Not too far from me is the Hatton Pole Ferry, claims to be the last poled ferry crossing in the USA. It still operates, river conditions permitting, April-October. You can see the ferryman with his pole on the starboard side in the color pic. A little scary crossing on it, but the area around Scottsville is gorgeous, and the smallmouth fishing excellent.

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Staten Island Ferry. Cape May to Delaware. Cape Charles to Virginia Beach before the bridge-tunnel. Hatteras to Ocracroke on the Outer Banks before the bridge.

Singapore to Tioman Island in Malaysia. Phuket to Phi Phi Island in Thailand. Hong Kong to Macau.

I’ve been on others, I’m sure, especially in Europe as a child, but the above are those that come readily to mind.

Just the one to the Statue of Liberty.

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Eccentric old coot

We have at least three in MT. I don't think you can fit two vehicles on but all will take a truck with a small trailer. I have canoed under the cables and road them too.

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Front sight and squeeze

Living so close to the Texas Gulf Coast I have been riding the Bolivar Ferry all my life. It is a short trip, about 20 minutes. Connects Galveston Island with Bolivar Island.

I haven't ridden it much and not for many years for we also have the Crosby/Lynchburg Ferry across the Houston Ship Channel. Get on at the San Jacinto Battlegrounds and get off on the Crosby side...or vice/versa

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Real men love cats!

Hey neighbor!!!
I remember a time I was on the Kampsville ferry on the Illinois and two tractors lumbered aboard. There were Huge John Deere articulated models with eight tires. I was in the first row and these beasts slowly rolled on. I could feel the barge squirm in the water and it started creaking and popping. It was fascinating and just a bit creepy. Gates closed and you could could tell the big diesel was earning its pay.

These modern bridges with the sides high enough you can’t see the water are so boring and sterile.

In my misbegotten youth, before I transferred to the deep water Navy I was a marine inspector in the USCG in Seattle. Ferry boats was one of our primary jobs. Inspecting new construction 200-car double ended ferries owned by Washington State Ferries was interesting, then putting them in service with regular quarterly inspections gives one a special attachment to those ships. I never fail to enjoy riding them on my regular trips to visit my daughter.

As a youngster we would travel from E. Washington to San Francisco twice a year and have two ferry crossings of the Columbia River enroute. One was at Vantage where there is now the I-90 bridge. It was a deck barge with a tug alongside. The other ferry was a self-propelled barge at Biggs which now has a high level bridge on US-97.

Of the many interesting smaller ferries I have ridden is a 12-car ferry on the River Barrow just below Waterford, Ireland. The crossing is about 8 minutes and costs about 12 Euro per car.

Bottom line, like the OP, I love riding ferries and enjoy every moment of the crossing - even when bumpy.

Texas Department of Transportation still runs free ferry service from Galveston to Bolivar Island. When the kids were younger, we made a point of going every summer.

I grew up on a island and back in the 50's we would ride the ferry to another island for .25 as long as you didn't get off you could ride back and forth all day for .25.

Sent from my LGL455DL using Tapatalk

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Don

My dad told the story that any time of night when you were coming down the hill to the powder mill ferry all you had to do was honk a few times and the operator would jump out of bed for you. He’d be walking down the hill strapping his overalls on with a cup of coffee carrying a kerosene lantern.

Also, legend has it that my great grandfather or gggrandfather had flipped a model T over on the landing and pulled the wheels off. Backfilled around it so the ferry would have a better landing.

Living in Michigan gives a person all kinds of chances to ride a ferry, both passenger and auto. My first experience was as a child, before the Mackinaw Bridge was completed. There were several ferries at the straits, connecting the Upper and Lower Peninsulas. My father and thousands of deer hunters heading north is the first photo I am attaching. The line of hunters would back up 30 miles waiting for the ferry.

I have been on just about all of the ferries in the state, from Isle Royal in Lake Superior, to the Badger to Wisconsin across Lake Michigan. There were several islands on the Canadian border at the east end of the Upper Peninsula, and all required ferries to access. Most famous is Mackinaw Island and there are a ton of passenger ferries taking tourists to the island all open water seasons.

Having taken them all, I still am very uncomfortable driving my car on a boat!! Here are a few of the ferries.

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Gary
SWCA 2515

I'm a piker. The only ferry I have ridden (numerous times) is the Texas DOT operated ferry from Port Aransas to Aransas Pass and back again. I always like to get out of the car and watch the dolphins play in the wake. Never gets old.

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Or something like that . . .

Ridden on many ferry’s but the most interesting is the Los Ebanos Ferry crossing the Rio Grande in Texas. Last hand operated ferry across Mexico US border.

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Galveston, Tx has a ferry that runs year round. I have used it many times.

