Though the historic Plover ferry remains seaworthy, Blaine City Council discussed the sunk cost endured to repair, maintain, operate and insure the aging vessel during a Monday, March 9 study session before the regular council meeting.
During the session, City Manager Mike Harmon said this year could be the Plover’s swan song. Increasing maintenance and staffing costs, difficulty insuring passengers and crew aboard the vessel, dwindling tourism funds and a dispute with the Plover’s former caretakers are all pushing the city away from another year of tours.
The Plover will run in 2026. But with only $40,000 budgeted by the city, Finance Director Jennifer Heiner warned council members that will not be enough to run as often as in previous years.
Last year, the Plover ferried 4,280 passengers over 15 weekends and cost the city roughly $135,000 in expenditures while bringing in $22,000 in revenue, Heiner said.
Funding for the Plover comes from the city’s tourism dollars, which have dwindled over the past few years. Heiner warned council that the city must reduce its tourism spending by $110,000 in 2027 to stay above water.
Over the past four years, the city has spent about $325,000 on the Plover, with the majority of expenses going toward repairs and maintenance, Heiner said.
The Plover operates with two insurance policies: one standard policy for the boat and equipment, and another operational policy for passengers and crew members.
The latter policy is up for renewal in June, and Harmon said numerous insurance companies denied requests to insure operations for more than the current $1 million liability policy.
Even Lloyd’s of London, the British insurance marketplace known for insuring complex and high-risk endeavors from offshore oil rigs to singer’s vocal cords, refused to insure the Plover, Harmon said. According to Heiner, the city spent $15,500 insuring the Plover in 2026.
“Anything that happens over a million bucks, we’re writing checks out of the general fund because we cannot get insurance beyond that,” Harmon said.
Council members suggested the possibility of gifting the boat to a historical society for preservation, or creating a replica Plover, similar to the Lady Washington wooden ship.
The Plover will also no longer dock at Semiahmoo Marina due to a dispute with Drayton Harbor Maritime (DHM), which owns where the Plover docks.
Instead of retracing the commute taken by cannery workers from Blaine to Semiahmoo and back during its heyday, the historic wooden ship will instead do short tours of Semiahmoo Bay, departing from and returning to Blaine Marina for each trip, Harmon said.
Due to a dispute over insurance, the city is unwilling to pay a fee to DHM to continue using the dock, Harmon said.
The city refuses to pay insurance for a dock that it does not own, and DHM cannot allow a boat to unload passengers at an uninsured dock, according to its lease with Semiahmoo Resort.
Brad Bytnar, a member of the DHM board of directors, said the maritime nonprofit is disheartened with the city’s decision to forgo its historic route.
“It’s disappointing,” Bytnar said. “The Plover’s never been a money maker. It’s been subsidized its entire existence. It’s a piece of Blaine history, a piece of maritime history. It is Blaine. The face of Blaine is the Plover.”
Bytnar said the city would need to pay $6,600 to insure the dock for the next year, and that the policy will lapse on March 16.
After a 2022 U.S. Coast Guard inspection discovered structural damage in the ship’s hull, the city awarded DHM a $130,000 contract for major repairs. DHM got the Plover sailing during the summer of 2024, but went $35,000 over budget.
Bytnar said DHM believes it is still owed that amount since it could not reasonably estimate the repair costs when initial bids were requested. DHM was the only bidder, according to previous reporting by The Northern Light.
The Plover’s fate lies in whether the city will earmark about $4 million in extensive Marine Park upgrades to attract more tourism.
During the work session, council discussed how it could fund upgrades that could include at least a half dozen pickleball courts, a basketball court, skate park, pump track and splash park.
The city took public comment on park plans in June, with 48 respondents opposing the changes due to noise, loss of bird habitat and lack of open space. The 78 respondents who supported the upgrades cited enthusiasm for the wide range of activities, especially those geared toward children and families.
To finance the project, the city would likely need to dip into its tourism fund that could soon be running in the red. Heiner said an unbalanced fund would mean the city couldn’t fund Marine Park upgrades, the Plover and other tourism-related amenities like the Visitor Information Center, all at once.
“All these things coming together,” Heiner said. “Really it’s part of one grand discussion.”
