Port Townsend ferry delayed until Monday

PORT TOWNSEND — The MV Snohomish passenger ferry won’t take over the Port Townsend-Keystone route until at least Monday.

“It won’t be on Friday. That plan fell through,” said Susan Harris-Huether, customer information manager for Washington State Ferries. “Hopefully by Monday, we’ll have the Snoho­mish back.

“In the meantime, it will be either the Olympus or the Glacier Spirit from Puget Sound Express,” Harris-Huether said.

The Snohomish was expected to begin serving the route Thursday, but maintenance work on the foot ferry was extended first to Friday, then to Monday.

The Puget Sound Express is a private whale-watching tour service that has provided passenger-only service on the Port Townsend-Whidbey route since Dec. 13, when the 149-passenger Snohomish was put on a special holiday run from Port Townsend to Seattle that ended on Jan. 6.

The 54-car ferry Steilacoom II is expected to replace the Snohomish the first week of February on the Port Townsend-Keystone run, said state ferries system spokeswoman Hadley Greene.

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