Manatee County’s Gulf Islands Ferry service may be back to square 1 in its search for a port in Holmes Beach.
City Commissioner Dan Diggins, a member of the county’s tourist development council, told The Islander April 1 that an attempt to dock at a boat slip in the Waterline Marina at 5325 Marina Drive failed earlier that day.
The service currently consists of two 49-passenger pontoon catamarans operated Wednesday-Sunday between the downtown Bradenton Riverwalk Pier and the Historic Bridge Street Pier in Bradenton Beach.
The service is set to gain a third, larger and fully enclosed vessel to protect passengers from weather conditions.
The county plans to further expand the ferry service with landings at the Palmetto Estuary Nature Preserve on the north side of the Manatee River and also at South Coquina Beach in Bradenton Beach.
The county has also explored plans for a ferry landing in Holmes Beach, but has so far found no viable options.
This latest test was to see if a slip owned by local businessman Jake Spooner in the Waterline Marina was a viable landing for the ferry service.
The landing would provide passengers easy access to the city commercial center along Marina Drive and an island trolley stop, as well as to Spooner’s property at 5327 Marina Drive, which he is redeveloping into a mini golf course, Island Bazaar retail shop, ice cream shop and arcade.
However, Diggins said a ferry captain found the channel into the marina too narrow for the fleet’s catamarans to enter for docking at Spooner’s slip.
Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, told The Islander April 1 that the failed trial run will force exploring other options, including incorporation of smaller vessels in the fleet that could use the slip at the Waterline.
Diggins voiced support for the option and has called Spooner’s boat slip an “ideal” landing location in the city.
If that option is not viable, the county will turn to exploring Kingfish Boat Ramp, 752 Manatee Ave. W., as a landing spot.
Falcione said the boat ramp would need to be redeveloped for the addition of a dedicated ferry dock.
“You need partners and outside-the-box thinkers to make things happen, so I’m excited that we have both right now,” Falcione said. “We’re going to huddle internally here” and work to “bring that ferry to that part of Anna Maria Island.”
The service also took a successful trial run at a landing at the Coquina Beach South Boat Ramp over the week of April 7.
Falcione said he hoped that landing would increase the amount of island hoppers on the ferry since it would provide access to the beach.
In addition to the county’s efforts to add ferry landings in Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach, Falcione said it would support the city of Anna Maria’s efforts to rebuild the city pier walkway, which was destroyed in last year’s storms.
While the pier’s old landing area would not accommodate the incoming third vessel, Falcione said the county would push for it to be rebuilt so that it could.
If that does not happen, the county will explore the construction of a dock north of the city pier.
“It’s another really important location for bringing the ferry to Anna Maria Island,” Falcione said.
People can visit gulfislandsferry.com or Bradenton gulfislands.com for more information. In the meantime, the service was also set to trial run a landing at the Coquina Beach South Boat Ramp over the week of April 7.
Falcione said he hoped that landing would increase the amount of island hoppers on the ferry since it would provide access to the beach.
In addition to the county’s efforts to add ferry landings in Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach, Falcione said it would support the city of Anna Maria’s efforts to rebuild the city pier walkway, which was destroyed in last year’s storms.
While the pier’s now-destroyed landing area would not accommodate the incoming third vessel, Falcione said the county would push for it to be rebuilt so that it could.
If that does not happen, the county will explore the construction of a dock north of the city pier.
“It’s another really important location for bringing the ferry to Anna Maria Island,” Falcione said.
People can visit gulfislandsferry.com or Bradenton gulfislands.com for more information.