.
This table here, it goes into a bed as well.
So say you have more people on board than you expected,
or you're fighting with your spouse, ha-ha,
he can sleep out here.
Full kitchen, microwave, everything you need.
Fantastic.
Okay, now you don't wanna spend all your time in the cabin
because that's just for sleeping.
It's gonna be beautiful weather here on the Rideau Canal
in the Canadian summertime and we're gonna be spending
quite a bit of time up top.
So the great thing about this is if the weather's bad
you can drive from below or you can go up top
and drive as well.
- Woo!
- You can sit this way when you're traveling
and this way when you're swimming.
I love it.
Hey, guys.
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So we are getting ready to load.
We have all of our bikes and we have a kayak,
and then this is how you take it on
with all of these little trolleys here.
And we're just gonna load on to our boat.
It's very exciting now it's real.
We're gonna be heading on the Rideau Canal.
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Before setting sail on your boat tour be sure to explore
a bit of Smiths Falls and check out the Railway Museum
of eastern Ontario to take part
in one of its many adventures.
- So here we are, we're at the Railway Museum
and we're gonna get to drive this sucker.
- The museum not only lets you tour different box cars
and cabooses, it also has several activities
like taking a ride on the train.
We were lucky enough to experience what life is like
as an engineer.
That was wild, I just drove a train.
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- Looking for some very cool, unique accommodation?
You can rent this on Airbnb.
Come and stay in the caboose here, they'll cater dinner
for you overnight.
This is a pretty cool place to hang out.
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- [All] Welcome to the Rideau Canal.
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- [Deb] Le Boats were made for novice boaters.
They all have limiters to control speed,
the boats are equipped with bumpers all around
and the drivers have a secret weapon.
All boats have bow and stern thrusters
that help you control the boat's direction with ease.
We turned our 45 foot long boat on a dime.
- [Dave] Perfect, perfect, perfect.
- [Deb] Awesome, we're just doing a spin.
- [Dave] This is perfect.
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- [Deb] After an hour or so lesson learning everything
from how to drive and park the boat,
to reading charts and tying knots, we entered our first lock
and said goodbye to our instructor who left us alone
to explore a huge portion
of the 202 kilometer long Rideau Canal.
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Our seven day trip took us from Smith Falls to Jones Falls
along the Rideau Canal and Rideau Lakes.
We put Jim and Janice to work on the ropes
while Dave and I took turns driving and navigating.
Since Jim and Janice are avid boaters,
Dave and I thought it would be cool to let them relax
while we took the helm.
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Everyone has a task, but there is a lot of time to relax
and enjoy as well.
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- I'm working hard.
Hanging onto these lines.
- Plus it's pretty cool to brag
that you navigated your way through locks
and completed a self-drive boating tour
through this incredible UNESCO World Heritage site.
It's a beautiful day here in Ontario, Canada.
We're at Beveridges Lock,
it's our first stop and the skies have opened up
and it's sunshine.
Gonna be a gorgeous day on the Rideau Canal.
This is absolutely beautiful.
Our journey consisted of about two to three hours
of boating per day as we navigated through the waterways,
from large lakes to narrow passageways.
The scenery is beautiful as you pass mansions
and islands and the friendly boaters
that you meet as you go through the canals and locks.
But I recommend not spending too long on the water
because there's so much to see and do.
Le Boats can dock at any lock station
operated by Parks Canada.
There are docks with power and places where you can fill up
your water or pump out.
And once you are in for the night, you can do everything
from getting out to explore the nearby villages
and towns to hiking, kayaking and cycling.
Nice little bike ride to explore a bit more of the canal.
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So with Le Boat you can rent kayaks and bring your bicycles
and it's really great to go kayaking down the channels.
You can even go through the locks if you want.
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- This is very cool.
Haven't done anything like this.
Done a lot of canoe stuff but never gone through a lock.
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- All right, so when you go to a lock the lock etiquette
is to go up to the blue line and wait.
If you do paddle through locks make sure
that you have a rope so that you can hang on to the sides.
Wow.
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We're in a lock on the Rideau Canal on a canoe.
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And you really do wanna rope 'cause the walls are slimy.
You just roll up with the, with the tide.
- We're in now.
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We're in now.
Here we go.
- [Janice] No turning back.
- [Deb] No turning back.
- No turning back now.
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I thought it was really cool.
It was pretty awesome to see all that water rush in there.
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- Well we have arrived here at the beautiful town
of Westport where we're gonna dock for the night.
There's a brewery, there's a winery,
there's fudge and ice cream.
Let's go check it out.
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We're at Scheuermann Vineyard and Winery
just out of Westport.
And what a beautiful setting.
We have the vineyard in the background, the lake,
there's art installations and it is spectacular.
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When you're in Westport make sure you come on up
to Spy Rock, what a gorgeous view of the town
and the whole countryside here.
