Bay Breeze Ferry Arrives in Tarpon Springs for Refurbishment Ahead of Tampa Bay Service Launch

The Bay Breeze docked at Tarpon Marine Services in Tarpon Springs on Monday. This marks preparation for the new Tampa Bay Ferry service linking downtown St. Pete and Tampa. The 250-passenger vessel will undergo inspections and upgrades before launching passenger service later this year.

A second vessel arrives soon. The 149-passenger Bay Clipper will reach Pinellas County within weeks. The former San Juan Clipper will be refurbished at the same facility.

“Having the Bay Breeze arrive here in Pinellas County is a major milestone and brings us one step closer to launching a reliable, sustainable, and long-term ferry service across the Bay,” PSTA CEO Brad Miller said in a statement, according to WTSP.

The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority used a $4.8 million Federal Transit Administration grant to buy and refurbish both vessels, awarded back in 2021. The Bay Breeze was purchased from San Francisco, while the Bay Clipper operated as a whale-watching vessel in Seattle.

Both vessels will run between the Vinoy Yacht Basin at 332 Beach Drive Northeast in downtown St. Pete and the Tampa Convention Center at 333 South Franklin St. in downtown Tampa. The trip will take about 45 to 50 minutes. One-way fares are targeted at $10, with discounts planned for seniors and riders with disabilities.

PSTA plans to run the service seven days a week. The operating schedule and frequency of trips will be finalized later. The agency picked Hubbard’s Ferry last year to operate the new service after the Cross Bay Ferry ended in 2025, when Hillsborough County commissioners terminated its agreement with former operator HMS Ferries.

PSTA received a $16.5 million federal grant on Monday to design and build a new ferry. This vessel will carry up to 249 passengers. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced the funding during an event at Port Tampa Bay. The new vessel will take several years to design and build, and will be in addition to the two used vessels.

“When we restarted this Tampa Bay Ferry service with PSTA, one of the talking points was, ‘We’re building this for 70 years, not seven,'” Tara Hubbard of Hubbard’s Ferry said in a conversation with St. Pete Rising. “We really want this to be a solid foundation.”

St. Petersburg is exploring plans for a permanent ferry dock on the St. Pete Pier near the St. Petersburg Museum of History. Early engineering estimates have put the project cost between $2.64 million and just over $3 million.