Overall traffic on Steamship Authority ferries is either flat or down slightly for the year, but in fact peak-season summer traffic on ferries to the Vineyard - both passenger and automobile traffic - has been healthy.

Also, the patchwork of parking lots in Falmouth and Bourne that are used to service boat line ferries to the Vineyard were never completely filled this summer, raising some question about the recent statements by the boat line general manager about the need to shift passenger traffic to New Bedford.

Woods Hole never witnessed a morning quite like July 1, 1995.

Sunrise in the port town revealed a thick trail of overstuffed sedans, wagons, trucks and jeeps snaking its way from standby line at the packed Steamship Authority terminal to the Woods Hole Road and beyond. The standby line itself topped 400 cars; more than 1,000 passengers awaited ferries to begin a four-day holiday weekend.

It was, in a word, gridlock.