Anacortes-San Juan Islands

[FNS]

Larry Norman served in the US Army Air Forces. Here is a quote from Patsy Collins:

"Larry Norman enlisted in the Army Air Forces when the United States entered World War II. He was a bombardier on a B-24 that was shot down during a raid over Germany in 1943. The memorial lodge at Orkila is named in his honor."

www.historylink.org/_content/printer_friendly/pf_output.cfm?file_id=2921

I must say that this beautiful lodge is perfect for all kinds of camp activities as well as the main dining hall. I love its architecture.

Anyway, getting back to the subject of San Juan ferries, here are a couple of photos of the Orcas Dock from the MV SALISH:





And, from the deck of the CHETZEMOKA taken a little bit earlier:

[Deleted]

WOW! WSF reduce the service a lot on the route with the third vessel do Anacortes and with her doing Inter-Island trips too on Saturday and Sunday! The third vessel doing two trips on the Inter-Island on Saturday and Sunday. With 12 sailing from Anacortes excluding the two with Inter-Island stops on Saturday and Sunday. While the fourth vessel is not doing any trips on Saturday and Sunday. Only the winter schudule. By the way what is the Inter-Island vessel for the winter schedule? Why does WSF do two Inter-Island and from Anacortes on Saturday and Sunday?

[Kahloke]

08-Nov-2012: arriving at Orcas on MV Yakima

[Deleted]

The Anacortes to San Juan Island route will have one 144 which will be the Elwha from January, 16 to February, 11, then the Hyak from February, 11 to February, 25, then the Yakima from February, 25 to don't know, with the 124 car Chelan from January, 16 to March, 11 and with the Sealth being a mainland boat from December 10 to March 18. Will Anacortes have lots of sailing waits from January, 16 to March, 11 because of the vessel Capacities and having only one Super instead of two Supers during the winter?

[SolDuc]

Nov 11, 2012 19:47:20 GMT -8 @cheese12345678 said:

Will Anacortes have lots of sailing waits from January, 16 to March, 11 because of the vessel Capacities and having only one Super instead of two Supers during the winter?

I don't think so. This happens almost every year. In the winter season there is not that much tourists and the main traffic is trucks and residents (even though some have one car on the island and one at Anacortes and go as walk-ons). That should not pose a problem (ask Barnacle if you want an expert).

[Barnacle]

Nov 11, 2012 19:47:20 GMT -8 @cheese12345678 said:

The Anacortes to San Juan Island route will have one 144 which will be the Elwha from January, 16 to February, 11, then the Hyak from February, 11 to February, 25, then the Yakima from February, 25 to don't know, with the 124 car Chelan from January, 16 to March, 11 and with the Sealth being a mainland boat from December 10 to March 18. Will Anacortes have lots of sailing waits from January, 16 to March, 11 because of the vessel Capacities and having only one Super instead of two Supers during the winter?

Elwha's actually the solo Super from Jan. 14 to February 18; the Hyak is only home for a week (Feb. 18-24) before the Yakima comes back. At least as of November 9th; this is all two months away and a lot can change between now and then.

As for sailing waits, I don't think so. By the time traffic picks back up in mid-March, we'll be back to two Supers (in theory).

[Kahloke]

Fresh pics of the Anacortes terminal on 24-Nov-2012:

MV Yakima approaching Slip 1


Vehicle holding lot to the left, restroom building, and Customs holding area behind the locked gates

[Deleted]

Aug 15, 2008 17:48:11 GMT -8 SS Shasta said:

MV Evergreen State makes a scheduled late evening run from Anacortes to Friday Harbor on Thursdays. Her trip from Friday Harbor to Anacortes is not listed on the schedule. Seems like she would leave Friday Harbor around 8:30 or so that evening for Anacortes.

Did Washington State Ferries switch the day of the late night sailing of the fourth vessel on the route from Anacortes? Or was the sailing Thursday and Fridays?

[Kahloke]

Nov 27, 2012 17:19:54 GMT -8 @cheese12345678 said:

Did Washington State Ferries switch the day of the late night sailing of the fourth vessel on the route from Anacortes? Or was the sailing Thursday and Fridays?

On the Fall Sailing Schedule, the one we are on now, the inter island ferry (4th vessel) does the late night sailing from Anacortes on Fridays.

