A ferry ‘Hat’ trick?

That mysterious bump of land rising from the sea halfway between Everett and Whidbey Island does indeed have a name, one that Whidbey residents will hear more often in the coming months. Hat Island, also known as Gedney Island, is part of ongoing negotiations for daily ferry service between the ports of Langley, Hat Island and Everett.

The proposal on the table, which has been months in the making, aims to establish temporary roundtrip walk-on ferry runs between the three ports four times per day, providing much-needed simple transportation for Whidbey commuters and day-trippers. With continued stress on the Washington State ferry system, riders suffering from longer waits and reduced routes may get some relief when the project moves forward.

The new community-owned Hat Island Ferry will be the designated vessel for the proposed joint venture. Custom-built in 2020 by Brix Marine of Port Angeles, the 45-foot catamaran-style passenger ferry will accommodate 60 riders for the new service, with overhead and under-seat space for small shopping bags. Traveling at 18 knots, it burns only 25 gallons per hour in fuel and makes the Langley to Everett run in about 45 minutes.

Currently, the ferry only travels between Hat Island and Everett on a limited number of days.

Hat Island resident John Gray, who serves on the island’s vessel committee and chairs the marina committee, explained how Hat Island is growing to the point that daily ferry service became a viable consideration.

The island has 900 lots with roughly 240 homes built. Only about 70 people live on the small island full time while others prefer to stay only during the warmer months.

The island’s new state-of-the-art commuter vessel, featuring increased maneuverability and fuel efficiency, facilitates adding Langley to the current Hat Island-to-Everett route.

“I think it’s the wave of the future,” Gray said. “It just makes a lot of sense, with the proximity of these ports, to connect them … We’re already connected by geography, but not by transportation.”

Birth of a Vision

As the pandemic converted more Hat Island homeowners to full-time status, the concurrent ferry issues on South Whidbey gave birth to new transportation ideas. Stan Reeves, executive director of the Port of South Whidbey, explained that the conversation on this temporary Langley-to-Everett service began in October 2021 because of the Washington State Ferries’ inability to provide consistent, reliable service on the Clinton-Mukilteo route.

“The intent is to provide service between Langley and Everett, focusing on providing service for critical frontline workers, such as health care workers, police and firefighters who live on Whidbey Island and work in Snohomish County,” Reeves noted. “This ferry route could also provide service to other Island County residents that work in the Everett area, or need to travel to Everett for medical appointments, shopping, etc.”

Hat Island Manager Kim Gleason shared a story of chatting with a Whidbey-based nurse at the Everett Clinic, who felt stressed and vulnerable over the reduced ferry routes and her ability to commute to the mainland for work.

“I knew there must be others who were in the same predicament,” Gleason said. “So … we started reaching out to other health care organizations and the communities that could use the service.”

As it turns out, she was right.

Logistics, Funding

Many organizations are onboard with the proposed new ferry alliance, including Providence Hospital. Hat Island homeowner and Board Trustee Ray Stephanson, who served as the mayor of Everett for 14 years, sits on the Providence Foundation Board and explained that the hospital will provide a shuttle to and from the Port of Everett for its health care workers.

He also noted that Community Transit in Everett has a plan in place when the new ferry service from Langley begins, providing transportation from the ferry’s landing spot near Lombardi’s to the Everett Transit Center. Riders can then transfer to destinations across the region, including schools and colleges that would now become reachable for those living on Whidbey Island. Tentative plans include options for islanders to keep an extra car on the mainland with free parking at the transit center.

On the South Whidbey side, Island Transit stands ready to provide added services as well, coordinating with the new ferry schedule and transporting riders to the Langley marina from the main Park-and-Ride lot near the fire station.

Todd Morrow, executive director of Island Transit, explained that the tentative plan would utilize fare-free van-pool vehicles, with cost-saving elements in place to alleviate financial burdens on the community.

Thus far, funding has been an obstacle for the project to proceed, given that the necessary cost of passenger ferry tickets would be too high for the average commuter.

However, Stephanson, who has spearheaded the project on the Hat Island end, recently revealed that funding negotiations with Snohomish County should see results by March or April of this year, leading to new Langley/Everett/Hat Island routes launching by early summer. Funding could come from untapped relief funds, supporting a proposed one-year project approval that would subsidize costs and provide free ferry ridership for island residents.

Past Connections

There’s never been direct ferry service between the Hat and Whidbey Island communities, but at least one sporadic “stop and hop” connection thrived during the Mosquito Fleet years after World War I. According to Hat Island historian Robert A. Brunjes, the Beeline steamer, operated by Whidbey Island Transportation Company, would divert from its normal Everett to Langley run whenever Captain Bart Lovejoy spotted a raised flag on the small Hat Island pier.

In past decades, the island has been home to indigenous populations, fishermen, rum runners, bootleggers, draft dodgers, a fox farm, depression-era shanties, a sand and gravel operation, shingle mills, a logging camp and even a World War II bombing practice site for air squadron from Paine Field in Everett.

Things on Hat Island have changed quite a bit since those impromptu Mosquito Fleet water pickups of the 1920s and early 30s. In addition to the brand-new catamaran ferry, islanders have invested in an expanded marina, a popular yacht club, picnic pavilion, upcoming children’s playground, and a growing number of full-time and summer residents. When the COVID pandemic hit the region, Hatters rallied in their relative isolation by creating a community vegetable garden built inside reclaimed dingy boats, accompanied by an informal beach bistro area for families and neighbors to social-distance in fresh sea breezes.

The boat-access-only island still holds policies prohibiting commerce, meaning that “Hatters” rely on ferry runs to Everett for groceries, shopping, dining and entertainment. Many favor the proposed new Langley ferry runs for increased access to Whidbey’s art galleries, cultural events and farm-to-table produce.