Have you ever ridden a ferry boat?

[meaneyedcatz]

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.

 

[glowe]

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.

 

[TX-Dennis]

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.

 

[PeterJ]

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.

 

[bamacisa]

bamacisa

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

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

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

 

[ancient-one]

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.

 

[llowry61]

I've been on a couple of small ferries like you're talking about, but the real fun is taking the BIG 200-400 car ferries like the ones on Puget Sound. The ferry ride from Seattle to Bremerton has always been one of my favorites. The ride is about 45 minutes long and navigates around and in between islands in the San Juan's.

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.

 

[ACP230]

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.

 

[Rustyt1953]

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

Home - Anderson Ferry

 

[RobertJ.]

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.

 

[Baggy Wrinkle]

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.

 

[BC38]

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.

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.

 

[31FordA]

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.

 

[Abbynormal]

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

 

[Muss Muggins]

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 . . .

 

[JackM]

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

 

[hsguy]

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.[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPjWMDAYWZs[/ame]

 

[Stevens]

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

 

[Rustyt1953]

For Steve:

[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=08083BNaYcA[/ame]