Ferries from Shaw Island

For twenty-seven years the ferry landing on Shaw Island was worked by Franciscan nuns. The Sisters of the Eucharist ran the terminal and the store from 1976, handling the hydraulic ramps in long brown habits and fluorescent safety vests, until they left on 2 June 2004.

Where the ferries go

• Orcas Island — about 10 minutes, 15 sailings.
• Anacortes on the mainland — about 55 minutes, 12 sailings.
• Friday Harbor — about 70 minutes, 10 sailings.
• Lopez Island — about 20 minutes, 10 sailings.

90 active sailings, operated by Washington State Ferries.

⚠ There is nothing here for visitors, and that is deliberate

Shaw is the smallest of the four San Juan islands served by the ferry, in both area and population. Fresh water is limited, residents value their privacy, and there are no tourist facilities beyond a county park and the store at the landing.

Ninety sailings do not indicate a destination. They indicate an island that four routes happen to pass.

The Little Portion Store

The store at the ferry landing takes its name from the Portiuncula, the small church in Italy where St Francis of Assisi lived and died — "a little portion of the earth". The sisters ran it alongside the terminal, worked sixteen-hour days meeting boats, and also ran a preschool and directed a chorale and chamber orchestra.

The store has stood at the landing for around a century and still trades.

If you do come

Shaw County Park on the south shore has a small campground and one of the few public beaches. There is no hotel, no restaurant and no fuel. Bring what you need and plan the return sailing before you arrive.

Getting here

Every sailing to Shaw is part of a longer San Juans rotation, which is why Friday Harbor shows seventy minutes for a distance of a few miles — the boat goes elsewhere first.