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Martha's Vineyard in February 2027: 14 Steamship sailings each way on the days we checked, highs near 42°F, sunset moving from 4:58 to 5:31 PM, the fare-free bus, Presidents' Day and school vacation dates, and the restaurants that take their winter break.
A beach path at Katama after the February 2026 snow, the bike racks empty along the split-rail fence and the bike path crossing painted green.
February is when the island’s year-round restaurants take their own vacations, most of them in the second half of the month. Every ferry sails between Woods Hole and Vineyard Haven, the bus costs nothing, and the beaches and trails are close to empty. The light starts coming back, too: sunset moves from 4:58 PM on the first of the month to 5:31 PM on the last. Below is February 2027 on Martha’s Vineyard: the ferry times, the weather, what stays open, and what has not been announced yet.
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The Steamship Authority runs the only ferry in February, and every crossing lands in Vineyard Haven. Its printed timetable from January 6, 2027 is not posted yet, but the booking system already shows the month. On the eight February days we checked, from Tuesday the 2nd to Sunday the 28th and including the Saturday and Monday of Presidents’ Day weekend, the two passenger ferries make 14 sailings each way, from 6:00 AM until 9:45 PM out of Woods Hole and 9:30 PM out of Vineyard Haven. Reservations are open for travel through May 17, 2027.
The 2027 fares are not final. In 2026 an adult walk-on ticket is $11 one way, including a 50-cent town fee, and walk-ons need no reservation. The Steamship Authority’s staff has proposed next year’s rates for a board vote: 50 cents more on an adult ticket, and a car under 17 feet going from $73.50 to $77.50 each way from January to March.
There is no parking at the Woods Hole terminal. The Palmer Avenue lot in Falmouth is $20 a day in the off-season in 2026 (the proposal for 2027 is $21), with free shuttles to the boat, and Peter Pan buses run from Boston to the Woods Hole terminal. Our Woods Hole parking guide has the lots, and the Boston guide has the bus and the other routes.
The other boats are seasonal: the Island Queen from Falmouth reopens May 28, 2027, Hy-Line runs its Hyannis boat from May through October, and the Seastreak from New Bedford runs in season. Cape Air flies to the island’s airport all year, from Boston Logan, New York’s JFK, White Plains and New Bedford, and taxis wait at the curb in front of Gate 4.
February is also when the island books its summer. In 2026 the Steamship Authority opened summer car reservations online on February 3 and by phone on February 10, and by the next day many of the busiest summer weekends were at or near capacity. The opening date for summer 2027 had not been announced when we checked in November; our ferry guide adds it once it is posted.
Icicles on a jetty by the Oak Bluffs ferry pier after a cold snap. In February every crossing lands in Vineyard Haven instead.
NOAA’s normals put Edgartown’s average February high at 42°F and the low at 27. Most nights freeze, but only about four days in an average February stay below freezing all day. Snow averages 8.1 inches for the month, with two or three days of an inch or more, and it covers the ground on about seven days. The water at Woods Hole averages about 36°F, colder than in January or March.
Some years bring a lot more. February 2026 was one of them: NOAA’s cooperative observer in Edgartown recorded 21.5 inches of snow for the month, 12 inches of it in the report of February 23, and a low of 6°F on February 8. For the ferry, the wind is the thing to watch. At the island’s airport the average February wind is about 11 mph, and most Februaries have between one and seven days with gusts of 40 mph or more. The Steamship Authority sends delay and cancellation alerts by text message, and signing up before you travel saves a wasted drive to Woods Hole.
Snow on the dunes across the water at Katama in February 2026.
February is when the island’s restaurants take their breaks, and most of them fall in the second half of the month. The pattern from 2026, from the Martha’s Vineyard Times’ year-round list as summarized in our Thanksgiving to March guide: Offshore Ale in Oak Bluffs closed February 2 to 14, The Ritz February 15 to March 15, The Wharf in Edgartown February 16 to March 16, Beach Road in Vineyard Haven February 22 to March 22, Rockfish February 22 to March 4 and State Road in West Tisbury February 22 to March 31. Alchemy in Edgartown was back from February 12. The 2027 dates are not posted yet, so the what’s open year-round guide is the page to check before you count on a table.
The Martha’s Vineyard Museum in Vineyard Haven is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 to 4 and closed on Mondays, Presidents’ Day included. Three of its shows run through February: Fleeced!, a hands-on exhibit for children and families about Grey’s Raid of 1778, when British troops left the island with thousands of its sheep and cattle (to May 9); The Two Worlds of Denys Wortman, the cartoonist whose work moved between New York and the Vineyard (to February 21); and Vanity, the last working catboat (to March 21). Adult admission is $21, ages 7 to 17 are $7, children 6 and under are free, and a pass from any of the six town libraries gets you in free. Cronig’s Market lists only Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas as its closed days.
The beaches belong to whoever shows up. Chilmark’s Lucy Vincent Beach is open to non-residents from September 16 to May 31, and Squibnocket once its season ends. Seals haul out on the Chappaquiddick side of Wasque, snowy owls turn up on the Katama plains in the winters they come south, and at Felix Neck the winter ducks are on the pond. With the leaves down, the island’s trails have their widest views of the water.
Early in the month you may meet hunters in the woods. The state’s winter deer season runs in the island’s hunting zones from January 1 to February 13, 2027, never on Sundays, and the hunters wear blaze orange, so some bright color on a weekday walk before the 14th is a good idea; the Land Bank’s property pages say where hunting is allowed. Deer ticks are active on any day above freezing, so a tick check after a walk is still a good habit.
Low winter sun over partly frozen water in Oak Bluffs, with ducks in the open water along the shore.
On a raw day, the Martha’s Vineyard Ice Arena at the YMCA in Oak Bluffs has public skating sessions for $5 a person, with skates to rent for another $5, and the times are on the arena’s schedule. Our rainy day guide has the other indoor options. The nights are still long: the new moon is on February 6 and the full moon on February 20, so the first week or so has the darkest evening skies, and our stargazing guide has the places to go and the Chilmark library’s telescope you can borrow.
Valentine’s Day falls on Sunday, February 14, and Presidents’ Day is the next day, Monday the 15th. The island’s public schools take their February vacation the week after, February 22 to 26. The Martha’s Vineyard 20 Miler road race, usually a February fixture, moves to Saturday, March 6, 2027. The indoor winter market at the Agricultural Hall had not announced any dates for this winter when we last checked, and the libraries, film nights and talks post their programs a few weeks ahead; our events calendar adds them as they are announced.
The VTA buses run their off-season timetable through April 15, 2027, and rides are free through June 30, 2027. Route 1 between Edgartown and Vineyard Haven runs every 30 minutes, from 5:30 AM out of Edgartown until after 11 PM, and the up-island routes run less often. Until March 7 some trips do not run on Sundays and holidays, and Presidents’ Day runs on the Sunday schedule, so it helps to check the trip you need. The Chappy ferry runs one boat all winter, continuously from 6:30 AM to 10 PM and again from 11 to 11:15 PM. Our without a car guide puts it all together.
The shore road in Oak Bluffs after a snowfall, with the pier and a lifeguard stand ahead under a pink sky.
Vineyard Haven and Edgartown make the easiest base: the boat and the bus are a walk away, and so is dinner. Our where to stay guide has the hotels and inns town by town. Some places close for part of the winter, so an inn’s own calendar is worth a look before you book the boat.
Walkers, birders, photographers, couples after a quiet Valentine’s weekend, and families who want a museum, a rink and an empty beach on a school break. It is not the month for swimming or for a first look at the island in full swing, and in the last week the list of open restaurants gets shorter. Two or three nights in Vineyard Haven or Edgartown works well, with a spare day in case the wind keeps the boat in. Our January guide and the Thanksgiving to March guide cover the rest of the winter, and the winter hub has the island town by town.
Step 1 · WhenMonth PickerTwelve months compared on NOAA numbers, crowds, prices and what is open. 
