After hiatus, Tustumena resumes service Tuesday

Ferry service, besieged by gubernatorial budget cuts and equipment problems in the past year, is scheduled to resume Tuesday locally with the Alaska Marine Highway ferry Tustumena steaming from Homer shortly before noon.
    The “Trusty Tusty,” fresh from an extensive overhaul, is scheduled to sail to Seldovia at 11:45 Tuesday morning, returning to Homer at 6 p.m. A following departure for Kodiak will be at 10:30 p.m.
    At least that’s what one online schedule is saying.
    The Alaska Marine Highway System publishes two sailing calendars online, one for ports, which does show the Tusty’s sailing schedule intact, but another calendar showing all vessel routes is blank.
    The Homer Ferry Terminal does have reassurance on its answering machine, though.
    “Thank you for calling the Alaska Marine Highway Homer terminal. All Kennicott sailings for the months of May and June have been canceled. The Tustumena is scheduled to depart Homer to Seldovia on June 2nd at 11:45 a.m., returning from Seldovia at 6 p.m., and depart for the Aleutian Chain at 10:30 p.m. Please visit FerryAlaska.com or call +1 800-642-0066 for more information. Thank you for calling the Alaska Marine highway in Homer,” the recording said.
    After reaching Unalaska-Dutch Harbor, the Tustumena will return to Homer on June 9 in the early afternoon.
    As the message said, more information is available at Ferry Alaska dot com, or at the Homer Ferry Terminal.