A few people are expected along the Yarmouth waterfront Friday morning to watch the Cat ferry depart for Portland as it begins its 2018 tourist season.
As they did last year, a group of local kayakers will paddle near the ship as a send-off.
Bay Ferries CEO Mark MacDonald says staff aboard the U.S. registered vessel are among the best.
“It’s ultimately a U.S. Navy-owned ship. The marine crew positions have to be occupied by Americans. A good portion are from the state of Maine, which we think is a very good feature.
Meanwhile, the narrow channel into the harbour hasn’t been dredged recently for but MacDonald isn’t overly concerned
“That usually arises pertaining to the area right around the berth. We’ve been able to work satisfactorily there. It hasn’t come to my attention as a major area of concern and so I assume it’s not at the moment.”
MacDonald does say Bay Ferries would like to see some improvements made to the Yarmouth Ferry Terminal to modernize the facility.
But he realizes that governments only have so much money to spend.