Ride them all the time. Mississippi River, Calcasieu Pass Port Aransas Lass, across the intracoastal to Cote Blanche Island, kinda normal around here.
Metal Shark-a big yard down here makes ferries for lots of big cities like New York and New Orleans

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Forum consigliere

The Vancouver to Nanaimo, Vancouver Island. Drove down the island to Victoria, a beautiful drive.
Ferry from close to Victoria back across to Vancouver. It was Dorothy's 52nd birthday and she had her birthday breakfast on the Ferry. Good food!
Ferry in south Texas, I think around Galveston, lots of Dolphins.
From Virginia to Tangier Island and back.
Somewhere in Maryland back across the channel to Virginia.
A small ferry on Bull Shoals connecting MO. and ARK. highways.

We intended to go back and take the British Columbia Ferry from Seattle to Alaska and back. I wish that we had done it.

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Mighty 90's,Trying 4 a 100!

BC38 - I have taken that ferry to Bremerton Island - had a nice breakfast in the cafe and enjoyed the ride. Quite a treat. I would suggest that anyone visiting Seattle take the ride - it is cheaper than the harbor tours and a lot of fun.

When I lived overseas I used to be "ferried" across the harbor to get
to school. The boat was a former lifeboat with an engine inboard,
a visible propeller shaft, and a screw in the water to push it along.
Large tiller to steer it. We kids used to get to take the tiller
occasionally.

A ferry we took across a river outside town, now and then, was made out of water tanks welded together. The deck where the car (usually only
one) sat, was made out of airstrip steel decking. There was no
motor. Getting across the river meant pulling on a cable. It must
have been attached to pulleys on the bank but I am not sure since
I forgot to look, or ask, how that worked.

My brother and I liked to pull on the cable to move the ferry across the
water. I don't know if I'd get the same kick out of it now.

I have ridden the ferry across the Ohio at Anderson Crossing several times. It is still going strong.

Home - Anderson Ferry

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

Been riding them my whole life. Before there was a bridge in Astoria, we crossed the Columbia on them. Went to Alaska and back on ferries, then crossed Puget Sound many times on them. My most recent was Seattle to Bremerton with a friend who had never experienced one before.

On the Yukon River at the town of Dawson City there is a ferry crossing which has no permanent ramp on the west side of the river. Instead it has a beach where a D-9 Cat creates a new gravel ramp each time the ferry noses into the beach.

Also in the north country, in Ketchikan, AK to get to the airport from the town one has to take a ferry across the Tongass Narrows. You may all remember the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere” in Alaska. That bridge was supposed to connect the town to the airport via another island containing high end vacation homes. Thankfully for the US taxpayers the bridge didn’t happen and the ferry still runs.

Yup, that ferry ride, a trip to the top of the Space Needle, and a visit to Snoqualamie Falls were the 3 things I always did with out of towners who came to visit.

P.S. Bremerton isn't an island, it is on the peninsula, but you have to navigate some islands to get there from Seattle.

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Send lawyers, guns & money...

I’ve been on the Cape May-Lewes Ferry many times. I’ve also taken the ferry out to the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland, and took the ferry out to Catalina Island when I was in California. I was on a small ferry in Ireland too, but I’d have to dig out my photo album to find the name. I enjoy ferry boats, but I like boat rides in general.

Ok, dug out the album. It was the Passage East ferry.

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Wheel guns are real guns.

Cave in Rock Ferry between Cave In Rock Illinois and Kentucky.

This is near the spot depicted in "How the West was won" as the pirate cave. It truely was a pirate cave in the early 1800's and now Shawneetown/Cave in rock is a tourist attraction to a dying flooded out river town.

One of those gotta see places though. Names and dates written on the walls and ceilings of the cave tell the stories of the years of the Ohio river flooding.

See the movie, see the cave, eat catfish at the restaurant in Old Shawneetown and take a ferry ride. A nice time for all. Even if you have to go to Kentucky

Staten Island Ferry. Pretty cool ride . . .

Dorena Ferry, from Dorena, MO to Hickman, KY, across the Mighty Mississippi. Hit and miss as to whether it's running or not, and the sign on the access road may or may not be accurate . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

Depending on the weather, the ferry from Pt Judith to Block Island, RI, could be a wild ride.

Last ferry boat I was on was in Ireland last year across the mouth of the Shannon River, it saved a couple of hours driving and I thought it would be a bit of an adventure. I researched it the night before and could buy a ticket online but it required you reserve a specific time so I didn't buy a ticket as we were not sure when we be at the dock as we were doing the tourist sightseeing thing. We arrived and were loaded onboard and they came for our ticket and I said we will buy it onboard. They replied that they are not sold onboard! We were short on cash and searched our pockets, cup holder etc. and managed to scrape up enough Euros to pay the fare, lesson learned. Other than that it was a pleasant ride.

