PORT ANGELES — If you have a hankering to visit Victoria by ferry, do it this weekend or wait for more than two weeks.
The M.V. Coho will be out of service for 16 days beginning Monday. The 50-year-old car ferry, which makes daily runs between Port Angeles and Victoria across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, will be in dry dock for annual maintenance from Monday through Feb. 9.
Victoria Express, which in some past years has provided passenger-only rides across the Strait , will not offer service this year, said Terry Messenger, terminal manager, Friday.
“At this time we do not plan on running while the Coho is in drydock,” she said.
This weekend, the Coho will offer a shortened day to travelers on Sunday. This Saturday, the ferry will leave Port Angeles at 8:20 a.m. and depart Victoria at 4 p.m. On Sunday, the ferry will depart Port Angeles at 8:20 a.m., but the only run from Victoria will be at 10:30 a.m.
That will be the last run until the Coho returns to service Feb. 10.
This year’s hiatus is a little longer than the usual two-week annual break because the Coho will be serviced by a different company than in the past, said Rian Anderson, Black Ball Ferry Line manager in Port Angeles.
The 341-foot ferry will be serviced at Dakota Creek Industries Shipyard in Anacortes instead of Todd Pacific Shipyards in Seattle, which handled the ferry’s maintenance for many years, Anderson said.
The break will be “longer than usual because we’re going to a new shipyard,” he said. “The Coho is new for them and the whole outfit is new for us.”
For schedule and fares, see the Black Ball Ferry Line Web site at www.cohoferry.com.
