Cherry Grove ferry: Sayville's boat to the Grove, with three fall-to-winter tables

$11 one way in cash, $20 round trip, roughly 20 minutes on the water. Those numbers are enough for most visits from Sayville to Cherry Grove, the Fire Island community of about 300 houses that sits between the Sunken Forest and Fire Island Pines. The boat is run by Sayville Ferry Service from its terminal at 41 River Road, and the tickets are good at either the Grove or the Pines.

October 13 falls inside the fall table, which runs to Sunday, October 25: four boats each way on weekdays, six on Saturdays and four on Sundays. From October 26 the late-fall table cuts weekdays to a morning and a mid-afternoon boat, and from November 30 the early-winter table keeps two boats a day, every day, through December 20. Nothing later than that is published yet.

Cherry Grove is not the only stop on the line. Several boats run as triangle trips that also call at Fire Island Pines, and in late fall and early winter all of them do, so the journey can take a little longer than the 20 minutes the company quotes.

Four boats a weekday now, two from late October

Sayville Ferry Service Cherry Grove tables for fall (October 5–25), late fall (October 26 – November 29) and early winter (November 30 – December 20, 2026), read on October 13, 2026 from the operator's PDF and image versions, which agree. The winter table is marked "Coming Soon".   Sayville Ferry Service — Cherry Grove Schedule · 2026-10-13

Cash fares set by the county legislature, plus 3.5 percent by card

Each fare comes in two versions because cards carry a 3.5 percent surcharge. Both columns match the rate schedule the Suffolk County Legislature approved in June 2022, after its Budget Review Office judged the increase reasonable; the card price is simply the cash price plus 3.5 percent. Tickets are bought at the Sayville terminal booth or the Cherry Grove office, and a round trip is good for a return on any day.

Fares on the operator's fare page, read October 13, 2026; identical to Schedule A of the rate petition approved by the Suffolk County Legislature in Resolution 459-2022   Sayville Ferry Service — Fares · 2026-10-13

A River Road terminal with restrooms and a dock steps from the bars

Both ends are walkable for anyone on foot. A cab from the Sayville Long Island Rail Road station normally meets the trains, and the ferry office lists the parking numbers on its contact page.

Out of Browns Creek and south across the Great South Bay

The boats leave Browns Creek in Sayville, run south across the Great South Bay and land on the bay side of Fire Island at Cherry Grove. Some departures, marked with a triangle on the printed tables, continue to or come from Fire Island Pines next door; in late fall and early winter every boat does.

Wagons, weight limits and what stays on the dock

• Two bags or one suitcase ride free

  Every rider is allowed a free pair of bags weighing up to 25 lb apiece, or alternatively one suitcase of up to 50 lb. No single item may weigh more than 50 lb.

• Wagons go through the freight gate

  Wagons start at $15 and upright carts at $10, with weight surcharges on top. They must be loaded by crew through the freight gate; one taken through the ticket booth is charged an extra $30.

• Things the boat refuses

  Propane tanks, flammable liquids, appliances, furniture, TVs, construction materials, garden plants, bicycles and e-bikes are all banned, and so are paper and plastic grocery bags: use boxes or canvas bags.

• Freight closes 20 minutes ahead

  Extra items, up to five per passenger, must be checked in and on board 20 minutes before departure. Late freight gets priority on the next boat.

• The work boats

  The 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. boats give workers some extra leeway for tools and supplies, within Coast Guard limits.

• Use the terminal first

  The boats have no toilets, so use the ones in the Sayville terminal before boarding.

A sailboat in 1894, a Cherry Grove run since 1983

The company dates itself to 1894, when Charles Stein, a German immigrant, began sailing passengers across the Great South Bay in a gaff-rigged boat. His family still owns it four generations later. According to the Suffolk County Legislature's Budget Review Office, the present company started serving Fire Island Pines in 1955, Cherry Grove in 1983 and Water Island in 1989; Sailors Haven, the national seashore landing, is run under a separate federal contract.

Cherry Grove itself is older than the ferry. The company's own history says the Perkinson family bought the land in 1868 and named it for the black cherry trees, and ran a hotel there until the 1920s. After the 1938 hurricane frightened mainland vacationers away, the Grove became a haven for LGBTQ people escaping the city, and the company still calls it one of the most popular LGBTQ-accepting resort communities anywhere.

Sayville's boats cover the middle of Fire Island, and two other companies on this site work the rest of it. The Kismet boat from Bay Shore belongs to Fire Island Ferries and serves the western communities, and the Davis Park ferry sails from Patchogue to the eastern end. All of them cross the same bay inside Suffolk County, yet each sails from its own mainland town, to its own printed table and at its own county-approved fares.

Three Clippers, an Empress, an Express and the Traveler

Sayville-to-Cherry Grove questions, answered from the operator's own pages