Step 2 · DaysDay-by-Day Trip PlannerMorning, afternoon and evening sketched for every day, events dropped in, emailed to you. 
Step 3 · CostTrip Cost CalculatorFerry, beds with the rooms tax, meals, getting around and activities in one price range. Our own footage from the island’s off-season.
For quiet streets, empty beaches and long walks, yes. Highs are around 42°F and sunset moves from 4:58 to 5:31 PM over the month. Several restaurants close for part of February, most of them in the second half, but the harbor towns, the ferry and the fare-free bus keep running.
Yes. The Steamship Authority sails between Woods Hole and Vineyard Haven every day. On the February 2027 days we checked it made 14 sailings each way, from 6:00 AM to a last boat at 9:45 PM from Woods Hole and 9:30 PM from Vineyard Haven. Walk-ons need no reservation; cars do.
NOAA’s normals for Edgartown give an average high of 42°F and a low of 27°F, with about 8.1 inches of snow in the month. The ocean is around 36°F, its coldest of the year.
Many are, mostly in Vineyard Haven, Oak Bluffs and Edgartown, but February is when several take their vacation, most of them from the middle of the month. Our what’s open year-round guide is the place to check before you go.
Presidents’ Day is Monday, February 15, 2027, the day after Valentine’s Day. The buses run their Sunday schedule that day and the museum is closed, as it is every Monday. On the Saturday and Sunday the museum is open, and the beaches and trails are open to everyone all weekend.
Ferry sailings are from the Steamship Authority’s booking system for February 2, 5, 13, 15, 17, 21, 27 and 28, 2027, and the reservation dates, 2026 fares, parking rates and the 2026 summer booking opening from its own pages; the 2027 figures are from its staff’s preliminary rate proposal of October 16, 2026. Sunrise, sunset and moon phases are from the U.S. Naval Observatory, temperatures and snow from NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for Edgartown, the February 2026 snow from NOAA’s Edgartown observer records, water temperature from NOAA’s Woods Hole station and wind from NOAA’s records for the island’s airport. Bus times are from the VTA’s printed off-season timetable, the Chappy ferry hours from its own site, the other ferries from their own sites, and flights and taxis from the airport’s site. The museum’s hours, prices and exhibitions are from its own pages, skating from the YMCA’s page, the deer season from MassWildlife, the school vacation from the island public schools’ 2026–27 calendar and the race date from the 20 Miler’s own site. The 2026 restaurant breaks are from the Martha’s Vineyard Times’ year-round list of January 15, 2026. All checked November 11, 2026. Dates that are not posted yet are marked as such, and we update the page as they go up.
From MV Vacation, written on Martha’s Vineyard · https://mvvacation.com/blog/marthas-vineyard-in-february · printed . Hours, prices and schedules change; the page online is the current one.
Martha's Vineyard in January 2027: 14 Steamship sailings each way between Woods Hole and Vineyard Haven on the days we checked, highs near 40°F, sunset at 4:23 PM on New Year's Day, the fare-free bus, beaches open to everyone, and the restaurants that take the month off.
Thanksgiving 2026 on Martha's Vineyard, taken from each organizer's own page: three restaurants serving dinner, four take-home menus with order deadlines from November 17, the Oak Bluffs Turkey Trot, the weekend's festivals and the Chowder Cup, plus ferries and buses.
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.
Martha's Vineyard in December 2026: First Friday on December 4, Light Up Oak Bluffs on December 5, Christmas in Edgartown December 10 to 13, 4:15 sunsets, one ferry into Vineyard Haven, and what stays open through Christmas.
All six town libraries on Martha's Vineyard, checked October 2026: hours and addresses, how visitors get a library card, free Wi-Fi, the concerts, art shows and programs, the Libraries of Things with beach chairs and stargazing kits, museum and beach parking passes, and a short history of each building.
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.
Island tip of the day Timing No. 79 of 79 New tip at midnight, island time
Oak Bluffs is liveliest Friday–Sunday nights but most livable Monday–Thursday mornings. Want the scene? Go weekends. Want the neighborhood? Go weekdays.
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