WSDOT

Vehicle reservations for travel on the San Juan Islands and Port Townsend/Coupeville routes after New Year’s Day are scheduled to open next week should the current four-boat service remain sustainable. Winter season reservations will be available at 7 a.m. PST on Friday, Dec. 17. The winter schedule runs from Jan. 2 through March 26, 2022.

The beginning of the winter season is the soonest reservations will reopen in the San Juan Islands, and that is dependent on the ability to reliably crew all four vessels on the route. If that isn’t possible, the reservations release for both routes will be delayed at least another couple of weeks. This will allow for continued trialing of the four-boat schedule before reservations can be reinstated, or return the Anacortes/San Juan Islands route to a modified and improved three-boat schedule with reservations for that schedule.

We will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available.

Ana/SJs - Anacortes Terminal: All passengers will be loaded and unloaded via the car deck until further notice, due to lack of crew.

Washington State Ferries is operating on alternate schedules on most routes until further notice. These changes will help offer more predictable and reliable service systemwide in the face of crewing shortages due to a global shortage of mariners that has been worsened by the pandemic. WSF will attempt to add service when possible, and will provide notifications when full service can temporarily be restored to a route.

For Wednesday, Dec. 8, the following routes are operating on their alternate schedules:

• The Seattle/Bremerton route remains on one-boat service until further notice. The Chimacum is currently operating only the #2 sailings on the route’s schedule.  
• Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth: Daily two-boat schedule instead of three. 

For Wednesday, Dec. 8, the following routes are operating on their fall schedules:

• Anacortes/San Juan Islands: Reservations remain suspended until further notice
• Seattle / Bainbridge Island Schedule 
• Mukilteo / Clinton Schedule 
• Edmonds/Kingston

The schedule page online shows the currently active schedules in the top section, and the inactive schedules are below.  Please note that the active schedules may change daily if service can be restored, so please be sure to monitor email alerts and check the Travel Alert Bulletins page for updates. 

Reservations for San Juan Islands Route:

New reservations for travel in the San Juan Islands are unavailable until further notice.  Existing reservation holders will be loaded on a first-come, first served basis but will be prioritized over vehicles without an existing reservation.  Those passengers who need to travel standby without a reservation may encounter delays and should get to the terminal early.

Customers who choose not to travel during this time will not incur a no-show fee. 

We will continue to provide updates as they become available. Thank you for your patience and understanding while we work to provide reliable service during this challenging time.

Reminder: Overhead Loading at the Mukilteo Terminal will be closed overnight and into the next morning all week. Maintenance crews will be repairing the overhead loading system each night from 11 p.m. through 8 a.m. the following morning from Dec. 7 through Saturday, Dec. 11. Walk-on and roll-on passengers will load and offload via the car deck during the closure.

Thank you for your patience while we work to maintain our terminals.

Trucks with a clearance of less than 14" should not travel to/from the north end of Vashon and Point Defiance during the following dates/times:

• December 9, 2021 1:15 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. -1.4
• December 18, 2021 9:45 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.  -1.4
• December 19, 2021 10:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. -1.5
• December 20, 2021 10:30 p.m. to 12:15 a.m. -1.5
• December 21, 2021 11:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. -1.4
• December 30, 2021 7:15 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. -1.4
• December 31, 2021 7:15 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. -2.6

At low tides these loading ramps create a steep slope where the hinge at the top causes an extreme angle for trucks or RVs with a low ground clearance. Waiting for a higher tide allows for this angle to lessen at the bridge seat (top). This allows for safer clearances for vehicles low to the ground and keeps them from scraping or hanging up at these locations.

The safety of our customers and crew is WSF’s top priority. Please remember that all traveling customers are required to wear face coverings inside the terminal, at the tollbooth and aboard the ferry. Please also consider limiting your travel to only the most essential trips while service continues to be constrained by the pandemic. For additional travel information regarding COVID-19, visit the COVID-19 Travel Updates webpage.

