A passenger’s decision to smoke an illegal drug led to an extra hour of delay for the Clinton-Mukilteo ferry Monday afternoon.

Trooper Kelsey Harding said the Kitsap, the smaller boat on the route, was held at the Clinton dock while the crew waited for a trooper with the Washington State Patrol and an Island County deputy to respond. One round trip — 12:30 p.m. out of Clinton and 1 p.m. out of Mukilteo — was cancelled as a result.

Harding explained that a member of the crew saw a passenger “trying to smoke meth” in the upstairs deck area. The passenger returned to a vehicle and was again seen smoking suspected meth in a vehicle. A member of the dock crew called the State Patrol’s Vessel and Terminal Security to respond.

Harding said that the meth-smoking person was in a car with a non-meth-smoking passenger. The investigators were unable to prove who had been driving the vehicle, so neither person could be charged with DUI. The responding trooper “trespassed” the meth smoker from the ferry service for 90 days.

The second person in the vehicle was sober and allowed to drive the vehicle off the boat on the Clinton side.

The incident led to increased wait times for ferry riders during a very busy season on the route; alerts about extended waits have become standard this summer. The wait time on the Clinton side increased to an hour Monday afternoon.

On Saturday, the wait time departing Clinton was three hours due to one-boat service.