PORT ANGELES — Sequim resident Don Chrysler waited patiently while his wife, Janette, was one of 89 persons who walked off the 149-passenger Victoria Express ferry’s deboarding ramp Sunday night.

She quickly weaved her way through the U.S. Customs checkpoint at The Landing mall.

In addition to their home in the Dungeness Valley, the Chryslers have a home near Victoria in Sooke, where she plays with the Sooke Philharmonic Orchestra.

She also performs with the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra, and she relies on the Port Angeles ferry to take her back and forth between the North Olympic Peninsula and Vancouver Island.

This is why the Chryslers are grateful that the passenger-only Victoria Express is filling the void this winter while the MV Coho auto-passenger ferry is out of service two months to replace its engines.

Other passengers coming off the Express on Sunday said they would not have been able to visit Victoria otherwise.

Some left Saturday on the Coho for its final seasonal cruise to Victoria, then sailed back via the Express on Sunday night.

The Express passenger ferry began service Sunday to Victoria, a first-time offering that Express owner Jack Harmon said is his company’s way of supporting the business community and travelers to and from Victoria during the Coho’s down time.

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The rest of the story appears in the Monday Peninsula Daily News.