Updates

The oldest ferry in the fleet, currently working the San Juans Interisland route, is down with generator problems. The problem is serious enough to knock the ferry out of service for a week, and has put the islands on “Weekend Winter Schedule.”

*update–kudos to the engineers, who got the old girl back up and running a week early. She went back into service 10/5/2021.

Kalakala II was the only “serious” name submitted to the state for naming the new ferry, which got nothing but a bunch of silly suggestions. The deadline to submit new names has been extended. For the record, Kalakala II isn’t a good idea either–first of all, there was only one Kalakala. Second of all, as far as I know, that name is still copyrighted.

There’s a lot of other names to recycle if we’re going to go that route–why not another Kulshan, Klahanie, Kehloken, Quillayute, Quilecne, or, my person favorite, Wollochet? (Check out the page on the ferry to find out what it means.)

Meanwhile, in Canada, they’re having their own problems with mechanical issues. The Spirit ships aren’t that old, but like all hard-working vessels, sometimes things just break down.

Something is looking up for Alaska Marine Highways–looks like they’ll be going to Prince Rupert again.

Meanwhile, back on the East Coast, where the old Kulshan still plys the waters at Martha’s Vineyard, there won’t be any fare hikes this year. The Kulshan, by the way, is known as the Governor these days.