SOUTH COAST Steamship Authority ferries scheduled to use Oak Bluffs were landing at Vineyard Haven instead Wednesday afternoon because of the weather, and two high-speed trips between Hyannis and Nantucket were canceled, as the authority warned that gusty winds could cause cancellations on both island routes through Thursday.
The authority is waiving change and cancellation fees for travel scheduled from Tuesday, Oct. 20, through Thursday, Oct. 22. Travelers can change a reservation on the authority's website, by calling its reservation office at 508-477-8600 or at one of the terminals, the authority said.
Diversions and cancellations
As of 1:55 p.m., five Martha's Vineyard trips had been diverted from Oak Bluffs to Vineyard Haven because of weather, the authority said. The 1:15 p.m., 3:45 p.m. and 6:15 p.m. boats to Woods Hole were moved to leave from Vineyard Haven, and the 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. boats from Woods Hole were moved to land there. The 1:15 p.m. trip from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven was delayed 15 minutes, also because of the weather.
Five more Vineyard trips were canceled for mechanical issues: the 1:40 p.m. and 4:10 p.m. runs from Woods Hole to Oak Bluffs, the 2:55 p.m. and 5:25 p.m. runs from Vineyard Haven to Woods Hole, and the 6:35 p.m. run from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven. Every other Vineyard trip was on time as of that hour, through the last boats of the night at 9:30 p.m. from Vineyard Haven and 9:45 p.m. from Woods Hole.
On the Nantucket route, the high-speed ferry's 2 p.m. trip from Hyannis and its 3:30 p.m. return from Nantucket were canceled because of the weather. The traditional vehicle and passenger ferries were all on time, as were the later high-speed trips at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. from Hyannis and 6:15 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. from Nantucket. There was no wait in the vehicle standby lines at Hyannis or Nantucket.
At 1:37 p.m., the authority reported wind from the north-northeast at 13.7 mph on Martha's Vineyard and from the northeast at 20.5 mph on Nantucket, under mostly cloudy skies.
Wind through Thursday
The authority said gusty winds "are forecast for Cape Cod and the Islands that will have the potential to cause cancellations on both the Hyannis-Nantucket and Woods Hole-Martha's Vineyard routes through Thursday." It asked travelers to keep checking the forecast and its website and pointed them to the National Weather Service for the forecast itself.
Two landings on the Vineyard
Boats from Woods Hole serve two island terminals, Vineyard Haven in Tisbury and Oak Bluffs, which the authority says is open seasonally from May to October. Woods Hole is the authority's busiest port: more than 2.4 million passengers and 550,000 vehicles passed through it in 2025, the authority said in June, when its new terminal building opened at the end of a 21-month construction project.
How to check a trip
The authority updates each trip's status online through the day, and travelers can sign up for its travel alerts by email or text. Its reservation office answers at 508-477-8600 daily from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the state's 511 traveler line carries the authority's trips under route code 72.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
How we verified this
Every fact comes from the Steamship Authority's own website: the travel advisory, the fee waiver, the trip status page and the authority's June 25 news release on the Woods Hole terminal. We read them on Oct. 21 at 1:55 p.m.; the trip status page changes through the day, and the trips named here are the ones it showed at that time. The wind readings are the authority's own posted readings, stamped 1:37 p.m. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar. No other news outlet is a source for this story.
Corrections
No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.
Sources (3)
- Steamship Authority: Current Status (travel advisory and trip status, both routes)The Steamship Authority. Advisory: gusty winds forecast for Cape Cod and the Islands with the potential to cause cancellations on both routes through Thursday; change and cancellation fees waived for travel Tuesday, Oct. 20, through Thursday, Oct. 22; reservation office 508-477-8600. Trip status read 1:55 p.m.: five Vineyard trips diverted from Oak Bluffs to Vineyard Haven (weather), five canceled (mechanical), one delayed 15 minutes (weather); Nantucket high-speed 2 p.m. from Hyannis and 3:30 p.m. from Nantucket canceled (weather). Island weather stamped 1:37 p.m. Read Oct. 21, 2026.
- Steamship Authority home page: travel advisory, trip alerts, reservation office hoursThe Steamship Authority. Same advisory text; reservation office 508-477-8600, daily 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.; travel alerts by email or text. Read 1:55 p.m. Read Oct. 21, 2026.
- New Woods Hole Terminal opens to the publicThe Steamship Authority news release, posted June 25, 2026. New terminal building opened after a 21-month project; more than 2.4 million passengers and 550,000 vehicles passed through Woods Hole in 2025, the busiest port; Oak Bluffs terminal open seasonally from May to October. Read Oct. 21, 2026.