Auto Ferries that you have clinched

[roadman65]

How many major ferry crossings have you clinched either one way or in both directions.  Small ferries do not count such as the Ohio River Ferries, passenger & commuter ferries, and small creek ferries.  It must be a large body of water or between the US Mainland and off shore islands like in New England.

I have clinched the Cape May- Lewes Ferry to many times to count.
Recently I just did the Galveston- Bolivar Ferry from Galveston to the Bolivar peninsula.  One time of course.

How many out there have any of you clinched?

[1995hoo]

A prior thread covered ferries in general. Yours is a narrower subset because you're asking only for major auto ferries and the prior thread covered all ferries in general. But I will just refer to my prior answer in the other thread rather than copying/pasting/editing!

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=5046.0

[ghYHZ]

Here's several I've clinched:

The Cat between Yarmouth, NS and Portland, Maine (.......sadly, no longer in service)





Marine Atlantic Ferries between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland






NFL Ferries between Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island

[hbelkins]

Cape May-Lewes Ferry.

Hatteras Island-Ocracoke Ferry.

Ocracoke-Cedar Island Ferry.

[The High Plains Traveler]

I've used both offerings of the Texas state ferry system: the ferry to Port Aransas and the Port Bolivar-Galveston ferry. Both of these were when hauling a trailer, which gives you somewhat preferential treatment (front of the boat).

[agentsteel53]

the furthest south ferry I've done is between the mainland and Tierra del Fuego, in Chile.

[Takumi]

Jamestown-Scotland Ferry (VA 31) many times, Knotts Island-Currituck Ferry (NC 615) once.

[kphoger]

Except for a few ferries that make multiple stops, I shudder to think what's involved in not quite clinching a ferry.

[NE2]

Except for a few ferries that make multiple stops, I shudder to think what's involved in not quite clinching a ferry.

If you leave off the same end you entered on.

[Alps]

cape may-lewes
both NS-NL ferries
former NS-ME ferry
NS-PEI ferry
departure bay-horseshoe bay BC (no car on this one, and only one i've certified)

[Kacie Jane]

Cape May-Lewes
Whites Ferry, VA-MD
Seattle-Bremerton, WA
Seattle-Bainbridge, WA
Fauntleroy-Southworth, WA
Port Townsend-Keystone (Coupeville), WA
Bellingham, WA-Ketchikan, AK (via Prince Rupert, BC)

[sp_redelectric]

Washington State:

Seattle-Bremerton (both ways)
Tswassen-Victoria (both ways)
Port Townsend-Coupeville (one way)

(Has anyone clinched the entire Washington State Ferry system, with bonus points for the ferry out in eastern Washington owned by WSDOT?)

Oregon/Washington (Columbia River):

Cathlamet-Westport (one way)

Oregon (Willamette River):

Canby Ferry
Wheatland Ferry
Buena Vista Ferry

(Now who else has quinched all three Willamette River ferries?)

[Kacie Jane]

(Has anyone clinched the entire Washington State Ferry system, with bonus points for the ferry out in eastern Washington owned by WSDOT?)

I left off two.  I've been on the San Juan ferry, but only between Anacortes and Friday Harbor (two round-trips, IIRC).  And I've taken the Edmonds-Kingston ferry countless times, whoops.  But I've never been on the Mukilteo-Clinton ferry, and somehow I've never gone to Vashon Island ever.

[Alps]

(Has anyone clinched the entire Washington State Ferry system, with bonus points for the ferry out in eastern Washington owned by WSDOT?)

I left off two.  I've been on the San Juan ferry, but only between Anacortes and Friday Harbor (two round-trips, IIRC).  And I've taken the Edmonds-Kingston ferry countless times, whoops.  But I've never been on the Mukilteo-Clinton ferry, and somehow I've never gone to Vashon Island ever.

We're getting away from the topic of "major." I've been to Shelter Island, NY, but that's hardly a "major" ferry.

[Kacie Jane]

I concede I didn't thoroughly read the OP, and was taking "major" and "auto" to be two different ways of saying the same thing.  (Definitely included a "small creek ferry" in my first post".)  But I'd say Puget Sound is a "large body of water".  And Vashon Island has about 5x the population of Shelter Island.

[Duke87]

If we go by the OP's strict requirements then the only "major" ferry I've been on is from Hyannis to Martha's Vineyard, and that was strictly as a passenger so I'm not sure that even counts.

I have only been in a car on a boat four times in my life: both Connecticut River ferries in Connecticut and both Shelter Island ferries in New York.

Honestly, I generally detest ferries. They're slow and boring. And they often represent a situation where NIMBYism prevents a bridge from being built.

[corco]

(Has anyone clinched the entire Washington State Ferry system, with bonus points for the ferry out in eastern Washington owned by WSDOT?)

