Blaine residents and visitors will have to wait until 2024 for Plover Ferry rides between Blaine Harbor marina and Plover Dock on the Semiahmoo Spit.
The city announced the cancellation of the 2023 season due to the boat’s need for extensive repairs that won’t be done in time for the summer tourist season, according to the announcement.
The Plover can hold around 20 passengers and takes 15–20 minutes round-trip. The excursion costs $5 for adults, and $1 for children (12–18 years old), and is free for anyone under 12 years old.
A Blaine tourism official hopes “generational repairs” will be done in time for the Plover’s 80th anniversary in 2024. Every five years, the U.S. Coast Guard requires a significant inspection to ensure boats are structurally sound, and 2023 fell on that year, said Alex Wenger, Tourism and Economic Development coordinator for the City of Blaine.
Wenger said the Plover has gone without significant maintenance for several years, and the tourism committee knew wood would need to be replaced.
“With a 79-year-old wooden boat, we knew there were some repairs coming,” Wenger said. “It’s not so much a repair anymore, as opposed to a full restoration.”
Prior to the cancellation, the tourism committee budgeted a $30,000 improvement program in 2022 to fund the restoration of the Plover. The vessel already received major structural repairs, the most time-consuming portion of the work. The budgeted funding has yet to be fully spent, and the total cost of the extended restoration is not yet known.
Jacquee Sovereign, executive director of Blaine Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber was informed of the cancellation days before the announcement was made so they could prepare for people calling about the Plover’s schedule. Sovereign said she has not received negative feedback from residents or chamber members about the canceled 2023 season.
“People within our community are pretty understanding about it being a very old boat,” Sovereign said. “We definitely want it to be functioning at its best if we want people to board it.”
The chamber is focused on its Old Fashioned Fourth of July event, but would be interested in partnering with the City of Blaine for the Plover’s reopening and 80th anniversary next year.
Wenger said a repair celebration for the Plover was planned for this year, but will have to hold off until 2024, when the city plans to do a christening ceremony.
