Reviews of the Cat Ferry From Yarmouth to Portland

The Alakai. Photo: Halifax Examiner

I took the ferry from Yarmouth to Portland Wednesday.

The boat departs at viii:30am, but you're required to be there by 7:30am, then realistically that ways overnighting in Yarmouth. I had hoped to explore Yarmouth a bit Tuesday, but didn't arrive until 7:30pm, and then after checking in at the Lakelawn Hotel, I only had fourth dimension to walk Main Street and accept dinner and drinks at Rudder'due south Brewpub on the waterfront (recommended!).

After arriving at the ferry concluding Wednesday morn, I was queued up with 80 or 90 other cars and was slowly marshalled onto the ferry. Almost all of the other cars had American licence plates.

The boat is the Alakai, built for a Hawaiian ferry service that went belly-up and was subsequently bought by the US Navy, which ran it every bit a troop and evacuee transport in Haiti and elsewhere in Latin America. Later, it sabbatum tied up for a couple of years at a dock at Lambert's Indicate in Norfolk, Virginia. The Navy is now leasing information technology to Bay Ferries for the Yarmouth–Portland run. Weirdly, officially the gunkhole maintains the "Alakai" proper name and home port of Norfolk.

About 200 passengers were on the ferry Wednesday, most of whom were older than my 53 years, but also including a few dozen younger people and families. The boat seemed at about one-third chapters.

The foredeck of the Alakai. Photograph: Halifax Examiner

The foredeck is completely enclosed, and every table and seat was occupied. The Forchu Lounge sells but Nova Scotian beer (Boxing Rock, Hell Bay, Garrison, and Propeller; U.s.$six for a 16oz draft or United states of america$7 for a bottle) and vino (selections from Jost, Avondale, Gaspereau, L'Acadie, Sainte Famille, and Meréchal Foch;  most at US$10/ glass). Cocktails are more expensive, ranging up to $fifteen for a White Russian, and $7 for a unmarried one ounce shot of annihilation.

Scotia Market. Photo: Halifax Examiner

The mid deck is dubbed the "Scotia Market," which consists of a snack bar on one side and souvenir shop on the other. In between are seats and tables, and screaming TVs hanging from the ceiling. One side is defended to children; also animated children's movies, I didn't see whatever programming specifically defended to children, but I was thankful they were contained in one easily avoided section of the gunkhole.

The snack bar looked decent enough. A panini or wrap is United states$8, bagel Us$6, cheesecake Us$4, drip java The states$2.

The aft deck on the Alakai. Photograph: Halifax Examiner

The aft deck is quiet and comfortable. This is where I spent the bulk of the trip. There's an espresso bar that likewise sells teas, muffins, salads, and gelato. I asked the gregarious young woman working at the espresso bar how she liked her job. "I love it!" she said. "My terminal job was just in a drug shop. Now I get to look at the sea all day, and I see lots of interesting people." She told me she lives in Yarmouth, and this was her last day on the job, as she'due south going to Acadia Academy in the fall. She seemed sad to be leaving.

Weirdly, there'southward no wifi bachelor to passengers on the Alakai, merely passengers can admission the internet at three computers on the foredeck for no price. Reception via Yarmouth'south cell towers lasted a surprising distance out to sea (nearly a half-60 minutes); after that, nothing. I was grateful, actually; this was the offset of my vacation, and information technology was squeamish to be forced to unplug. I saturday and read and talked, took a nap, enjoyed the gentle rocking of the boat on the ocean. It was relaxing.

The boat was meticulously make clean and well-staffed, and that staff was efficient and helpful. While clean, the washrooms were a bit cramped, and I wondered if they could handle a full capacity passenger complement.

The rear deck of the Alakai. Photo: Halifax Examiner

Smokers are express to a small side deck with no seating. There's a second side deck, also without seating, and a larger rear deck, with a unmarried row of chairs. The boat travels at a steady 35 knots, and and so there'south quite a wake.

A deject of diesel frazzle follows the Alakai. Photo: Halifax Examiner

The Alakai is an environmental disaster; diesel fuel exhaust is belched out from two giant pipes and collects to the rear of the boat, a blackness cloud following all forth for the entire half dozen hours of the passage. Undoubtedly, at that place'd be far less carbon released into the atmosphere if all the cars just drove around. (I know, nosotros're not supposed to talk about the climate change effects of tourism; my bad.)

Pulling into Portland was interesting. A half hour out from port, the pilot gunkhole pulled aslope the Alakai and the pilot jumped on a rope ladder extended for him.

Through Portland Harbor, nosotros passed a lighthouse and various old war machine fortifications. There seems to be far more pocket-sized craft activity than in Halifax.

Exiting the ferry and passing through community took well-nigh half an 60 minutes.

The question we are all wrangling with is: Is the ferry worth it?

From a simple transportation perspective, the answer is an emphatic No.

In terms of time, information technology took three hours or and then to drive from Halifax to Yarmouth, an hour waiting to board, six hours for the ferry ride, and a half-hour to disembark, for a total of 10-and-a-one-half hours in transit. Realistically, however, one must overnight in Yarmouth (that'd as well be true for the Portland–Yarmouth journey), so add in another eight hours at least; call the total 19 hours. Simply driving from Halifax to Portland through New Brunswick and northern Maine takes about nine hours, if you factor in a half-hour or so at the international crossing in Calais.

