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North Haven

North Haven

North Haven is a town and island in Knox County, Maine, United States, in Penobscot Bay.

Plan a trip to North Haven From Portland

The town is both a year-round island community and a prominent summer colony. The population was 417 at the 2020 census. North Haven is accessible by thrice-daily state ferry service from Rockland, or by air taxi from Knox County Regional Airport.

How locals move

Getting around North Haven the local way

The Maine State Ferry from Rockland is the only public way on or off; almost everyone else walks, bikes or catches a ride once they land.

  1. 01
    Maine State Ferry Service, Rockland–Vinalhavenferry

    Rockland Ferry Terminal, 517A Main Street, to Vinalhaven Ferry Terminal, 79 Sands Road

    Where
    Rockland terminal on Route 1; buses and cars line up in the terminal lot
    When
    Six round trips a day in the schedule seen: 7:00, 8:45, 10:30, 13:00, 14:45, 16:30
    Fare (2025)
    Adult round trip $15.75 off-peak (Oct–May) / $23.00 peak (Jun–Sep); vehicle round trip $41.50 off-peak / $55.00 peak, plus a separate $17.00 reservation charge in both seasons; bicycle round trip $22.75/$29.75
    Takes
    1h 15m (Wikivoyage says a little over 75 minutes)
    Season
    Year-round; winter ice and storms cause cancellations, see service_status entry
    Booking
    Walk-on passengers just buy a ticket. Vehicle space is reserved by phone (207-596-5400, opens 9:30 AM exactly one month ahead) or in person at either terminal; summer reservations are typically gone within minutes of going on sale. Without a reservation, get a line number by calling the island terminal at 5:30 AM the day before travel and be in the assigned line 30 minutes before your sailing.

    Sources: maine.gov (2026-09) · maine.gov (2026-09) · en.wikivoyage.org (2026-09) · confidence high

  2. 02
    Vehicle line number for leaving Vinalhaven without a reservationpermit

    Vinalhaven ferry terminal, outbound vehicle queue

    Where
    Phone 207-596-5450 at 5:30 AM the day before you want to leave; press 2 for the line-number queue
    When
    Daily window, 5:30–6:00 AM only; calls before 5:30 go to voicemail, not the queue
    Fare (2025)
    No extra fee beyond the vehicle ticket
    Takes
    Line-up starts 30 minutes before your assigned sailing
    Season
    Year-round
    Booking
    compulsory phone call the day before, 207-596-5450, same-day travel without a reservation still needs a line number

    Sources: maine.gov (2026-09) · confidence high

  3. 03
    North Haven skiff connection to Vinalhavenwater taxi

    Brown's Boat Yard, North Haven, across the Thorofare to Vinalhaven's north coast

    Where
    Take the Rockland–North Haven ferry, walk down to Brown's Boat Yard and ask around for a ride across
    When
    No timetable; informal, ask when you arrive
    Fare (2019)
    About $5 for the ride, per a Wikivoyage contributor's account
    Takes
    A few minutes across the Thorofare
    Season
    Fair-weather workaround, used mainly if the last direct Vinalhaven ferry is missed
    Booking
    none, ask on the dock

    Sources: en.wikivoyage.org (2026-09) · confidence low

  4. 04
    Penobscot Island Airscheduled flight

    Knox County Regional Airport (Owls Head/Rockland) to Vinalhaven's island airstrip

    Where
    Book through the airline; base is at 21 Terminal Ln, Owls Head, ME
    When
    The airline's own history page says it flies 365 days a year to the Penobscot Bay islands; no Vinalhaven timetable is published on its site
    Fare (2026)
    Not published; the booking widget is script-rendered and no fare table could be fetched
    Takes
    A short hop; minutes rather than the ferry's 75
    Season
    Year-round; the airline is the fallback when ferries are iced in or cancelled
    Booking
    Book Now widget on the airline's site, or call (207) 596-7500

    Sources: penobscotislandair.net (2026-09) · penobscotislandair.net (2026-09) · confidence medium

