Captain Larson’s Career in Service

By Allyson Meyer • Photos by Dave Meyer

Waiting at the Clinton Ferry Terminal, you can see the snowcapped Cascade mountain range glow in the distance and, closer to home, a resident seal bobs up and down in the teal waters of Possession Sound. It’s a brilliant, sunny day—perfect for being out on a boat. Today’s vessel of choice, the Washington State ferry Tokitae. It’s a fitting name for a ferry that has served Whidbey Island for over a decade. Named for the Southern Resident orca Tokitae that was captured during the 1970 orca capture in Penn Cove, the ferry has been in service in the Pacific Northwest since 2014.

There’s nothing quite like a ferry to put island living into perspective—the iconic white and green vessel, with a gaping mouth that resembles a whale shark; the sound of the fog-splitting horn that is carried effortlessly through the air on particularly murky days; and the dance of the cars loading and unloading, heeding the calls from ferry staff directing their every movement.