Same goes financially. The mid-week ferry reservation for two travelling with a minor car with Nova Scotia plates cost CN$548.21 (including taxes, at the exchange rate the day I booked), and a night at the Lakelawn was CN$173.55 (taxes included). I could've driven effectually for the cost of two tanks of gas, peradventure 60 dollars.

Of form, there'southward an additional travel element that is immeasurable: Taking the ferry across the Gulf of Maine is relaxing, and a cool affair to do.

The ferry service, even so, isn't intended as a mode of transport for Haligonians travelling to the States. Rather, the justification of the public subsidy to the ferry is that information technology will encourage Americans to travel to Nova Scotia as tourists, and that they'll spend then much money that the economical touch on of the tourism will more than outweigh the subsidy. Arguably, from 1 perspective the ferry doesn't fifty-fifty have to do that: the economy in southern Nova Scotia is struggling, and a public subsidy for the ferry with the idea that it will assist buoy those communities tin be justified whether or not the economic affect numbers surpass the subsidy.

So how is the ferry as a tourism experience?

I was impressed with the quality of offerings and service on the Alakai — Bay Ferries has close to the all-time production information technology can possibly provide, given the constraints of fourth dimension and passenger contour. I actually can't fault the company.

Simply too the ferry ride itself — besides the relaxing and cool journeying across the Gulf of Maine, and the quality service and relaxation on the gunkhole — is the experience on either side of the journey. And I don't know how well this translates into a positive tourist experience or fifty-fifty much help for the struggling communities.

The Lakelawn was booked solid, and the fellow at the desk said all the other hotels in town were full as well — this at mid-week, so patently the hotel business is profiting from the ferry. I wonder what happens on the weekends. And there were a lot of people walking effectually downtown Yarmouth Tuesday nighttime. Maybe before I arrived they were spending a lot of money in shops, but by 8pm or so, all the tourists seemed to be in bed, looking in closed shop windows, or at Rudder'southward, where the hostess told united states of america the await for a table was an hour (we had a drink on the patio and the wait turned out to be just a half-hr).

Wednesday morning, there were a few shops open up — I wondered aloud if tourists actually cease by the open up ceramics shop on their fashion to a 7:30am ferry lineup, simply maybe they exercise. I know that we stopped in a baker two blocks from the ferry dock, and were the commencement customers at 7am. Two more than people came in at 7:15, but that was it. No style did four customers buy enough to cover the server'southward pay.

For Americans coming into Yarmouth, that means getting to a hotel effectually 10:30pm or so (Tuesday's night ferry was an hour tardily, so it was more like 11:30pm). I don't pretend to be representative of American tourists, but for myself, that's simply besides late to go trinket shopping, although I might go a nightcap earlier heading to bed.

The view of Shelburne Harbour from the deck of The Sea Dog eating place/ bar. Photo: Halifax Examiner

I don't know what tourists do after they land in Yarmouth. Maybe they stay there another night  — there seems to be new energy to the town, and there'due south reason to stick around. Or maybe the tourists explore Shelburne or the French shore.

My limited observation, withal, is that likewise in Yarmouth itself, at that place's not much to keep tourists effectually the area. A few weeks agone I spent the night in Shelburne, and The Sea Dog —the one and only waterfront eating place/bar — airtight at 9pm on a Sat dark; I felt like I was rushing the staff. Walking effectually town after was like walking through a ghost boondocks, albeit a ghost town with lots of canis familiaris walkers. The waterfront coffee shop wasn't open when I left town at 9am Lord's day. I accept no desire to render to Shelburne.

Tuesday, I establish the French shore fascinatingly beautiful, but likewise (with a few exceptions) information technology seemed woefully slim of restaurants or even places to stop and walk along the Bay of Fundy.

With cypher much to do in southern Nova Scotia, my guess is that most tourists zoom north to Keji or Lunenburg or Halifax, and that their economic bear on in southern Nova Scotian communities doesn't reflect the potential of their numbers, no thing how many they are.

I may be entirely wrong. Similar I said, I don't recollect I'thousand representative of anyone except cynical journalists from Halifax. Information technology'd be dainty to get some solid data about the existent habits of American tourists who take the Alakai, where they stay, what they practise, how they spend their money. Information technology astounds me that nosotros've fabricated a 10-twelvemonth, $100-million commitment to the ferry without having this bones data.

I don't have a human knee-jerk reaction confronting funding the ferry. Mayhap it can be part of an overall tourism evolution plan for southern Nova Scotia, just it is not a silver bullet. Alluring, and more than important, retaining tourists will crave collecting real data on their habits, and focusing the industry around their desires.

I wonder, though, if at that place aren't ways of spending the same amount of coin that might upshot in better return for the people we're trying to help. I've mentioned before that providing low-cost or even complimentary high-speed cyberspace for residents of Yarmouth could result in the much-vaunted entrepreneurship and better-paying jobs for more than people than tourism tin provide. No doubtfulness there are other ways to spend the coin with similar positive results.

Why limit the give-and-take to funding a ferry?

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Source: https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/province-house/the-yarmouth-ferry-a-review/