||| from Washington State Ferries |||
On Labor Day, the crew of Puyallup saved the lives of multiple boaters during two separate rescues! The first involved a man suffering from heart problems on a nearby pleasure craft by our Kingston terminal. Our crew quickly deployed its rescue boat with Second Mate Jesse Rongo and Able-Bodied Seaman Cory Weitz aboard. The two of them began chest compressions and used an AED before safely navigating the vessel back to shore where medical responders took over.
Jesse and Cory were back in the same rescue boat a few hours later to assist in saving five people and two dogs after their vessel capsized off Edmonds. Thank you to all of our highly skilled crewmembers for your commitment to safety!
Puyallup crews deploy the ferry’s rescue boat to assist in a rescue off Edmonds. Photo courtesy Janine Harles on the Edmonds Beacon Facebook page.
Labor Day weekend ridership down 35% compared to last year
Thanks to those who limited their ferry travel over Labor Day weekend. Although we carried the most people since the pandemic began with more than 300,000 riders from Thursday through Tuesday, that’s 35% down from 2019. As a reminder, some routes are still operating on modified schedules dependent on our COVID Response Service Plan and most counties remain under essential or limited non-essential travel orders under the Safe Start reopening plan.
Saturday, Sept. 5, was our busiest day since Feb. 22, with nearly 65,000 riders. That’s still much lower than the same day in 2019, when we had close to 100,000 customers.
I’d also like to thank all our employees who worked over the Labor Day weekend to make sure our customers got to their destinations safely
Thank you, WSF! Most of us don’t know this side of WSF’s duties.
I saw a similar even a few years ago. While looking out to the water from my West Sound deck, I noticed an inter-island ferry going by to dock at Orcas. It disappeared from my view, but minutes later, I saw it returning (couldn’t tell whether backwards or forwards…guess there’s no difference with our ferries.). The boat slowed down but then went out of my view again. Then, another ferry appeared. I found out later that the schooner,Adventuress on one of her Sound Experiences, loaded with young adventurers, had run up on the rock that hides beneath the surface just north of the route the ferry takes through the Wasp Islands. Smaller boats had also arrived, and all passengers were taken off to safety. The boat was later floated off at a higher tide.