now, why would a south seas island ferry be named after a pacific northwest area?

In the Spontoon setting, around 1860 the British plantation owners found the Spontoon Island Atoll pretty much deserted, except for the small British Navy anti-pirate base. The plantation owners imported agricultural and support workers from many national sources around the Pacific. That included Canadians and Northwest Coast Indians from British Columbia. The Coast cultures were a large part of the fishing villages and canneries on the north side of the Main Island of the atoll. British Columbia was also the main source of wood for the whole Spontoon Archipelago, both logs and cut timber. By 1912, the small nations of the former British Columbia (Tillamooka & Rain Coast) were military & diplomatic allies. It's also possible that the ferryboat is on lease from one of those two nations, for the duration of the Summer tourist season, including the high-traffic Speed Week festival.

(Also, I like some of that regional culture, and want to mix some of it in.)

I would like to see some of the other NW legends. Ever hear of the Splintercat?

Why? as I live here in Olympia, Washington, names like Skookumchuck, Muckleshoot, Dosewollops and Quilcene do kinda stand out when see them in print and not on a roadsign.

The natives of the NW are mostly Salmon fishermen. what could they possibly do on a tropical island where there are no salmon?

I left the area when I was 10, so I never got all of the full local regional stories. So now I may have to go web-searching for "splintercat". I have heard of other varieties of timber-beasts.

Here you go: http://spontoon.rootoon.com/SPwArt/EdyL002.gif A character who learned to do her low-level cussing in Chinook Jargon.

I agree that most of the high-volume and preserved fish in the NW culture are from salmon fishing (with villages at river mouths), but some of the fishing was deep-sea variety, too. The immigrants to Spontoon Island were adaptable, and probably were also constructing & running steam trawlers by the 1890s.

the folklore of the pacific nw logger can be quite amusing, look up Agropelters.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agropelter

hidebehinds

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidebehind

ball tailed cats,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball-tailed_cat

and the fearsome Gumberoo.

http://cryptidz.wikia.com/wiki/Gumberoo

Now what would Spontoon island do with these guys?

Good reading. Thanks.

In the Spontoon setting, "magic" is real, all the gods are real: An actual part of the 'Reality'. It's just that most of the anthros do not notice their existence. So much so, that everyday life might seem to be very mundane, as it can be in this setting where we live.

So a person in the Spontoon Archipelago could have faith that the Gumberoo exists, but others would be convinced that it is just a story from the Tillamooka lumberjacks... a good story that might remind people alone in the deep woods to not go sticking their heads into burnt-out tree stumps without caution and the willingness to deal with the consequences. On the Spontoon setting, a large island with a rainforest jungle might have a small population of Gumberoos, but the Gumberoos would be rare and hardly ever encountered. Some of the islanders might have a cousins cousin's friend who actually outran one, though. But, even if true, it almost sounds more like a good story....

Maybe one in 500 Spontoonies might have the uncontrolled ability to slip into The Dreamtime... where remembering about Ball-tailed cats might be very essential to Dreamtime survival.

Actually, you have probably actually seen the original "hidebehinds"....

Especially for someone unused to the woods, they are likely to encounter several. That's a wild squirrel on a tree-trunk... When you walk through a woods, the squirrels are not likely to run away. They will just stay on the side of a large tree-trunk opposite the human. They can scurry faster around the tree-trunk than we can walk or try to sneak around, and they have their eyes set on their heads so that they can be looking around the edge of the trunk with near-literally only their eye visible (and hard to notice). Their skitters can make a lot of noise. You'll never see them, unless they want you to, but you know where they are when they move.

Humans are sharp. We can extrapolate larger critters that could do that. They can imagine a mink or weasels being able to do that. Why not large predators, too? Bears as fast as weasels.... That's a scary thing to think about, especially if you are anxious about being alone and lost. Something large and noisy, that was fast and unseen. And strong enough and with claws enough to hang onto a tree-trunk. 'Hidebehinds'

"In Beaver We Thrust." AvE

love it... how many times have I seen such when visiting foreign ports....

V.

Now here's a scene I'd never thought of...

You're not being ironic on me, are you?

No no, but having an answer back.

That's also an appropriate "Meet & Greet" for that week.

Can you imagine the amount of preparation and orientation work done by the union & co-ops the week before?

Seen that when I was in Key West in 08, you caught it dead on.

Thank you!

Bethany defiantly goes for the Double Flower South (and yes, she knows what Double Flower means, Miss Devinski told her.)

I figure the staff can look the tourists & visitors over at that very proper South Island small hotel, and act as a filter for very selective private club invitations.

Bethany with her Secretary of the week (the three take turns being primary) would be rather obvious to the professionals. Yes, Bethany has visited Spontoon Island and will again, after all though she has been offered a student position she just doesn't have the free time now. A week in the Spontoonies, yes that busy woman really needs to just stretch out on a beach and relax for a while.

Hey! Hey! Hire me! I gotta Packard!

A Packard's a good car. You might have to take a jitney-driver's exam and join the local limousine co-op.

WHuuuuPS!... See ya!