  5. 05
    Penobscot Island Air mail and freight runcargo truck

    Knox County Regional Airport to the Fox Islands and other Penobscot Bay islands

    Where
    Not a passenger-booking route; this is the airline's contracted mail and parcel service
    When
    Daily, contracted with USPS, FedEx and UPS
    Fare (2026)
    Not applicable; freight is billed to the shipper, not the passenger
    Takes
    Same short flight as the passenger service
    Season
    Year-round; this run is why the airline exists as a winter lifeline when the ferry is iced in
    Booking
    Freight tracked through the operator's site; scheduled pickups from Rockland-area stores flown out on request

    Sources: penobscotislandair.net (2026-09) · penobscotislandair.net (2026-09) · confidence medium

  6. 06
    Tidewater Motel bike rentalbicycle hire

    Around Vinalhaven's 49 miles of paved road

    Where
    Ask at the Tidewater Motel, 15 Main St
    When
    on demand, whenever the motel is open
    Fare (2019)
    Free for motel guests, $10/day for everyone else
    Takes
    however long you keep the bike
    Season
    Year-round, most useful in summer
    Booking
    none, arrange at the motel desk

    Sources: en.wikivoyage.org (2026-09) · confidence medium

  7. 07
    Walking and hitching a ride, in place of public transportwalking trail

    Main Street and the island's paved road network

    Where
    There is no bus or taxi service; the island is 5 by 7 miles, so most points are a walkable distance from the village
    When
    always available
    Fare (2026)
    free
    Takes
    varies by destination, rarely more than an hour on foot
    Season
    Year-round
    Booking
    none

    Sources: en.wikivoyage.org (2026-09) · confidence medium

  8. 08
    Winter ice and storm cancellations on the ferryservice status

    Rockland–Vinalhaven crossing

    Where
    Sign up for the Maine State Ferry Service's cancellation alerts on the terminal pages, or call the Rockland terminal, 207-596-5400
    When
    Unpredictable; decided sailing by sailing by MSFS operations in bad weather
    Fare (2026)
    n/a
    Takes
    n/a
    Season
    Mainly winter storms and harbor ice; the exact trigger for a given cancellation is the ferry service's own call, not a fixed rule
    Booking
    n/a

    Sources: maine.gov (2026-09) · confidence medium

  9. 09
    Concord Coachlines, Boston–Rocklandbus

    Boston South Station to Rockland, timed to meet the last Vinalhaven ferry

    Where
    Buy the ticket at South Station; the bus drops passengers at the Rockland ferry terminal parking lot
    When
    Once daily on the connection Wikivoyage describes, arriving Rockland around 16:30
    Fare (2019)
    About $35
    Takes
    About 5 hours from Boston
    Season
    Year-round
    Booking
    Buy on board or online; the Wikivoyage account says buy at the first stop

    Sources: en.wikivoyage.org (2026-09) · confidence low

Not yet confirmed: Penobscot Island Air's Vinalhaven-specific passenger fare and daily flight frequency could not be confirmed; the airline's booking widget (sortie.co/pia) is script-rendered and returned no fare data to a plain fetch. Ask the airline directly, (207) 596-7500.; No fare or booking source could be found for hiring a lobster boat or informal water taxi around Carver's Harbor; the brief's mention of this is plausible (it is common on Maine islands) but unconfirmed here, so it is left out of the options rather than guessed.; The Concord Coachlines $35 Boston–Rockland fare and schedule come from a Wikivoyage edit of unknown date, not the operator's own site; treat it as dated. A concordcoachlines.com citation previously attached to this option carried a note about the site's software instead of a quotation from it and was removed; nothing on the operator's own site has been read for this entry.; MaineDOT's Tariff 11 lists the vehicle reservation for Rockland–Vinalhaven as a separate $17.00 charge in both seasons, not bundled into the vehicle fare as an earlier draft of this entry said. Only the Rockland–Matinicus vehicle fares are marked reservation-included.; The North Haven skiff-crossing fare (~$5) is a single Wikivoyage contributor's account of an informal, unadvertised arrangement, not a fare anyone quotes; confidence is low.; Correction to the brief: 'the North Haven crossing and whether anything links the two islands directly' – the only documented direct link is the informal skiff described above; there is no scheduled ferry or bus directly between Vinalhaven and North Haven..

The field note on Vinalhaven and the Fox Islands reads this entry in full, one option at a time, with every source beside it.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see Commons), Wikimedia Commons.