Decatur Northwest (DNW) offers private boat service between Sylvan Cove and Skyline Marina in Anacortes. Most of the time, boat service is provided by the community-owned Sylvan Spirit. The process for how you can make your trip is outlined below.

Boat Schedule

Travel time is about 45 minutes each way, with 15 minutes of turnaround time scheduled for loading and unloading.

Schedule exceptions:

• Summer schedule:
• ¹ Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, boats are regularly scheduled on Wednesdays; during the rest of the year, there is no regularly scheduled boat on Wednesdays.
• ² Between the spring and fall equinox (roughly March 21 - Sept. 21), an additional Friday evening boat is scheduled.
• Additional boats are scheduled for holidays and during busy times at the discretion of DNW management.

Reservations Charges:

Fares are one-way and charged both directions.

• Adult Homeowners: $33 (ages 18+)
• Child Homeowners: $26 (ages 0-17; including infants)
• Guests: $42 (all ages)

Making reservations:

• Reservations are required for every passenger on the boat. Walk-ons are not allowed.
• All reservations must be made via the online reservation system.
• Reservations are not accepted in person, via email, or over the phone.
• Reservations made by 2pm the day before scheduled departure guarantees transportation.
• A confirmation code will be sent via email; hold on to it for managing your reservation.
• If a scheduled time does not appear for a given date, it means the boat cannot be booked. This could be because it is full, canceled, or was closed with low rider count after 2pm.
• Boats occasionally fill on our busiest weekends, like sheep shearing and major holidays, so book early if your schedule isn't flexible.
• Anyone needing to book a reservation when a time is not available will need to book directly with Island Express at their rates.

General reservation info:

• The Sylvan Spirit has a maximum capacity of 55 passengers.
• When the Sylvan Spirit round trip has fewer than 7 passengers, it's more cost effective to move those riders to the Island Express. The determination about which boat will be used is made at 2pm the day before departure. In the event of low-passenger trips:
  • Passengers may be moved to the Island Express; they will be contacted by Captain Chris prior to boat departure time.
  • The Island Express departure time is likely to differ from the DNW departure time originally booked. Passengers will be notified of the new time by Captain Chris.
  • Reservations may not be added after 2pm the day before departure; anyone needing to book a reservation at this point should contact the Island Express to book a reservaion with them at their rates.
• In rare cases when the boat is unable to run due to poor weather, maintenance issues, or unforeseen circumstances passengers will be notified.

Managing reservations:

• All reservations must be managed via the online reservation system.
  • Changes and cancellations are not accepted in person, via email, or over the phone.
• Reservations may be changed or canceled up to boat departure time for no fee.
• If there are cases of reservation system abuse, management will assess a fine or choose not to issue a refund.
• The confirmation code assigned at the time of booking is required to manage a reservation.
• The link at the bottom of your confirmation email will pre-populate your code on the manage reservation page.
• Contact the reservation system administrators if you have lost your confirmation code. The reservation system is managed by Sue and Jon Flessner and they can be reached at: [email protected]