Vacationland

Vacationland was an American double-ended automobile ferry, built by Great Lakes Engineering Works for the Michigan State Highway Department. She was built to operate the route from St. Ignace to Mackinaw City through the Straits of Mackinac year-round, and was equipped with powerful engines and a reinforced hull to break through heavy ice. Vacationland was launched in 1951, and entered service in 1952. She was the final ferry built for the St. Ignace–Mackinaw City service, which was replaced by the Mackinac Bridge in 1957. Following the opening of the Mackinac Bridge in 1957, the Vacationland was laid up until 1960, when she was sold to a private operator on Lake Erie as the Jack Dalton. She was repossessed by the State of Michigan for nonpayment shortly afterwards, and in 1961 she began service on the St. Lawrence River as the Père Nouvel, inaugurating a popular route between Baie-Comeau and Pointe-au-Père, Quebec. In 1967, she was sold to BC Ferries in British Columbia and renamed the Sunshine Coast Queen. She was the first double-ended ferry in the BC Ferries fleet, a design that the service adopted for all new ferries after her. High operating costs and rising fuel prices forced BC Ferries to retire the vessel, affectionately known as the "Susy Q," in 1977.