PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. – Folks hopping aboard cruise ships at Port Canaveral may have done a double take Tuesday when they saw an orange Staten Island ferry in the port.
The Staten Island ferry “Sandy Ground” made a stop at Port Canaveral on its way to New York City, according to a news release.
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The new ferry sailed from Port St. Joe, Florida, according to the Eastern Shipbuilding Group. It will undergo final preparations once it gets to New York and conduct trials before it’s put into service.
The new ferry is one of three the company is building. Eastern Shipbuilding Group said the ferries are larger and better able to handle severe weather.
The Eastern Shipbuilding Group said the ferry is named after the Sandy Group community, a freed slave community established on the south shore of Staten Island in the 1820s. It is one of America’s first African American settlements.
“This vessel honors our nation’s African American heritage, and will tell the story of the landmark Sandy Ground community,” Eastern President Joey D’Isernia said in a news release.
Greg and Ellie Smith, who lived in New York, had a nice view of the new ferry from the port’s restaurants. The couple remembered riding the Staten Island ferry in the 1970s.
“A lot of people depend on it for commuting,’’ Ellie Smith said.
Greg Smith said the ferry was also enjoyable for recreational purposes.
‘’It was great fun to see the city and be part of something that’s history,’’ he said.
The new ferry can carry about to 4,500 passengers and the fleet of Staten Island ferries moves 22 million people each year.