The safety of our customers and crew is WSF’s top priority. All traveling customers are required to wear face coverings inside terminals and vessels in compliance with the latest CDC guidelines. However, passengers can remove their masks while outdoors on the sun deck, car deck areas of the vessel, outside waiting areas at terminals and other outdoor locations. Please remember to mask up upon reentering interior areas of boats and terminals.

During the next few days, trucks and large vehicles with a clearance of less than 14" should not travel on sailings on the route near departures that are close to when the tide will be at its lowest.         

• December 9, 2021 1:15 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. -1.4
• December 18, 2021 9:45 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.  -1.4
• December 19, 2021 10:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. -1.5
• December 20, 2021 10:30 p.m. to 12:15 a.m. -1.5
• December 21, 2021 11:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. -1.4
• December 30, 2021 7:15 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. -1.4
• December 31, 2021 7:15 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. -2.6

At low tides these loading ramps create a steep slope where the hinge at the top causes an extreme angle for trucks or RVs with a low ground clearance. Waiting for a higher tide allows for this angle to lessen at the bridge seat (top). This allows for safer clearances for vehicles low to the ground and keeps them from scraping or hanging up at these locations.

One-boat service will be maintained on the Edmonds/Kingston for a couple days later this month regardless of crew availability. The Spokane will be the only boat operating on the route starting Wednesday, Dec. 15 through at least Thursday, Dec. 16. Due to unplanned maintenance to other boats in the fleet, WSF must shift vessels to best meet traffic demands systemwide.

Thank you for your patience while we work to maintain our fleet.

Face masks are now required only in indoor areas of our terminals and vessels for all riders and employees in compliance with the latest CDC guidelines. All customers inside terminals or vessels should continue to wear face coverings. However, passengers can remove their masks while outdoors on the sun deck, car deck areas of the vessel, outside waiting areas at terminals and other outdoor locations. Please remember to mask up upon reentering interior areas of boats and terminals.

Beginning on Monday, Oct. 11, a contractor for the City of Edmonds has been using one of the terminal holding lanes on State Route 104/Edmonds Way from 6 a.m. Mondays through 4:30 p.m. Thursdays for several months. Both approach lanes will be open for ferry travelers Thursday evenings through Sunday and holidays. We appreciate your support while the City of Edmonds conducts important sewer work. We will keep you informed as this continues.

All customers on the 9:30 p.m. sailing from Southworth to Fauntleroy will switch to a different vessel when they arrive in Vashon Island Friday evenings.

• Walk-on passengers will exit the vessel they arrived on and briefly wait at the Vashon terminal before re-boarding their new vessel.
• Passengers driving aboard will be directed off the boat by terminal staff and repositioned before boarding the new boat.

Once aboard, crews will then load all Fauntleroy-bound Vashon passengers before departing to West Seattle.

This adjustment allows crews more time to perform needed maintenance for the three boats assigned to the route to better avoid service disruptions.

We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience while we work to maintain our fleet.

WSF will delay the resumption of service to Sidney, British Columbia until 2022 due to the uncertainty of the reopening of the maritime border between the United States and Canada, along with continued significant crewing and vessel availability challenges.

Adding international service at this time would further stress already strained domestic service that’s affecting Washingtonians still navigating post-COVID travel.

We look forward to taking customers to the Canadian Islands again as soon as we are able.

The Bremerton women's ADA restroom stall located in the terminal upstairs, is out of service until further notice. Updates will occur as more information becomes available.

Due to needed increased security, Metro Parks Tacoma has begun locking the gate to the Point Defiance Marina Lot nightly at 10:00 p.m.

Customers traveling on the 10:00 p.m. sailing from Tahlequah to Point Defiance will still be able to exit the parking lot with their vehicle after arriving. However, customers sailing on the 10:55 p.m. sailing from Tahlequah will not be able to exit the parking lot when they get to Point Defiance. If customers need access to their vehicle after the 10:00 p.m. sailing, they can park their vehicle at the Tahlequah lot.