Mechanical issue puts Grand Manan ferry out of service

Residents and visitors trying to cross between Grand Manan and Blacks Harbour, N.B. faced a long wait Monday after the island’s ferry went out of service due to a mechanical issue.

The $68-million Grand Manan Adventure hit the Bay of Fundy less than two years ago but breakdowns have been common.

Four days after if first sailed, the ferry broke down and remained out of service for several days.

A breakdown in the middle of the summer tourism season is not welcomed by anyone, including Samuel Allen, who didn’t expect to spend the afternoon of his 9^th birthday stuck in Blacks Harbour.

“I don’t really like it. I’d rather be on Grand Manan right now,” said Allen.

Motorists who were booked to ferry across the harbour on the Grand Manan Adventure had to wait for another, smaller ferry to pick them up.

“It does delay us, but you know, I’m not sitting in an airport and it’s 95 degrees,” says traveller Kim Larrabe, who is visiting the area from Connecticut.

The New Brunswick Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, which owns the Grand Manan Adventure, said the ferry was undergoing routine repairs.

“We had a ferry reservation at 1:30, so I don’t know if it would be considered routine,” says Larrabe.

“If it’s routine maintenance, why don’t they schedule it, if they scheduled it we would know, we wouldn’t be booked on a 1:30 ferry and have to wait,” says traveller Frederick Allen.

The provincial government said the Grand Manan Adventure should be back on the water by Tuesday.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Nick Moore