Residents who like to get out onto the water have more options starting this weekend.
Victoria Express owner Jack Harmon of Port Angeles starts an additional passenger ferry Saturday between Victoria and Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands.
The original Victoria Express will depart Victoria’s Belleville passenger ferry terminal for Friday Harbor at 9:30 a.m. starting Saturday and continuing through Sept. 6.
It will leave Friday Harbor’s Spring Street Landing at 3 p.m. The three-hour trip between Victoria and Friday Harbor will cost $25 one-way; bicycles free.
But to get to Friday Harbor from Port Angeles, passengers first must ride to Victoria aboard Victoria Express II (or the larger MV Coho, owned by Black Ball Transport Inc.)
Victoria Express is a 105-foot vessel propelled by three turbo-charged engines.
Victoria Express II, the former San Juan Explorer which Harmon’s family purchased and outfitted over the fall and winter, is 120 feet long with four engines.
The Port Angeles-Victoria route features two sailings in each direction through July 16, when it expands to five sailings daily through Sept. 6.
The two sailings leave from Port Angeles at 8:10 a.m. and 12:15 p.m., and from Victoria at 9:45 a.m. and 6:15 p.m.
“It will change from time to time, depending upon maintenance cycles and crews, but most likely it will be the bigger boat between Port Angeles and Victoria,” Harmon said.
Plugging the gap
Harmon said he started the service to fill the Victoria-Friday Harbor gap left when Victoria Clipper stopped its service between Friday Harbor and Victoria two years ago due to contract obligations.
The Friday Harbor service will be a transportation link, not a sightseeing tour such as Puget Sound Express out of Port Townsend, Harmon said.
“But I’d be lying if I said you won’t see bald eagles, orcas and other wildlife,” he said.
“There are 126 San Juan Islands — it’s just so beautiful.”
The red and white Victoria Express boats will be seen in the winter.
When Washington State Ferries shuts down its service to Vancouver Island from Anacortes and Friday Harbor, Victoria Express once again will sail between Victoria and the San Juans, Harmon said.
Fares and other information — including tips for crossing the international border — can be found on the Web site www.victoriaexpress.com.
The office can be reached by calling 360-452-8088.
Other North Olympic Peninsula ferry activity has ramped up as the summer demand increases.
Here is a summary:
* The car ferry MV Coho will add a fourth daily run between Port Angeles and Victoria over Memorial Day weekend.
The ferry currently leaves Port Angeles at 8:20 a.m., 12:45 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. A 9:30 p.m. sailing has been added for today, Saturday and Sunday.
The Coho, with new, more powerful engines installed over the winter, leaves Victoria at 10:30 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. A 6:10 a.m. sailing has been added for Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
The 9:30 p.m. departure from Port Angeles resumes June 24 and runs through Sept. 5. The additional 6:10 a.m. sailing from Victoria resumes June 25 and runs through Sept. 6.
More information is available at www.cohoferry.com, or by calling 360-457-4491.
* Washington State Ferries has added the Quinault to its Port Townsend-Keystone run for the summer and early fall months. The route is serviced year-round by the Klickitat.
“We added a second boat on Mother’s Day that will run through mid-October,” said Susan Harris, Washington State Ferries spokeswoman.
“Now there’s twice as much service on the run because there’s twice as many boats,” she said.
Ferries bound for Whidbey Island leave Port Townsend from 6:30 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. daily. They leave Keystone from 7:15 a.m. until 9:15 p.m. daily.
The full schedule and other information can be found at www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries.
* Puget Sound Express offers passenger ferry service and wildlife viewing tours between Port Townsend and Friday Harbor through Sept. 30.
The 65-foot P.S. Express carries about 70 people between Point Hudson in Port Townsend and Friday Harbor.
Details can be found at www.pugetsoundexpress.com, or by calling 360-385-5288.
“We are a scheduled passenger ferry, but we stop to see the whales along the way and a marine biologist narrates the trip,” said Pete Hanke, who owns the business along with his wife, Sherri.
“Then we spend about three and a half hours in Friday Harbor,” he said.
