Bremerton Yacht Club, Kitsap Transit help spread joy with boat cruise for people with disabilities
A boat cruise guest high-fives a Kitsap Transit employee over the railing of the ferry Waterman. (Photo: Noelle Morris)
Every winter for the last 37 years, volunteers with the Bremerton Yacht Club have invited hundreds of Kitsap County community members to their annual “Persons with Disabilities Cruise.”
It’s a special day – participants board private vessels or a Kitsap Transit ferry for a short trip across Sinclair Inlet to catch a glimpse of Santa on his own boat. Guests use radios to pass along their Christmas wish lists to Santa while they wave at him through the window.
Kitsap Transit provides one of its ferries for the event – sometimes, the 105-year-old Carlisle II or the Admiral Pete. For this year’s event, guests got a chance to ride on the hybrid-electric M/V Waterman.
“That is a unique community thing that we feel very fortunate to have. We couldn’t have as many guests (without the ferries) because of some physical limitations,” Tony Frey, Commodore of the Bremerton Yacht Club, said. “The volunteer service (Kitsap Transit provides) is just unbelievable, it makes the event possible.”
Seafair – the organization behind the huge summer festival of the same name in Seattle – started the Persons with Disabilities Cruise in 1985. A former Bremerton Yacht Club Commodore pushed Seafair to let the club create its own version of the cruise, Frey said. The event is funded through community donations and is run entirely by volunteers.
Kitsap Harbor Tours – the company Kitsap Transit contracted with to operate local ferries before 2021 – used to operate the ferries for the boat cruise. This is the second year that Kitsap Transit has run the boats during the event.
“The Boat Cruise is a special event for our community members with disabilities, and we are proud to be a part of it, this year and into the future,” Kitsap Transit Marine Service Director Ray Scott said.
In total, more than 100 guests attended the Dec. 4 event. After the boat trip, participants got a chance to meet Santa again on land as well as pick up snacks and gifts.
We’re so glad we could help facilitate this fantastic event again this year. Photographer Noelle Morris captured the event. You can check out her photos below:
