Puget Sound's famous ferry fleet makes over 400 trips a day, carrying over 23 million people a year. Considering that over half of these passengers are pleasure-goers, it is not surprising that these ferries are Seattle's leading tourist attraction. The remaining ferry-goers tend to be residents enjoying an incredibly scenic commute, complete with an occasional orca whale spotting. With a history well over a hundred years old, the ferries are accustomed to sharing the waters of Puget Sound with sailboats, tugs, rafts of logs, and the like. Today's ferries are descended from the so-called "mosquito fleet". The 440' long Walla Walla is one of the largest double-ended ferries in the world, able to bear 206 autos as well as 2,000 passengers. The Puget Sound ferries typically bear Native American names such as this. The Walla Walla, named after a Southeaster Washington tribe, has an especially appropriate appellation meaning "place of many waters."
