Memorial Day Reminder

WSF predicts heavy traffic here in the San Juan Islands over the Memorial Day weekend. Here is a bulletin posted earlier today on the WSF website, describing eak travel times and schedule changes to accommodate additional traffic:

Anacortes/San Juan Islands – Memorial Day Schedule – Update
Customers are advised to plan for heavy traffic and long wait times during the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.

• For Thursday, May 24, expect higher than normal traffic volumes westbound from 2 p.m. through the remainder of the service day.
• For Friday, May 25, expect high traffic volumes from early morning, with the heaviest traffic expected in the afternoon and evening. On Friday WSF will provide an extra sailing from Anacortes to Orcas at 2:05 p.m.
• High volumes are expected on Saturday, May 26, from 8:30 a.m. through the 4:30 p.m. sailing.
• For Sunday May 27, and Monday May 28, the 2:15pm from Friday Harbor and the 3:05pm from Lopez will sail to Anacortes.
• For Monday May 28, expect very heavy traffic returning from the islands throughout the day. On Monday WSF will provide an extra sailing from Orcas to Anacortes at 3:15 p.m.

Stay on top of holiday travel by visiting the WSF site.

New attractions on San Juan Island

The Seattle Times is running a special series this summer on travel in the San Juans. The first article is about San Juan Island’s newest attractions: from “Brew and Boat” tours to ziplines, new walking trails to handcrafted gin, San Juan island businesses continue to make their island an amazing destination.

Read the full article here: From slow hikes to high wires, San Juan Island has new treats

Arriving at Friday Harbor

Photo by Stephen A. Wolfe. Released under a Creative Commons license.

WSF Informational Community Meetings on June 7

Mark your calendars. Representatives of WSF will be holding two meetings in the San Juan Islands and the proposed reservation system will be on the agenda. The first meeting will be held on the inter-island ferry and will run from 11:35 a.m. to 2 p.m. Residents of all islands would be able to attend part – or all – of this afternoon meeting.

The second meeting will be held in Friday Harbor from 5 to 7 p.m. In addition to residents of San Juan Island, the ferry schedule does make it feasible for residents of Lopez to attend and still get home that night. This is not the case for those who live on Orcas or Shaw, but the meeting will be streamed online.

More meeting information is available here.

More information about the proposed timeline for reservations is available here.

Please add a comment to this post if you are able to attend one of these meetings. Let us know which one you plan to go to. Thanks!

Two days left

At the risk of being redundant, here’s one last reminder about the Ferry Riders Opinion Group survey related to WSF service levels and fares. The survey closes in 2 days. Anyone can register and complete the survey. The estimated completion time is 18 minutes, but I found it didn’t take that long. These are important topics. Please participate. Click this link to register or access your existing account to take the survey.

Voice of Washington Survey (V.O.W.S.)

In addition to the Ferry Riders Opinion Surveys (F.R.O.G.) you can also provide input on a variety of transportation issues to the Washington State Transportation Commission (WSTC), the governor, state legislators, and other decision makers by participating in the Voice of Washington Survey (V.O.W.S) group. The current survey for this group is directly addressing the ferries, so you may want to join and add your two cents.

The current F.R.O.G. survey is also still open. If you have not already responded, you still have time.