Nantucket, Massachusetts, USA

Nantucket is an island ruled by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, USA. It has a year-round fishing industry, but it mostly thrives on tourists, due to:

Its own climate, usually 3-5C (5-10F) degrees more pleasant than the rest of Massachusetts, due to being further south and enclosed by ocean. When Boston is freezing, Nantucket is about 3C. When Boston is 30C (86F, as hot as it usually gets), Nantucket tends to be 27C (81F). Boston is itself on the ocean, which makes its temperature more moderate than the rest of Massachusetts. By interior Massachusetts standards, Nantucket is tropical.
Beaches all around the island. When the temperature reaches 25C or so, beaches become popular for some reason outside the perview (sp?) of this entry. :)
Relative convenience to the rest of the USA. Nantucket is accessible only by ferry or turboprop airline, so Americans who like beaches go to warmer parts of America or its associated continents in the wintertime. But in summer Nantucket is relatively cool and pleasant, but still warm enough for a suntan.

In short, it is exactly the sort of place which especially needs a hitchhiker's guide.

The Tourist Season

Some places have a sharply-defined tourist season. In the USA, the standard tourist season is Memorial Day (late May) through Labor Day (early September). Nantucket's tourist season is not so well-defined.

Few lodgings and restaurants on Nantucket are open year-round. Off season there are 10 drinking places on the island, 4 in town (counting the American Legion hall, which may be intimidating for visitors). On season, this roughly quadruples.
Some places open in mid-March or April, for the "Daffodil Festival" when certain flowers bloom. They close at the "Harvest Weekend" in mid-October.
Some places open in early May and close in late September or early October ("Columbus Day").
The remaining places, observe the Memorial Day - Labor Day schedule.

Attractions

Nantucket mostly has beaches. Lots and lots of beaches. They are manned Memorial Day - Labor Day, but there's nothing to stop you from enjoying them all year. There are also some preserved highlands on the island; they may not be as spectacular as the beaches, but due to the windy island climate, they're more unique. What trees you see there, can tolerate the high salt content of the wind.

Nantucket also has a couple of museums, commemorating the island's main industries other than tourism: whaling and basket-making. There are many historic buildings, such as the island's oldest building and the island's old jail, which are also open to tourists. The whaling museum is open year-round, but only on Saturdays outside the main tourist season. Otherwise, tourists are most likely to find their attraction open Memorial Day - Labor Day.

Villages of Nantucket

Nantucket is roughly 14 miles long and 4 miles thick. It is home to 7,000 people in the winter and 50,000 in the summer. Most of these live near Nantucket harbor, in the village of Nantucket.

For other villages: Check the ^%$#@!ing map.

Life on Nantucket

Nantucket is windy. The island is relatively flat, which prevents the wind from stopping. There aren't a lot of trees there, because the wind tends to blow them over. However, many private residences have their own windmills. Nantucket is currently debating the use of windmills on a large scale, to provide island-wide power.

Nantucket is spectacular to look at. Many private residences have their own "crow's nests", which are walkways on top of the house where the residents may look out at the sea. (These house features are also known as "widow's walks".)

Nantucket is boring, at least if you live there full time. It is said to have the highest rate of Driving While Intoxicated accusations in Massachusetts.

Getting to Nantucket

To get onto Nantucket, one must first get onto either Cape Cod or Martha's Vineyard. These are problems in and of themselves, due to their both being islands. Cape Cod is a man-made island, thanks to the Cape Cod Canal; there are only two bridges onto or off of the Cape. These bridges get very crowded in summer. But once one gets onto the Cape, it is the best staging point for Nantucket.

The heavy-duty government-operated ferry (www.islandferry.com) comes to Nantucket from Hyannis three times a day, all year; there are substantially (how many?) more ferries in summer. The ferry takes 2:15 hours each way, though it may run 15 minutes over sometimes. Automobiles cost $105 USD to bring to the island one-way off-season, $165 on season (as opposed to $13 for a passenger and $5 for a bike each way).

There are other ferries which operate during tourist seasons only. One such, the ??, takes only one hour from Hyannis, but it takes passengers (and bicycles?) only. Another ferry operates from Martha's Vineyard (another Massachusetts island, which belies the problem of getting onto the islands in the first place), but only during tourist season.

One may also take an airplane from Hyannis. Airplanes make the trip 10 times a day, all year. The trip takes 12 minutes.

Touring Nantucket

There are several tips which a cheap tourist may take:

Given how much it costs to bring your car to the island... Rent a bike or a scooter. A rental place is within walking distance of where the ferry lands. Bikes cost... ? to rent. Or take a taxi.
Do a day trip. The ferry to the island leaves from Hyannis, Massachusetts at 9:15 am and returns at 5:45 pm. Hyannis hotels are substantially cheaper than Nantucket hotels. The attractions of Nantucket Village may be seen during a day trip on the ferry, or you may skip the attractions (especially if they're closed anyway) and do an entire lap around the island (especially if you're energetic).
Nantucket has a substantial population of migrant workers, especially in the construction industry, who do the day trip.
Eat your lunch at the A&P grocery. It has a deli department, which is substantially cheaper than most local restaurants.
If you want to look like a native, wear a baseball cap, not one of those nautical hats.
If you want to drink like a native, try the Atlantic Cafe in Nantucket village, open year round. For the whole family, it offers a kid's menu.
If you spend a lot of time on the island and frequent the native hangouts, bear in mind that there are a lot of bored policemen there, who keep track of who drinks.