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The Vineyard Haven terminal lot before the first boat, the ferry at the slip and a VTA bus waiting. In winter this is the only place on the island a mainland ferry leaves from.
Every boat off the island from late October to May leaves Vineyard Haven for Woods Hole. The full winter timetable, walk-on and car fares, what you see from the rail, and what to do on the Woods Hole side.
Leaving the island is the half of the trip nobody writes about. From late October until early May every ferry off Martha’s Vineyard leaves from one place, the Steamship Authority terminal in Vineyard Haven, and lands in one place, Woods Hole. Fourteen boats a day, the first at 6:00 AM and the last at 9:30 PM, 45 minutes across Vineyard Sound. Below is the full winter timetable, what a walk-on ticket costs and how to buy it, what changes if your car is on the boat, what you see from the rail, and what to do on the Woods Hole side, where there is no parking at the dock and a bus to Boston waits at the pier.
✓ Facts verified October 30, 2026 against the Steamship Authority’s printed winter schedule, fare and parking pages. The winter timetable runs to January 5, 2027; summer is a different, busier schedule and we note where it differs.
Know Before You Go
Steamship Authority terminal, Union Street and Water Street, Vineyard Haven (GPS: 99 Water Street). Oak Bluffs has no ferries from October 23 until spring.
Woods Hole terminal, 1 Cowdry Road, Woods Hole. No passenger parking at the dock; free shuttles to the Falmouth lots.
45 minutes on the M/V Island Home or the M/V Martha's Vineyard.
6:00 AM and 9:30 PM from Vineyard Haven, every day, October 23, 2026 to January 5, 2027.
14 departures a day, roughly every 75 minutes.
$11 one way, $22 round trip, no reservation. Buy in the eFerry app or at the ticket window; be there 30 minutes before.
Reservation required every day of the year. $79 one way for a car under 17 feet, November 1 to December 31, 2026. Check in 30 minutes before departure.
Table of contents [Show]
This is the Steamship Authority’s traditional ferry schedule for October 23, 2026 to January 5, 2027, the one that runs after the Oak Bluffs terminal closes for the season. Every trip runs daily. The vessel column is the boat the Authority has assigned on paper; it swaps them when one goes into the yard.
| Departs Vineyard Haven | Arrives Woods Hole | Vessel |
|---|---|---|
| 6:00 AM | 6:45 AM | Martha’s Vineyard |
| 7:00 AM | 7:45 AM | Island Home |
| 8:15 AM | 9:00 AM | Martha’s Vineyard |
| 9:30 AM | 10:15 AM | Island Home |
| 10:45 AM | 11:30 AM | Martha’s Vineyard |
| 12:00 PM | 12:45 PM | Island Home |
| 1:15 PM | 2:00 PM | Martha’s Vineyard |
| 2:30 PM | 3:15 PM | Island Home |
| 3:45 PM | 4:30 PM | Martha’s Vineyard |
| 5:00 PM | 5:45 PM | Island Home |
| 6:15 PM | 7:00 PM | Martha’s Vineyard |
| 7:15 PM | 8:00 PM | Island Home |
| 8:30 PM | 9:15 PM | Martha’s Vineyard |
| 9:30 PM | 10:15 PM | Island Home |
Coming the other way, the first boat leaves Woods Hole at 6:00 AM and the last at 9:45 PM, arriving in Vineyard Haven at 10:30 PM. The printed schedule says it is subject to change and that extra, unscheduled trips get added when traffic calls for it, which in winter is rare. Our ferry guide has a live board with the next boat and the Authority’s own status notices.
Two things the timetable does not say. First, Oak Bluffs: in 2026 the Authority ran boats there from May 14 to October 22, and from October 23 everything goes through Vineyard Haven. If your rental is in Oak Bluffs, allow for the bus or a taxi to Vineyard Haven. Second, summer: from mid-May the schedule gets denser, the Oak Bluffs slips come back, and the last boats run later. We update this page when the Authority publishes the spring timetable, usually with the reservation release in early November.
A Steamship Authority ferry on Vineyard Sound in October, seen from East Chop. From the bluff you can watch the boat you are about to catch leave Woods Hole.