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- And make sure you do some hiking.
There's hiking trails all around here.
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All right, we're here at Westport Brewing Company
and I'm about to dig into a nice flight of beer.
Bet you wish you were me, don't ya?
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- Cheers.
Mm.
And we're off.
Every day is different on the boat.
Sometimes your overnights are at lock stations,
or you're out on mooring balls and islands,
and even in towns and local marinas.
It's never the same thing twice.
The most fun we had was navigating through the charts
to make it to our next destination.
We followed our maps to the buoys and markers as we made
our way through the canal system.
- One of the cool things you get when you come on Le Boat
is a chart book like this.
And basically what it does is it tells you exactly
what the different depths are, it gives you the best route
to take, shows you where all the buoys are.
So it really is important when planning out your route.
And they do give you a whole overview
of this and how to actually use this map
before you head out.
So it's a good thing to really pay attention
to that 'cause when we are here we have one person driving
and one person navigating 'cause it's a little tough
to do both.
And this is a great way to actually plan out your trip
as well, to see where you wanna go
and how many days or how long it's gonna take to get there.
Le Boat also gives you a breakdown like this,
which basically tells you what the driving time
in their boats is between different spots
on the Rideau Canal.
It's like the yellow brick road, it's all mapped out for ya.
It's awesome.
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- But be warned, you really do need to pay attention
and follow those charts and use those binoculars
because it's very easy to make a wrong turn.
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We've arrived at Colonel By Island.
The weather took a big turn today so it's chilly.
So I'm all bundled up to go for a little hike
around the island and see what's up.
I heard that the Rat Pack used to hang out here
and the Mafia from New York used to hang out here,
so it's a pretty historic island.
Let's go see.
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There's really so many things to do.
Every day is something different.
You have a mix of towns, islands, hiking trails,
biking trails, kayaking, boating.
It's quite the all-inclusive trip of adventure.
The all-inclusive adventure trip with Le Boat.
Yeah.
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Good morning.
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- So we're about to go through the Narrows
which is actually, I think, the narrowest lock
here on the Rideau Canal.
So it really puts your boating skills to the test.
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- The Rideau Canal locks are very unique
because most of the locks are hand cranked
by Parks Canada staff, just the way they operated
it in the 1800s.
This has kept the experience very authentic
and it also makes it a lot more fun as you get to know
the staff and watch them hard at work while you relax
on your luxury yacht.
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(Dave speaking indistinctly)
Oh gosh.
Here we go.
(Deb speaking indistinctly)
- Well this is pretty awesome.
We just came into Chaffey's Lock.
It's a nice little nook here.
Absolutely beautiful, like everything here
on the Rideau Canal.
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Easy peasy, nice and easy.
In for the night.
- [Deb] When on a boat tour you have the option to eat out
at some of the restaurants, at places like Chaffey's Lock,
Westport or Newboro.
But you also have a full kitchen and a barbecue on deck
to make your own gourmet meals with ease.
- It's gonna be a good day.
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- Another great day on the water.
Ending off with a big feast.
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- One of the cool things is is there's a lot
of history around here along the Rideau Canal.
Like this blockhouse behind me here in Newboro.
You learn a lot about what life was like along the canal
during the 1800s.
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- You have to make sure you tuck in
to every little hiking trail around here
for some lookouts over the canal
and all of the little estuaries.
It's really great to just get out
and explore whenever you dock your boat.
One of the coolest stops on our trip
is Kilborn's on the Rideau right here in Newboro.
There's local crafts and artisans.
They have some awesome cowboy boots
that are handcrafted designs.
And it's really a lot of fun just wandering through the maze
of these historic five houses that are all together
creating this very unique general store.
(upbeat music)
- Welcome to the Rideau Ferry stop
here on our lovely Le Boat trip.
Make sure you grab a beer at the Perth Brewery or CC's.
It's the perfect stop on the Rideau.
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- It's just unbelievable to me that a big boat
can go down this narrow channel.
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- Coming up on the lock.
Woo-ooh.
- By the time you've had a few days at the wheel
you'll feel like a pro as you impress all your family
and friends, and your fellow boaters.
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We are at 1000 Islands Helicopter Tour
here in Gananoque, Ontario and we are about to go up
and see the beautiful scene of a Thousand Islands
and the St. Lawrence River.
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There are so many activities to do on the Rideau Canal.
Even if you don't make it to Kingston on the boat
it's just a short drive to the city
and the St. Lawrence River.
A great way to explore after being on the water
is to take a helicopter tour to see everything from above.
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- That was awesome!
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- So if you're looking for a great summer getaway,
check out Le Boat on the Rideau Canal
or they're all over the world.
Where do we go next, Dave?
- Ooh, I think it might be Europe.
Sounds good, right?
- Let's do it.
- We're pros.
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- [Deb] If you enjoyed our video be sure to subscribe
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