My last ferry ride before that was in 2018 on the Wellington to Picton ferry, thankfully it was a calm day unlike the video.

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John. SWCA #1586

Many times in Louisiana to Cross the Mississippi at different points, also a
across the mouth of Mobile Bay. Then overseas in Philippines and Costa Rica.
Steve W

For Steve:

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

Grew up about 30 miles from NYC, and took the Staten Island ferry numerous times. Generally, it was twice a year. Once going to the annual boat show, and then to the sportsman's show. And back in those days, you wore a suit and tie.

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Peace was my Profession

Not looking to hijack the thread, but you've reminded me of some family history...

My late father-in-law was a Canadian who'd come here as a youngster, when his father's job brought him to the USA. When World War II started, he figured he would do his part for his adopted country, so he enlisted in the US Navy, figuring he would sail on a ship of some sort.

After he'd taken the various aptitude tests, the Navy decided that Don would make a dandy waist gunner on a PBY Catalina...so he was assigned to Whidbey Island, and flew anti-submarine patrols and search-and-rescue missions out over the Pacific. He always spoke lovingly of the big old 'Cat...

Thanks for jogging my memory, Rusty! I looked them up, and Gerry and the Pacemakers are still around, though no longer touring...

Gerry and the Pacemakers

Done it many times, I live only a few minutes away.

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Don

Rode the Staten Island ferry as it was as close as I was going to get to the Statue of Liberty.
Watched but never rode the ferry that made the short hop from Terminal Island to the exclusive Fisher Island near the cut in Miami / Miami Beach.

During the mid 50's before they completed the Mackinaw Bridge connecting lower Michigan, to upper MI. we rode car ferry back and forth. Being born in 53 I don't know how big the Ferry was.
Also we have Ferry's to and from Famous Mackinaw Island.

The SS Badger between Ludington, Michigan and Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

S.S. Badger Documentary - YouTube

Used to ride the Chester-Bridgeport Ferry from Pa. to N.J in the 60's to early 70's.

There were numerous bridges connecting the two states up North but nothing in the south eastern area. Don't know how many years the ferry ran but it stopped around 1973 after the Commodore Barry Bridge was completed. The two piers were offset.Might have been due to the current in the Delaware River.

It was by no means a scenic route. The river was filthy. There was an oil refinery on the Pa. side and farm land on the Jersey side. If you ever wanted an upclose view of an oil tanker coming at you then this ride never ceased to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

Oh Yeah. They had ferrys for years on S.F. Bay before the bridges were built. Rode the one from Oakland to S.F while the Bay Bridge was being built. The same with Benicia to Martinez, that was in the 50,s. Later rode a smaller one to hunt ducks & Pheasant near Tyler Island in the delta. Long ago & pleasant memories,

This shows Montana's ferries. They are seasonal and shut down in winter. When the ice dams run through they take out a lot of cottonwoods, the willows and tamaracks bend flat and survive.

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Front sight and squeeze

Favorite Ferry Song?
She Just Caught the Jamestown Ferry.
Recorded by several, I like Doug Kershaw’s version.


DOUG KERSHAW- "Jamestown Ferry" - YouTube

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

I have crossed the Mississippi from Missouri to Illinois and back(Ste. Genevieve - Modoc) and have crossed the Ohio from Illinois to Kentucky and back (Cave-in-Rock).

Here is a picture of the Ferry at Mukiteo Wa. ...........

from the Restaurant, that is next door to it, from our last trip up there.

Lots to do and a fun place to put on your bucket list.

I have been across the Southport ferry many times.

Kinda neat.

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Un-Reconstructed Southerner

Interesting, my Dad was in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the war and flew in Catalinas off of Alaska.

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John. SWCA #1586

That reminds my of my most recent trip on the SS Badger from Manitowoc WI to Ludington MI.

Usually a trip on the Badger is a fun break from driving around the Lake, not that time.

Ludington MI To Manitowoc WI SS Badger People & Car Ferry

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SWCA #3356, SWHF#611

Also on the subject of ferries, two years ago I went on a "Ride Along" with my SIL's NYPD Harbor Unit, and learned that among their responsibilities, they practice for ferry protection.

The 36 boat, 180 man unit, randomly performs at least 100 ferry protection escort missions per month. They also randomly board the ferries with anti-terror teams while the boats are underway.

Random ferry escort:

No, just detailed accounts of them in Alaska and in Norway in Matt Helm books.

Many trips on the Coronado ferry going to and from NAS North Island. Also the Algeirs and Chalmette ferrys in New Orleans. Plus a bunch of liberty launches.

Whitehaven Ferry in Maryland is a small short calm one, vs one of the big car/truck, passenger ferries plying the English Channel. Amazing the rock n roll you can experience on a crossing. It had me holding on to the chair pretty dang tight.