The terminal sits at the bottom of Union Street where it meets Water Street, a short walk from Main Street and from the Vineyard Haven bus stops. There is no long-term parking for travelers at the Vineyard Haven terminal, and none at Oak Bluffs either; a car you are not taking across has to be left elsewhere. The Tisbury Park and Ride lot off State Road is free for up to three days and then $2 a day, and the VTA’s Route 10 shuttle meets the boats from there (details in our parking guide).
By bus, Route 1 from Edgartown along the Vineyard Haven Road and Route 13 from Edgartown and Oak Bluffs along Beach Road both end at the Steamship terminal, every 30 minutes for most of the day from about 6 AM to 10 or 11 PM. Up-island routes 2 and 3 alternate every two hours. The VTA is fare-free through June 30, 2027, so the ride costs nothing. The buses do not run on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day; on those two days plan a taxi or a lift. Our VTA bus guide has the winter timetable and a next-bus finder.
The VTA stop by the Steamship terminal in Vineyard Haven. Routes 1 and 13 end here, every half hour, and the ride is free through June 30, 2027.
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Walk-on passengers never need a reservation on the Woods Hole boats. The 2026 fares, valid through December 31, 2026: adults $11 one way or $22 round trip, children 5 to 12 $5.75 one way, children 4 and under free, active military $5.75. Each adult and child fare includes the town embarkation fee of 50 cents one way. A bicycle is $5.25 one way; tandems and bikes with trailers are $10.50. Personal luggage rides free and there are carts by the loading areas; pets ride free too, on a leash or in a carrier and out of the food service area.
The easiest way to buy is the Authority’s eFerry system at app.steamshipauthority.com, which works on an iPhone, Apple Watch or Android phone and scans at the gate; the ticket office at the terminal sells the same ticket. The Authority asks walk-ons to be at the dock 30 minutes before departure because popular trips do fill, and 45 minutes to an hour in summer. In January, on a Tuesday, you can cut it finer than that, but the 7:00 AM and the boats before a holiday weekend are the ones where people get left on the dock.
Fares for 2027 are not published yet. The Authority’s board discussed an increase in October 2026, with rising fuel costs the reason given; the proposal reported by the Vineyard Gazette would add 50 cents to an adult ticket and $4 to a winter car fare. Nothing is final until the board votes, and we will update the numbers here when it does.
A Steamship Authority ticket office. Walk-on tickets are sold here or in the eFerry app; nobody needs a reservation to board on foot.
A car is a different trip. Vehicle travel on the Woods Hole route is reservation-only every day of the year: the Authority ended general standby in January 2025 and in October 2026 its board voted not to bring it back. The Blue Line, a priority standby lane, exists only for islanders enrolled in the Preferred or Excursion programs. If you are leaving with a car, you need a booked slot, and a slot on the boat you actually want.
The 2026 fare for a car under 17 feet is $79 one way from November 1 to December 31 (it was $127 from September 15 to October 31, and $73.50 from January 5 to March 31, 2026). Cars 17 to 20 feet pay $89 in November and December; anything hanging past a bumper, a bike rack included, adds $12.50. Motorcycles are $25.75 one way in the same period and mopeds $13. You check in at the terminal with your confirmation and ID no later than 30 minutes before departure. Miss that and the Authority gives your space away; its rules then let the car travel only as space allows on that date, and with no general standby that can mean the next boat with an opening or the next day. Call the reservation office rather than waiting in the lot.
Dates matter here. Reservations are open through January 5, 2027. Bookings for January 6 to May 17, 2027 open on November 3, 2026, online, by phone at (508) 477-8600 (toll-free from the island at (508) 693-9130) or at the terminal; online bookings are paid at once, phone bookings within five days. The reservation office is open seven days, 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM, and closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. The winter boats rarely sell out, though the days around Thanksgiving and Christmas can. Our reservation guide explains the wait list, the five-booking limit and the change and cancellation rules.
A Steamship Authority car ferry on the Sound. Every car on it has a reservation; the Authority has had no general standby since January 2025.
