Ferry service adds third vessel in Manatee

A Manatee County ferry service has added a third vessel to its fleet. Called the Manatee Belle, the boat will help Gulf Islands Ferry meet what officials say is the growing demand for its multimodal transportation service between downtown Bradenton and Anna Maria Island.

This marks the third year in operation for the Gulf Islands Ferry, a public transportation service funded by the tourist development tax. It takes travelers on an approximately 50-minute trip from the Bradenton Riverwalk Pier to Anna Maria’s Historic Bridge Street Pier via the Manatee River and intercoastal waterways. 

The Manatee Belle has 91 seats and features an enclosed, climate-controlled cabin design. Placing the vessel in service will help Gulf Islands Ferry maintain consistent scheduling and enhance service reliability due to weather concerns, according to a statement. Its two other vessels are open-air catamarans — Downtown Duchess and Miss Anna Maria — that seat 49 passengers.

“The Manatee Belle is the logical next step for the Gulf Islands Ferry — a larger vessel with indoor seating able to handle more adverse weather conditions,” Manatee County Commission Chair Tal Siddique says in a statement. “The addition of this boat provides ease to both our residents and visitors that continues to enhance multimodal transportation in our community.”

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Adding a vessel comes on the heels of the service doubling its year-over-year traffic.

In 2025, officials say more than 55,000 passengers used the service, which they note decreased vehicle traffic by nearly 23,000 cars.

In 2024, the ferry served 26,899 passengers, according to Keenan Singleton, spokesperson for the Bradenton Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. That year, weather was also a factor, Singleton notes, with the ferries in service 146 days, and service suspended on 63 days, due in large part to tropical storms and hurricanes.

Weather permitting, the Gulf Islands Ferry service has boats departing daily from the Riverwalk Pier between 7:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.; its Anna Maria Island service runs daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.