It has been a testing week for islanders due to ferry delays, backlogs, and cancellations on the Cumbrae-Largs route, island correspondent Mary Currie told the 'News'.
On Wednesday morning, children waiting to go to Largs Academy were stuck on board the ferry because the ramp had broke down.
And two ferries were cancelled later that day at 5pm and 5.30pm due to a re-fuelling.
On Tuesday, there was further disruption for commuters and travellers as there was no ferry service until 10am, after all ferries had been cancelled on the day before due Storm Henry.
And there were delays to the service throughout the day on Thursday. Cal Mac informed passengers on their website: "Due to volume of traffic and a substitute vessel, service is running approximately 10 minutes late."
The replacement vessel Loch Tarbert was a smaller ferry than what had been lined up for the Cumbrae route during the MV Loch Shira's annual maintenance check. The electric hybrid ferry MV Lochinvar was supposed to be taking the route.

Island photographer Karen Brodie's picture shows that the ferry in use was not big enough, and had to leave a backlog of vehicles behind on Cumbrae during one of its sailings on Wednesday. Some people were forced to abandon their cars in Largs just to get home on the ferry, in order to avoid waiting.
A spokesman for Caledonian MacBrayne said: "The problem with the MV Loch Shira it was in dry dock for longer than expected. Sometimes it goes in for an annual service and they uncover certain issues which they didn't know or couldn't have been foreseen. This has ended up having a knock-on effect in terms of the MV Lochinvar, hence why the Loch Tarbert has had to be used. 
"The MV Loch Shira will be back on Tuesday, and the MV Loch Riddon will be back in service at the weekend, so there was a two ferry service to cope with demand.
"There has been capacity issues with MV Loch Tarbert as it is a smaller vessel but we have been working hard through our breaks to help clear the backlog."