A crew shortage has taken the M/V Sealth out of service for the remainder of Saturday, disrupting Washington State Ferries’ inter-island service in the San Juan Islands, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.
The announcement was issued just before 6 p.m., with WSDOT apologizing for the inconvenience and outlining emergency reroute procedures for affected passengers.
All inter-island ferry traffic will be redirected through Anacortes for the rest of the day.
The final westbound opportunity to travel between islands will be the 8:10 p.m. sailing from Anacortes to Friday Harbor, which will stop only to pick up westbound inter-island passengers.
For eastbound travelers needing to transfer from Friday Harbor to other islands, the final sailing option will be the 9:50 p.m. departure from Friday Harbor.
That sailing will make stops at each island en route to Anacortes.
WSDOT said that customers rerouted through Anacortes will be given priority boarding and will not be charged an inter-island fare.
Inter-island passengers affected by the disruption will be issued a reroute ticket.
That ticket must be filled out legibly with the date and initials of the employee who issued it.
It also must be issued from the terminal where the traveler originally departed and is valid only on the day of the service disruption.
The service alert affects travelers on the Anacortes/San Juan Islands route.
No timeline was given for when the M/V Sealth would return to service.
©2025 Cox Media Group
