‘Indigo’ newest addition to Daniel Island Ferry

New commuter service to launch in October

Adding a much-anticipated new boat to the Daniel Island Ferry fleet has been an exciting journey for the company, but it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing.

First there was a delay due to the complexity of mounting Yamaha Twin 425 XTO offshore “monster” engines to the vessel (it’s never been done before) at its manufacturing facility just north of Tampa, Florida, and then there were weather delays due to Hurricane Dorian’s ever-changing track.

“The first track went directly over the manufacturer’s location, spot on!” said Daniel Island Ferry co-owner Colby Hollifield. “So we thought we might lose the boat or that it might get damaged. Then of course, it turned to us (here in the Lowcountry). And we thought our docks might get wiped out…It seemed like it was just one thing after another!”

Luckily, the storm left both areas relatively unscathed and the boat, officially named “Indigo,” left Florida last week with Hollifield and his Daniel Island Ferry partners Scott Connelly and Chip Deaton at the helm.

“It’s great!” said Hollifield, who spoke with The Daniel Island News during Indigo’s voyage home. “It’s a tall boat. It’s a lot higher in the water than our other boats, which makes for a very dry ride.”

The 50-foot vessel also features a raised wheelhouse to enhance visibility for the captain and full Navionics, including radar and two high resolution displays.

“It’s fancy!” he continued. “Lots of cool stuff.”

Indigo is certified for 49 passengers and five crew. There’s also space on the main part of the boat that is enclosed and air conditioned. And the Yamaha engines give it plenty of horsepower.

“It’s ridiculously fast,” he said. “…We’re powered by Yamaha. They’re gonna come up and shoot a commercial with us and are doing a big social media push on the launch. They’re a good partner.”

The name Indigo is special, noted Hollifield. It is a nod to the history of indigo in Charleston. According to an article written by Virginia Jelatis for scencyclopedia.org, the indigo plant produces a blue dye and was first grown commercially in the Lowcountry in the 18th century, when it “was second only to rice in export value.” For Hollifield and his team, there was another special reason to like the name, which was suggested by customer Kim Bodiford.

“It was kind of cool, the word indigo is IN-DI-GO,” he said. “So you can kind of do some fun things with that, as in DI-GO!”

The boat will indeed help folks get to where they need to go – specifically commuters. Indigo will conduct daily commuter runs between Daniel Island and downtown Charleston Monday through Friday. Weekend and evening service with Indigo will also be expanded. Hollifield doesn’t have an exact date yet for the launch of the new commuter service, but expects it will be in late October. They plan to offer two morning departures from DI, between 6:30 and 8:30 a.m., and then two late afternoon/early evening departures from Charleston back to the island.

“And we’ll have commuter passes available, which will guarantee people a spot through preferential booking,” noted Hollifield.

Non-passholders will also be able to book online or walk up to purchase tickets when space is available as well. The Daniel Island Ferry team plans to offer extended services on the weekends, too.

Indigo is definitely filling a need, added Hollifield, who launched the long-awaited ferry service with his partners last year.

“It’s been very successful from the standpoint we are sold out every time we run,” he said. “But that’s also kind of frustrating for customers because we’d really like people to be able to make a spontaneous decision to jump on the ferry and spend a couple of hours downtown and come back…It will be good to get the extra capacity and make some extra runs.”

And after all the planning and preparing for Indigo’s arrival, seeing the boat hit the water full of passengers in a couple of weeks will no doubt be a welcome sight for all involved.

“We’re really excited,” added Hollifield. “It’s been a long time in the making and a long time coming…We overcame a lot to get to the finish line!”

Daniel Island Publishing

225 Seven Farms Drive
Unit 108
Daniel Island, SC 29492 

Office Number: 843-856-1999
Fax Number: 843-856-8555

 

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