After it's done with the inter-island duties for the day, it departs Friday Harbor at 20:50 and sails direct to Anacortes, arriving there at 22:10. It then departs Anacortes at 22:30, departs Lopez at 23:35, departs Orcas at 23:55, and arrives back in Friday Harbor at 00:25 on Saturday morning.

[SolDuc]

Shaw Island Ferry Terminal "nameplate":

[SolDuc]

[Kahloke]

Anacortes Terminal on Sunday afternoon, 17-Feb-2013:

the late-running Elwha had just arrived when I took this photo. Yakima was in Slip 2 perparing to take over for Elwha, although that switch must have happened later, perhaps at the end of the day, because we sailed on Elwha. Chelan is seen here sitting in the tie-up slip with mechanical difficulties. The problem was eventually fixed, but they had to cancel the 1:50pm sailing which meant our late-running 3:20pm sailing was extra-full. They got everyone on, though.

[SolDuc]

I have a few questions about the II run:
In all of them I'm assuming thats its a FH-Orcas-Shaw-Lopez-Shaw-Orcas-FH run (full loop both ways).
Which ends of the boats puts where? My guess is that FH and lopez have an end while Orcas and Shaw have the other but I'm really unsure.

If I wanted to do a roundtrip on a full loop out of FH, would I need to disembark at Lopez or could I just stay on the boat for the whole 2+ hours?

The catwalk on the evergreens makes a good location to set up a tripod and film, and I'm interested to know if I will need to get off the boat and how many times I will need to change ends to be facing the sane way that the ferry is going.

[Kahloke]

Mar 24, 2013 23:25:09 GMT -8 SolDuc said:

I have a few questions about the II run:
In all of them I'm assuming thats its a FH-Orcas-Shaw-Lopez-Shaw-Orcas-FH run (full loop both ways).
Which ends of the boats puts where? My guess is that FH and lopez have an end while Orcas and Shaw have the other but I'm really unsure.

If I wanted to do a roundtrip on a full loop out of FH, would I need to disembark at Lopez or could I just stay on the boat for the whole 2+ hours?

The catwalk on the evergreens makes a good location to set up a tripod and film, and I'm interested to know if I will need to get off the boat and how many times I will need to change ends to be facing the sane way that the ferry is going.

I think, and I could be wrong about this, that all inter-island trips begin and end at Friday Harbor, even the trips that stop at all the islands in both directions.  So, you should be able to stay on the vessel for the entire loop. 

[SolDuc]

Mar 25, 2013 4:36:17 GMT -8 Kahloke said:

Mar 24, 2013 23:25:09 GMT -8 SolDuc said:

I have a few questions about the II run:
In all of them I'm assuming thats its a FH-Orcas-Shaw-Lopez-Shaw-Orcas-FH run (full loop both ways).
Which ends of the boats puts where? My guess is that FH and lopez have an end while Orcas and Shaw have the other but I'm really unsure.

If I wanted to do a roundtrip on a full loop out of FH, would I need to disembark at Lopez or could I just stay on the boat for the whole 2+ hours?

The catwalk on the evergreens makes a good location to set up a tripod and film, and I'm interested to know if I will need to get off the boat and how many times I will need to change ends to be facing the sane way that the ferry is going.

I think, and I could be wrong about this, that all inter-island trips begin and end at Friday Harbor, even the trips that stop at all the islands in both directions.  So, you should be able to stay on the vessel for the entire loop. 

I also think that I should be able to stay on the vessel for the whole loop, an the crew of the EState (as the Sealth has no catwalks between the pickleforks) seems pretty nice.
For the loops, there are some that do FH-Lopez-Shaw-Orcas-FH (and inverse) and last summer there was one that did FH-Lopez-Shaw-Orcas-Shaw-Lopez-FH.
I will try to look here or on vessel watch for the ends but it is really confusing.

And also, I do know that they dont double lane unload in FH but do they double lane load on the other hand?

[Barnacle]

Mar 25, 2013 14:49:58 GMT -8 SolDuc said:

I also think that I should be able to stay on the vessel for the whole loop, an the crew of the EState (as the Sealth has no catwalks between the pickleforks) seems pretty nice.
For the loops, there are some that do FH-Lopez-Shaw-Orcas-FH (and inverse) and last summer there was one that did FH-Lopez-Shaw-Orcas-Shaw-Lopez-FH.
I will try to look here or on vessel watch for the ends but it is really confusing.

