MV Chelan

[SS San Mateo]

The Chelan is back in service now...

Ferry Alert: Ana/SJs - M/V Chelan Replaces M/V Issaquah as #1 Vessel

The M/V Chelan has replaced the M/V Issaquah as the #1 Vessel. Customers can check the Anacortes / San Juan Islands Schedule for available upcoming sailings and the Real-Time Map for updated departures and arrivals


This alert was sent on 10/12/2023 at 3:41PM to subscribers of the following routes:


• Anacortes / San Juan Islands

[Kahloke]

Oct 12, 2023 15:01:36 GMT -8 SS San Mateo said:

The Chelan is back in service now...

Ferry Alert: Ana/SJs - M/V Chelan Replaces M/V Issaquah as #1 Vessel

The M/V Chelan has replaced the M/V Issaquah as the #1 Vessel. Customers can check the Anacortes / San Juan Islands Schedule for available upcoming sailings and the Real-Time Map for updated departures and arrivals


This alert was sent on 10/12/2023 at 3:41PM to subscribers of the following routes:


• Anacortes / San Juan Islands

Good to have Chelan back.  Now maybe Issaquah can replace Salish at Edmonds-Kingston and provide a vessel with more vehicle capacity and the ability to keep the schedule.  I'm still puzzled by why Salish was not moved to San Juan Inter-island and Kitsap or Issaquah moved to Kingston.  I'm sure there's a lot going on behind the scenes at WSF that we're simply not aware of, but having Salish doing inter-island makes a LOT more sense than trying to fill the shoes of a Jumbo or Jumbo Mark II on a very busy crossing. 

[paulvanb]

Currently on the Chelan, non-stop to Friday Harbor. For whatever reason they canceled the stop at Lopez Island.

[lavalamp]

May 17, 2024 11:25:57 GMT -8 paulvanb said:

Currently on the Chelan, non-stop to Friday Harbor. For whatever reason they canceled the stop at Lopez Island. 

They do that sometimes depending on traffic loads and how late the boats are.  The #3 Samish runs a Lopez-only trip 40 minutes later at 12:35pm, so if the traffic will fit they will put all the Lopez traffic on that sailing instead and allow #1 Chelan to go direct to Friday Harbor for its 11:55am sailing. The schedule also has three boats in and out of Lopez in a short time period (#1 12:35-12:45pm, #4 1:00-1:05pm, and #3 arrives at 1:15pm), so they'll take any chance to reduce the potential for conflicts.

Edited to add: The Yakima and Samish were also running at half capacity due to crew (Yakima) and rescue boat (Samish) issues, so that may have been affecting traffic to Friday Harbor earlier in the day.

[Olympic Ferries]

May 17, 2024 11:25:57 GMT -8 paulvanb said:

Currently on the Chelan, non-stop to Friday Harbor. For whatever reason they canceled the stop at Lopez Island.

The 11:55 should never have had a Lopez stop in the dust place. Pays to have the #1 on time for Orcas in the afternoon. Should've been cut long ago.

[lavalamp]

May 17, 2024 20:33:39 GMT -8 Olympic Ferries said:

The 11:55 should never have had a Lopez stop in the dust place. Pays to have the #1 on time for Orcas in the afternoon. Should've been cut long ago.

They only added that stop a couple years ago when they stopped going to Sidney, so it’s a very new thing and is just filling the time up. On the eastbound return they can’t have the #1 leave Friday Harbor any earlier (and get back to Anacortes sooner) because it is providing a connection for the interisland deck crew, so dropping the westbound Lopez stop would just mean the #1 sits in the dock at Anacortes or Friday Harbor longer.

[Olympic Ferries]

M/V Chelan - Sailing to Lopez by Jay Cassady, on Flickr

Chelan sailing Shaw to Loepz as inter-island vessel, June 2019 (shocked as well that is was sunny).