Almost! I have even done the SR 21 ferry- the only one I'm missing is the Anacortes->Victoria BC route.


-The entire Washington ferry system except the route that goes up to Victoria
- Tssawwassen/Swartz Bay, BC
- Horseshoe Bay/Departure Bay, BC
- Crofton/Vesuvius, BC
- Fulford Harbour/Swartz Bay, BC

[froggie]

We're getting away from the topic of "major."

Depends on your definition of major.  There are a few of the Maryland Eastern Shore ferries that cross what are *NOT* small bodies of water.

Meanwhile, my comment in the previous thread that 1995hoo linked to.

[Ga293]

And they often represent a situation where NIMBYism prevents a bridge from being built.

Which ones, specifically? Most ferries I know are on routes where a combination of low traffic and geography would make a fixed crossing unfeasible.

[NE2]

Key West to Cuba would have been a bridge had it not been for those Parrothead NIMBYs.

[froggie]

Which ones, specifically? Most ferries I know are on routes where a combination of low traffic and geography would make a fixed crossing unfeasible.

Given that Duke is apparently from Queens, I suspect he's referring to a Long Isand Sound crossing.  But Ga293 is correct...virtually every ferry I'm familiar with just wouldn't be cost-effective/feasible to replace it with a bridge.

[english si]

I can only think of one where NIMBYs are a factor.

The Isle of Wight gets as close to a mile from the mainland, though more sensible places for a crossing (from Calshot to Cowes, or somewhere near Gosport) would be where the Solent is 2-3 miles across. Every time a road crossing (more likely a tunnel due to the high volume of shipping traffic) is mentioned, the locals get defensive.

That said, remove the very high crossing fees with even an excessive $20 crossing toll* and traffic on the island would dramatically increase. Add to it that for the islanders needs, the boats are decent enough - especially with the island's transit network (though you could walk at Ryde and Cowes/East Cowes). Commuting to Southampton or Portsmouth is easy now as the ferries are frequent and arrive in useful places: a fixed road link would avoid both the cities to the north, plus would deny people an easy walk (OK, you could run frequent buses from Newport bus station, and either Cowes or Ryde to Southampton/Portsmouth/both, but it still won't be as good).

Though to be fair, the islanders are sympathetic towards a tram tunnel to the island, and a road crossing would need more than just a couple of miles of tunnels - some serious upgrades to the island's road network, plus an access road to the M27 - the cost would easily be $3 billion dollars, and the population is only about 100k. A tram tunnel, and a simple network (Shanklin/Portsmouth/Fareham Y) would be similar, though of more benefit.

*It has been proposed several times that the Isle of Wight council creates a £5 tourist tax on the ferries for non-locals (by which they mean non-islanders, rather than those who live locally, but on the mainland). It typically gets pointed out that the ferries are expensive enough. $20 for a car to cross the Solent is an unobtainable bargain at the moment, but for a fixed crossing makes the high tolls in Denmark (for much greater distances) look cheap.

[Duke87]

Which ones, specifically? Most ferries I know are on routes where a combination of low traffic and geography would make a fixed crossing unfeasible.

Given that Duke is apparently from Queens, I suspect he's referring to a Long Isand Sound crossing.

Well, yeah, there's that. Probably the best example.

Then there are the situations where a fixed crossing is not viable because the island's relative inaccessibility is part of its appeal. The aforementioned Shelter Island is an example of this: the southern ferry is half a mile long if that and would not be particularly difficult or expensive to replace with a bridge even if the traffic demand isn't crazy high. But the locals on the island would never have it. Likewise, the number of tourists heading to Martha's Vineyard would easily justify building a bridge from Woods Hole (~3-4 miles across the water), but the island would lose its charm if you could just drive to it.

[oscar]

A prior thread covered ferries in general. Yours is a narrower subset because you're asking only for major auto ferries and the prior thread covered all ferries in general. But I will just refer to my prior answer in the other thread rather than copying/pasting/editing!

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=5046.0

Same for me.  You can look at my list in the prior thread (just updated to add the ferry between Prince Edward Island and Quebec's Iles de la Madeleine, where I am right now -- that's unquestionably "major"), and decide for yourself what qualifies as "major" under the OP's unclear criteria.

I've done every ferry crossing in Canada's Arctic territories in both directions, though for the Yukon River crossing at Dawson City YT the eastbound crossing came 18 years after the westbound crossing.  My prior list notes some of the crossings done round-trip in more usual fashions, like the late Hawaii Superferry between Oahu and Maui, though there might be others (probably not many) I won't try to nail down for this thread.   It also notes the passenger-only ferries the OP would exclude, as well as the auto ferries I traveled without vehicle, which I'm not sure how the OP would count.

[hobsini2]

I have clinched only 2 ferries. Wis 113 at Merrimac over the Wisconsin River and the Washington Island Ferry at the end of Wis 42 in Door County.