ELLIOT BAY — Onlookers from any of the Washington State Ferries around Seattle and Kingston ferry Aqua Express noticed quite a commotion two weeks ago Thursday when a bustling and overflowing Argosy Cruises boat motored by.

Music blared, children danced and the American Cancer Society-sponsored “Camp Goodtimes” was a-rockin’ full speed ahead onboard the ship, part of a week’s worth of festivities based on Vashon Island’s Camp Burton June 19-25.

The approximately 140 children on board had good reason to be celebrating: they’re each fighting a disease — leukemia or certain types of cancer — that now sees patients hold an 80 percent survival rate. The mark is a staggering improvement over years past and is due, in part, to dedicated research funded by ACS and other organizations.

For the week, however, the idea was to leave all the stress and strain of cancer behind.

“It provides them an opportunity to be kids,” said Tom Nielsen, Director of Camp Goodtimes. “To let go and have fun.”

Two students from the North End — Kingston Junior High School students Lily Hartman and Colton Weeks — were among those children, and each are fighting their own leukemia. Though it can be an arduous battle, Weeks said programs like Goodtimes, help take the pressure off a bit.

“There’s a lot of things that we have set up where we can go to camps and have fun,” he said.

The founder of the camp, Charlotte Ellis-Medina of Seattle, also came aboard for the cruise to see how an event she started in 1983 was progressing.

“My daughter had leukemia and it was a time kids were not surviving cancer,” Ellis-Medina explained of her rationale for starting Goodtimes. “They weren’t having much fun in their lives. I thought, ‘There must be something I can do.’”

One particular Poulsbo resident, Capt. Paul “Moose Lips” Dudley, has also been there every step of the way for the camp. He started 21 years ago as the skipper, but has become the emcee, “chief instigator of fun” and self-proclaimed “camp dork.”

“I relish my role as a kid magnet,” he said, referring to an earlier camp incident on Vashon in which the fire department was called in to hose down the 138 kids who had covered each other during a whipped cream fight earlier in the week.

“This camp features the most amazing kids on the entire planet,” Dudley said. “They’re wise beyond their years. They face issues most people never have to face. And they’re such compassionate little people.”

Dudley added he’s especially thankful to Argosy and its owners, the Blackmans, who offer their boat for free all day for the kids to use.

With Colton in the captain’s chair while Moose Lips was detained by your correspondent, the ship was seemingly at the young boy’s command. It was not quite the responsibility he’d bought into.

“I’m not driving,” Colton said, shaking his head. “I’m 12 years old. I can’t even drive a car.”

The Argosy Cruise liner wasn’t the only boat out on the waters of Elliot Bay that day. The Seattle Fire Department’s Chief Sealth boat provided a water show with its array of water canons, while several camp counselors literally floated by — flying by way of para-sailing behind a smaller water-craft.

The American Cancer Society spends about $270 million a year on all of its programs, of which approximately 17 percent, or $46 million is used for patient support.

Other programs include “Reach for Recovery,” for new cancer patients to network with survivors to help their confidence; “Man to man,” which brings prostate cancer patients together to talk with other patients; and “Look good, feel better,” which teaches patients cosmetic tips while they undergo treatment.

One in four counselors on the boat is also a cancer survivor, giving the kids increased hope for fighting through their disease as well as an older friend who is empathetic toward their situation. It is also a chance for kids from smaller communities, who might not know other patients, to be with children who have intimate knowledge of their situation.

“These kids already feel out of out of the norm,” said Leslie Jones, ACS media and marketing manager for the Kitsap region. “They can come to this camp and be in an environment where everybody knows what you’re going through.”

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Programs like Camp Goodtimes are just one funded portion of the American Cancer Society’s efforts. An article concerning another heavily funded arm of its work — research for a cure — will be in Saturday’s Herald, in time for the July 9-10 “Relay for Life,” event at North Kitsap High School.