In parts of the world, Santa arrives by sleigh, slides down chimneys or walks through front doors. But for people living in small island communities in the Pacific Northwest, access to the mainland is limited – and children rarely have the chance to visit Santa.

The “Christmas Ship” has always set sail the second full weekend in December, and the 2024 sailing will be on Dec. 14th. The ship will be leaving Bellingham Bay at approximately 8 a.m. on Saturday morning.

The Saturday morning departure sees the first stop being Waldron Island, then continuing on to Orcas, Shaw, Blakely, Lopez and Decatur islands. The ship has added Stewart Island back in this year and will make its way back to Bellingham at approximately 7:30 p.m. A long day but a happy day.

Join the Orcas Lions Club at noon at the Orcas Ferry Landing to welcome Mr. and Mrs. Claus and the holidays to our magical island. There will be all the usual pirates and clowns and best of all Santa. Santa will give out approximately 400 gift bags made up of several different treats as well as a stuffed animal and a handmade wooden toy. They will also have 30 separate, special bags for babies.

The Orcas Island Lions wants to thank Ron and Mary Russell from the Orcas Village Store for providing the refreshments; San Juan County and the Washington State Ferries for the use of the building; the Islands Sounder, The Orcasonian and the Orcas Chamber of Commerce for publicity; and all the volunteers that come out to greet the holidays. Additionally, a big thank you to the International Lions Christmas Ship Foundation, MD19-0 Clubs and San Juan Charters for bringing the Santa Ship to the islands.

The Christmas Ship voyage costs roughly $20,000, which comes from Lions and public donations. The Orcas Lions welcomes any donation to the effort to help offset the expenses. Donations can be placed in the donation box at the event or through the Orcas Lions website at www.orcaslions.org. Checks should be made out to International Lions Christmas Ship Foundation.

The Lions step in

The start of the “Christmas Ship” goes back 74 years to a very humble beginning.

Lions clubs in the Pacific Northwest saw the need and wanted to do something to make the holidays happier. “The kids on the islands didn’t have transportation to and from the big cities,” according to Don Wight of the Bellingham Lions Club. “One of the islands asked if a boat that had lights on it could possibly come out to the islands with candy and toys for the kids.”

That marked the beginning of the Christmas Ship. Every December for the past 74 years, Santa has suited up and stepped off the Christmas Ship to bring gifts and joy to people living in remote islands off the coast of Bellingham, Washington, in the United States and British Colombia, Canada.

The program has taken many twists and turns over the years and was in serious danger of becoming a thing of the past. An introduction of this project to Lions came in 1995; that introduction was to the Bellingham Central Lions Club, by our now PDG Wight. The first boat to do this was the Bellingham Sea Scout boat, with Captain Don Wight Sr.