WA Ferry problem - Coupeville

When we decided to move from Everett after I retired from Boeing, we considered both Camano and Whidbey Islands. In the end, we decided on Anacortes. It has Cascade Natural Gas distribution and city water, which were not present everywhere in the two islands.

Also it was a definite "city", with locally controlled schools, a good quality hospital and other municipal services. We're very happy with our decision.

We had driven from Anacortes to Keystone (not even close to Coupeville) on Wednesday morning on our way to the Olympic Peninsula. We had reservations for the 8:45a ferry, but were notified about at least a 2 ferry delay as were were driving through Camp Casey. We got in line 8 cars from check-in and was told that the run was now delayed indefinitely. They said the the rudder system had failed, the boat hit ground and needed the Coast Guard to arrive and evaluate the situation, and it could take many hours. We had friends waiting for the ill-fated run before us and saw the ferry hit ground at least twice before arriving at the dock. They chose to take the Clinton-Mukilteo, and then the Edmonds-Kingstone route taking even more time and $$$ than us.

We then pulled out of line and took the Edmonds-Kingston ferry ($20 more and 3 extra hours of driving). We talked with some staff at the Edmonds terminal and they referred to the Port Townsend-Keystone staff as buffoons. I can't speak to that allegation, but it does seem that there are lots of issues on that run. Our run home today went well and we were positioned at the front of the boat for a great view.

It is a tricky channel to negotiate. It's dredged and quite narrow. The un-dredged seabed close by is quite shallow.

We've used that run quite a lot, often as walk-ons for a shopping trip to PT. The skippers are usually very careful on approach to Keystone. If the rudder quits working, there's not a lot the captain can do! If that's what happened on an almost new ship, you have to wonder about the quality of construction.