Crossposted from the Captain’s Blog

Growing up in Alaska, Hawai’i and the Northwest, Dan Krehbiel has been on or near the water most of his life. While working at his parent’s fuel depot in Juneau, Alaska, he thought he could “make a living on the water.”

After decades of piloting tour boats and fast ferries from Trinidad and the Caribbean to Alaska and the Columbia River, an ad in a trade magazine caught his eye: the chance to pilot a passenger ferry system in Seattle.

“I flew down, did the interview and flew back.”

The job was to be the captain of the fledgling King County Ferry District.

After 16 years at the wheel, Dan Krehbiel, “Captain Dan,” the King County Water Taxi’s first boat captain, is getting ready to retire. Part of his legacy is helping grow a passenger-only ferry fleet that has two routes and carries thousands of passengers every day between downtown Seattle, West Seattle and Vashon and Maury Island.

Krehbiel was recognized by Metro, the King County Council and County Executive Shannon Braddock at a ceremony inside council chambers prior to his last day in the wheelhouse, which is Friday, July 25. Read more.