Forty-five minutes, and in winter it is worth standing outside for at least part of it. The boat backs away from the slip, turns in the harbor and heads out past the moorings and the breakwater, with the Black Dog wharf just beyond the slip. West Chop Lighthouse slides by on the port side as you clear the harbor mouth, then it is open Sound: Falmouth low on the horizon ahead, the Elizabeth Islands off to the left, and on a clear day the Nobska Point Lighthouse on its bluff marking the Woods Hole side long before you get there.
Looking back at the Vineyard Haven breakwater and the moorings as the ferry clears the harbor, the first ten minutes of the crossing.
Both winter vessels, the Island Home and the Martha’s Vineyard, have every passenger deck reachable by elevator, so the upper deck is not only for the able-bodied. Inside there are tables, a snack counter when it is staffed, outlets that everyone fights over, and the quiet that comes with a January boat carrying forty people instead of four hundred.
West Chop and its lighthouse from the ferry as the boat clears Vineyard Haven harbor. It is the last piece of the island you see before the open Sound.
The boat ties up at the Authority’s terminal at 1 Cowdry Road, with a new terminal building, opened June 25, 2026, for the wait on the way back. There is no passenger parking at the dock, only short-term spots for pick-up and drop-off. If someone left a car for you, or you left your own on the way out, it is in one of three lots in Falmouth and Cataumet: Palmer Avenue (286 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth), Thomas B. Landers (22 Technology Park Drive, East Falmouth) or Cataumet (Route 28A). Free shuttles run between the terminal and the lots. Parking is $20 a day from November 1 to March 31 and $25 a day from April 1 to October 31, charged by calendar day at the rate on the day you entered. Our Woods Hole parking guide covers the lots, the permits and how long the shuttle takes.
Water Street in Woods Hole, the village street between the terminal and the Eel Pond drawbridge. Coffee, the aquarium and the harbor are all along it.
Without a car, the Peter Pan bus is the link to the world: it stops at the Woods Hole pier and runs year-round to Boston South Station and Logan Airport, about an hour and a half to two hours depending on traffic, with fares that move with the date and how early you book. Bus and ferry tickets are sold separately, and the bus does not wait for a late boat, so give yourself a boat of slack before a flight. Peter Pan’s own site has the times; our Boston routes guide compares the bus with the train and flying.
If you have an hour, Woods Hole is a good hour. Water Street runs from the terminal to the Eel Pond drawbridge, with Pie in the Sky at number 10 for coffee and the Woods Hole Science Aquarium, the country’s oldest public marine aquarium, a few doors on. The research vessels of WHOI tie up along the harbor, and the drawbridge lifts on request at set hours. Our Woods Hole guide has the walk.
The Eel Pond drawbridge at the far end of Water Street, a few minutes on foot from the ferry. It opens on request at set hours to let boats in and out of the pond.
The 9:30 PM is the last boat off the island until 6:00 AM, and in winter there is no other ferry company to fall back on. Vineyard Haven has inns that stay open all year within walking distance of the terminal; our Vineyard Haven guide lists them, and the what’s open year-round guide covers where to eat late in the off-season, which is a short list. If a morning flight out of Boston is at stake, the 6:00 AM boat lands at 6:45 and the first Peter Pan of the day follows; check its departure the night before.
The Authority cancels for wind and sea state far more often than for snow, and a January nor’easter can take out a whole day of boats on the Woods Hole run. Sign up for the Authority’s text or email alerts before you travel (steamshipauthority.com/email_lists), check its website the morning of, and if you have a flight the same day, take an earlier boat than you think you need. The day-of ticket offices answer the phone for sailing information only: Vineyard Haven (508) 693-0367, Woods Hole (508) 548-3788. Our ferry guide explains what happens to a car reservation when the boat is cancelled.
Between late October and May the Steamship Authority is the only daily ferry. Hy-Line to Hyannis, the Island Queen to Falmouth and Seastreak’s New York and New Bedford boats all finish in October and come back in late spring; our Seastreak guide and Island Queen guide have the 2027 dates as they are announced. The one exception is Thanksgiving week, when Seastreak runs a short New Bedford to Vineyard Haven service from November 25 to 29, 2026. Cape Air flies to Boston all year in about 40 minutes; our flying guide covers the airport and the fares.
