A longtime local fishing vessel will be used to ferry passengers between Eastport and Lubec this summer. Captain Steven Pagels of Downeast Windjammer Cruises now owns the Quoddy Dam and will use it as a ferry for four round trips daily, except on Mondays, starting in late June.
     Pagels "swapped" his 1923 oyster schooner Ada C. Lore for Butch Harris' schooner Sylvina W. Beal and the Quoddy Dam, built by Harris' late father, George Harris of Eastport.
     "I'm pretty excited," says Pagels, who had been looking at the concept of Eastport/Lubec summer ferry possibilities periodically for the past 10 years. "This is the right time to get it off the ground."
     Pagels has experience running seasonal ferries from Bar Harbor to Winter Harbor and from Southwest Harbor to the Cranberry Isles. "We've found that to have a schedule that works, it needs to be easy to follow."
     After some modifications to the 35-passenger Quoddy Dam, it will begin leaving Eastport at even hours of 10 a.m., 12 noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., and depart Lubec at the odd hours of 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. The Quoddy Dam had been taking passengers from Eastport to the Wednesday evening SummerKeys recitals in Lubec, and that will continue. As before, it will leave Eastport at 6:30 p.m. and return after the concert. "There may be possible evening runs on Fridays and Saturdays, depending on interest and demand," adds Pagels.
     The fee schedule is still being worked out, but there will be a discount for younger passengers, and infants will travel free. Eastport and Lubec area residents will get discounts on fares.