Princess of Acadia passengers spend 12 hours stuck on ferry
Ferry crossing from Saint John to Digby unable to dock in rough seas
Rough seas prevented the Princess of Acadia from landing at the Digby, N.S., terminal for nearly 12 hours on Tuesday, a trip that normally takes about three hours.
Passengers boarded the ferry at 9 a.m. and were not able to get off until approximately 8:30 p.m.
Wendy Rodda, from Middleton, N.S., was on her way home after cheering on a relative at the Boston Marathon.
She said the captain initially told passengers they would be arriving at their destination a few minutes early.
"A little while later he said, 'If you noticed, we didn't make it in,' he said we would try for 2:00 p.m., for the tide change, but he said in the meantime lunch is on us, so we all had a free lunch," said Rodda.
At 2:00 p.m., and then again at 4:00 p.m., attempts were made, but the Princess of Acadia was unable to dock said Rodda.
"Each time we went back out in to the bay and turned around, and of course it's all rolly-polly. Then he came in and didn't make it, so he said at the time, 'I think the next time we will try for 11:00 p.m,'" she said.
People kept themselves busy on board, according to Rodda.
"There were 72 of us. It was really kind of pleasant because we watched TV, people read, some young ladies were doing college work, other people were napping, I was knitting," she said.
Around 8:30 p.m. an announcement was made, notifying passengers of another docking attempt. This time it was successful.
Rodda said she has seen worse conditions, but she said she believes the chop would have made a dangerous situation for vehicles and passengers leaving the ship.
"It was rocky, but it wasn't bad at all. They were long waves, not the short choppy ones," she said..
As a result of the docking delays, a representative of Bay Ferries at the Saint John terminal said Tuesday's afternoon run was cancelled, while the ferry waited at sea.
The boat left Digby on Wednesday morning at 8:00 a.m. and made a successful landing in Saint John. An extra run has been added to make up for Tuesday's missed crossing.