9:30 PM from Vineyard Haven, arriving Woods Hole at 10:15 PM, every day from October 23, 2026 to January 5, 2027. The last boat toward the island leaves Woods Hole at 9:45 PM.
No. Walk-on passengers buy a ticket in the eFerry app or at the window and board; only vehicles need reservations. Arrive 30 minutes before departure.
$11 one way or $22 round trip for adults in 2026, $5.75 for children 5 to 12, free under 5, $5.25 for a bicycle. A car under 17 feet is $79 one way in November and December 2026. The 2027 fares have not been published.
No. The Oak Bluffs terminal closed after October 22, 2026 and reopens in spring (May 14 in 2026); all winter boats use Vineyard Haven.
45 minutes on the traditional ferries. Add 30 minutes at the dock before departure, and about an hour on the Woods Hole side if you are parked in the Falmouth lots and need the shuttle.
Not on this route. General standby ended in January 2025 and the board voted in October 2026 not to restore it. Book ahead, or use the wait list for a full date.
Not for travelers. Use the Tisbury Park and Ride (free up to three days, then $2 a day) and the Route 10 shuttle, or get dropped off.
Departure and arrival times, vessel assignments, the October 23, 2026 to January 5, 2027 dates, the 30-minute check-in rule, the eFerry and luggage notes and the terminal addresses are from the Steamship Authority’s printed traditional winter schedule for Woods Hole and Vineyard Haven. Fares are from the Authority’s 2026 fare page; parking rates and lot addresses from its parking page; reservation opening dates and office hours from its reservation dates page; the standby, pet and walk-on rules from its FAQ. The end of general standby and the October 2026 board votes are from the Vineyard Gazette. VTA routes and the fare-free period are from the VTA’s 2026-27 timetable. Everything was read on October 30, 2026; this page will be re-checked when the spring 2027 schedule and the 2027 fares are published.
Where Martha's Vineyard is, with our own maps: an island in Dukes County, Massachusetts, under four miles across Vineyard Sound from Woods Hole on Cape Cod, 75 miles from Boston and 70 from Providence by road. How big it is, the six towns, up-island and down-island, every way to get there and where the name comes from.
The twelve things that catch first-timers on Martha's Vineyard, from car reservations and the two ferry terminals to resident-only beaches, the last bus from Aquinnah and cash for the Chappy Ferry, each with an easy fix, plus the fall and winter dates.
Cell service on Martha's Vineyard town by town: towers down-island, no tower in Chilmark or Aquinnah and the named dead spots, what each carrier reports to the FCC, free Wi-Fi at all six libraries and on the ferry, the $10 xfinitywifi pass, prepaid plans and 911 when you have no bars.
EV charging on Martha's Vineyard: about 34 public stations, nearly all Level 2, listed town by town with ports and prices (the Edgartown Park and Ride, town halls, libraries, the airport, the Aquinnah cliffs), two fast-charging ports at the VTA, the Chilmark plans, no Supercharger, the ferry's EV rules, and how to run an electric week on a 20-mile island.
Parking for the Woods Hole ferry: there is none at the terminal, so here are the three Steamship Authority lots (Palmer Avenue, Thomas B. Landers, Cataumet), the 2026 rates ($25 a day April to October, $20 otherwise), the free shuttle timed to every sailing, when to arrive, the annual and off-season permits, the drop-off rule and the cheaper Island Queen lot in Falmouth Harbor.
How to get a Steamship Authority car reservation to Martha's Vineyard: the February opening and its virtual waiting room, the residents' head start, the five-reservation limit, the wait list that works, the 2026 fares ($127 midweek, $168 summer weekends), the free first change and the 14-day refund rule, no standby, and why most visitors should leave the car in Falmouth.
Island tip of the day Seasonal No. 67 of 79 New tip at midnight, island time
Early-to-mid October is underrated. Foliage starts, restaurants are quieter, and you can walk into places with 6-week July waits. The Derby runs to mid-October (October 17 in 2026).
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