2025 - Pacific Northwest Ferries

A huge part of this 13 day tour of the Pacific Northwest Tour is not the routes, the hills or the many towns that we visited, but it's the 10 ferry rides that we took between the bike routes. All the ferries where much larger that I had imagined and we operated by 3 different companies ( Washington State Ferries, Black Ball Ferry Lines and BC Ferries)

Mark was in charge of making all the ferry arrangements. The details for each of the ferries included number of people, including rides age for senior citizen rates, tickets for the 2 vehicles (luggage truck and SUV support vehicle and the departure and arrival times that would be our routing constraints. He developed a very detailed spreadsheet to make sure that all connections were made and everything ran like clockwork.

The huge ferries included drive on drive-off ramps for vehicles of all sizes and the embarking and disembarking of bikes, cars and pedestrian passengers were operated with precision. After all, these were transportation carriers with a tight schedules to keep. 

Below you can see the gaping hold of one of the several ferries we rode on

Bikes were allowed to enter the ferries first almost exclusively which allowed us to fully comprehend the volume capacities of the ferries   

Boarding early, we would lock up our bikes in the ferry hold and walk up a flight of starts to the passenger lounges. The lounges comprised of many rows of very comfortable seats  Some of our trips lasted 90 minutes or so while others were more brief at 30 minutes or less.

On board amenities would include restrooms and a concessions with snacks and drinks. I noted that the first ferry we took from Seattle to Bainbridge Island had posters announcing happy hour food and drinks for the commuters.  Sometimes the ferry would include a gift shop. 

The cargo carrying capacity was almost always fully utilized with vehicles filling all available space from one end of the ferry to the other 

Weather permitting, the views of the passing landscape could be breathtaking and memorable. Once were saw, way off in the distance, and orca. So we got both whale watching and transportation on a single ticket. 

Not all ferries where behemoths. Some were more of a single open platform and the best seating on the upper outside decks. 

Ferry Photo Album

Brian