And also, I do know that they dont double lane unload in FH but do they double lane load on the other hand?

Very seldom do they double-lane the inter-island boat in FH, because the load gets stacked to accommodate the various inter-island destinations and that will necessitate spinning the traffic around the perimeter of the deck; hard to do loading two lanes simultaneously.

There is one sailing on the Spring schedule (departing Lopez at 13:05) that is a direct sailing to Friday Harbor; the rest are all-stops, all the time.  (Well, except the 6:10 AM from FH goes direct to Lopez, but I'm assuming you aren't dragging yourself out there that early in the morning.)

As for which end of the boat goes in at which dock, it isn't set in stone.  Most of it depends on the commercial traffic they receive--as a general rule, the fewer people being made to back on or off the boat, the better it's going to go.  The inter-island crews are nothing short of wizards when it comes to loading that boat, and I'm not just saying that because I know one of the regulars reads this board...

[SolDuc]

Mar 28, 2013 6:26:07 GMT -8 Barnacle said:

Very seldom do they double-lane the inter-island boat in FH, because the load gets stacked to accommodate the various inter-island destinations and that will necessitate spinning the traffic around the perimeter of the deck; hard to do loading two lanes simultaneously.

Oops, sorry I mean for the mainline boats.

[Barnacle]

Mar 28, 2013 15:01:51 GMT -8 SolDuc said:

Mar 28, 2013 6:26:07 GMT -8 Barnacle said:

Very seldom do they double-lane the inter-island boat in FH, because the load gets stacked to accommodate the various inter-island destinations and that will necessitate spinning the traffic around the perimeter of the deck; hard to do loading two lanes simultaneously.

Oops, sorry I mean for the mainline boats.

Also seldom, though you'll see it more if the boats are significantly late (or during the summer, which often amounts to the same thing).

[FNS]

Mar 25, 2013 14:49:58 GMT -8 SolDuc said:

Mar 25, 2013 4:36:17 GMT -8 Kahloke said:

I think, and I could be wrong about this, that all inter-island trips begin and end at Friday Harbor, even the trips that stop at all the islands in both directions.  So, you should be able to stay on the vessel for the entire loop. 

I also think that I should be able to stay on the vessel for the whole loop,

I did when the CHETZEMOKA and SALISH paid visits on this run.  The loop I did was FHB-ORC-SHW-LOP-FHB.  These trips were fun and I felt I was in a different world with the incredible beauty of the San Juans.  I was on the Sun Deck on board these KDT ferries during most of the time on these trips despite the off-season coolness.  And, their green tiles, green seats and benches, and "wood-looking" Saloon Deck paneling matches well with the scenery there besides the outer deck railings and seats.

[Koastal Karl]

I stayed on th E State when I did the loop last year. I just told them I was doing the roundtrip!

[Low Light Mike]

A fantastic dawn-to-dusk sped-up video of the day's action at Friday Harbor.
- done by Michael Bertrand and uploaded in June 2012.

ps: the E-State never leaves the tie-up slip.

[Barnacle]

If the Evergreen stayed put throughout the day, it must've been a weekend on Winter schedule.

[Kahloke]

Some action at the Orcas terminal from last Sunday (05-May-2013):

A very busy afternoon for walk-ons.  It seems YMCA's Camp Orkila had a weekend retreat, which accounts for the majority of the walk-ons seen here lining up


It's always interesting seeing vehicles backing on the ferry.  These cars were bound for Shaw.

[SolDuc]

Two quick pictures of Orcas from Sunday June 16th:
The landing itself, as seen from the ground:

Orcas Island Terminal - Washington State Ferries by SolDuc Photography, on Flickr

A log has broken away from the wood dolphin and is now hanging around in the water. It seems to have been there for quite some time judging by the marine growth on it.

Orcas Island Terminal - Washington State Ferries by SolDuc Photography, on Flickr

[SolDuc]

Anacortes from the beach just west of the Terminal. The Hyak is in slip three (a tie-up slip). I wonder why they switched her up as no other boats were going to use slip 1 and 2 simultaneously.

Anacortes Ferry Terminal - Washington State Ferries by SolDuc Photography, on Flickr

And from the Yakima, arriving slip 2:

Anacortes Ferry Terminal - Washington State Ferries by SolDuc Photography, on Flickr