MV Suquamish Summer 2025 Route Reaction

NOOOOOOO THEY'RE PUTTING HIM ON THE MUK NOOOOOOO

Wonder which boat will be taken out though. MV Tokitae or MV Kitsap? Kitsap is an Issaquah class boat and the Olympics are based on them. The Issaquahs are far more ultilitarian design wise compared to the Jumbos and Supers, and while they're not bad, it makes me a little upset that all future builds will likely be based on this line. The Steel Electric class themselves were also utilitarian so it's not like Washington State Ferries hasn't had ferries that were more like that, but the Issaquahs were the first utilitarian class built for the ferries since the Steel Electrics were purchased from Black Ball.

Introducing MV Suquamish

A silly little comic featuring my humanization/gijinka of the MV Suquamish, a Washington State Ferry. He's fairly well liked and he's an overachiever since he's been pretty much everywhere at this point due to being a relief boat. His siblings are also quite the characters even if the Olympics have been described as 'boring, sterile, and cheap feeling.'

MV Samish is a permanent at the San Juans and she seems to have the easiest career of the bunch and even some good highlights as well. Since there's a lot of boats in the San Juans, she has performed several assists to the fleet and for rescues. MV Chimacum is a permanent at Bremerton and will occasionally relieve Bainbridge despite being possibly one of the worst boats in the area to do so due to having low auto capacity AND passenger capacity but easier to load than MV Kaleetan, who gets crap for having narrow car spaces but her passenger capacity is comparable to the Jumbos. Chimacum also seems to be the chew toy of the Olympic class ferries and he seems to be born to suffer even with his default route. If you read through his history, it makes me chuckle because of how ridiculous it gets for him and him having to relieve the three large classes of boats (Supers, Jumbos Mark I and Mark II), which the Olympics are NOT suited for. MV Tokitae is mostly at the Mukilteo route but I don't know much about him or his routes. He's a little different from the others since he has steeper car ramps and other minor structural differences since he was the first to be built of the Olympics. There were also a lot of issues that needed to be ironed out with him in his first few years of service since he was the first to be built. I don't have much for his character other than being a little deranged due to the Mukilteo-Clinton route being one of the very short routes. His name came from a captive orca and was named after her to promote the return of her back to the Puget Sound. He also has an orca theme in his cabin due to his namesake.

Feeler for MV Walla Walla Gijinka

He's a hard boat to pin down, other than haggard looking but clearly still very beautiful. The Jumbo Mark I boats are the best looking boats in the fleet but he....really needs better maintenance. He's very tall since all of the Jumbo class boats are huge, with the next largest class, the Supers, being around 60 feet shorter than the Mark I. Likes his coffee black since he can't drink at work and has a lollipop in his mouth since smoking isn't allowed on the boats anymore. He was built in 1972 so that was before Washington State started to restrict smoking on the boats. As an interesting tidbit, he's one of the last few remaining engine order telegraph boats in the fleet, so he can be a nightmare to steer at times, especially in rough waters.

The Mark I boats used to have an absolutely insane interior cabin design with it looking very 70s but very colorful and luxurious. The tables were cool and wished those weren't removed. However, people that actually rode the ferry before the interior update said that the chairs were very uncomfortable even if they looked good and the thick carpet in the galley was a shade of brown but it was supposed to be a blue gray color. The overall materials and design did make it look like a nightmare to clean. Oddly enough, ferry enthusiasts think the Wally has the best updated interior, which is a shock since I prefer MV Spokane's. Either way, both the Mark I boats have the best interiors of the fleet.

Lusha

Quick sketch of Lusha, a nightingale harpy. He works as a reporter for Morningale Press.