Jaws Bridge, Edgartown, Massachusetts

The American Legion Memorial Bridge carries a two-lane road between Edgartown and Oak Bluffs, and almost nobody calls it that. In 1975 Steven Spielberg filmed the estuary scene here, and ever since it has been Jaws Bridge — a low concrete span that people line up to jump off in summer. Getting a group there involves one decision that governs everything else, and a charter bus to Jaws Bridge is really a question about the ferry.

The ferry decides the whole trip

Martha's Vineyard is an island. Every vehicle that reaches it does so on a Steamship Authority ferry from Woods Hole, and space for large vehicles is limited, expensive, and booked far in advance. Taking a full-size coach across is possible and it is rarely the right answer.

What most groups do instead: the charter carries everyone to the Woods Hole terminal, the group walks onto the ferry as foot passengers, and island transport handles the rest. Walk-on tickets are inexpensive, need no vehicle reservation, and the crossing takes about forty-five minutes. The coach either waits at Woods Hole or returns to collect you in the evening, and both arrangements are cheaper than shipping it across.

Tell your operator which arrangement you want when you ask for a price. A quote assuming the vehicle waits eight hours at the terminal is a different number from one assuming it drives away and comes back, and the difference is worth knowing about before you commit.

The bridge itself, and the jumping

It is a modest structure — that is part of the charm. The water below is a tidal channel between Sengekontacket Pond and Nantucket Sound, and jumping from the bridge has been an island summer ritual for decades. It has also produced injuries, the current runs hard on a changing tide, and depth varies.

If you are bringing a youth group, decide your position on this before you arrive rather than at the railing with thirty teenagers watching other people jump. The photograph from the bridge is the reason to come, and it does not require anybody to get wet.

What else to do on the island

• Oak Bluffs: the gingerbread cottages of the Methodist Campground, and the Flying Horses Carousel, the oldest operating platform carousel in the country. A ten-minute walk from the bridge's northern end.
• Edgartown: whaling captains' houses, white clapboard and picket fences, and the harbor. The prettiest town on the island and the most walkable.
• Aquinnah Cliffs: colored clay cliffs and a lighthouse at the western tip, about forty minutes from Edgartown.
• State Beach: the stretch of sand running either side of the bridge, calm on the pond side and open on the Sound side.

Which charter bus fits the mainland leg

• Forty to fifty-six: a full-size charter bus is right for the run down from Boston or Providence to Woods Hole, with luggage bays for an overnight group.
• Twenty to thirty-two: a mini bus is the more practical vehicle if you do intend to take it across, and considerably cheaper on the ferry.
• Ten to fourteen: a sprinter van crosses easily and suits a small group that wants a vehicle on the island.

Groups searching for charter bus rental near me for a Vineyard trip should raise the island question in the first conversation. An operator who quotes without asking how you intend to cross has not planned the trip, and the ferry is the expensive, capacity-constrained part.