Located just seven miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is the triangular-shaped Atlantic Ocean island known as Martha’s Vineyard. Measuring twenty-six miles long and nine miles wide, the island was established long ago as a prominent summer colony, and it’s no wonder!

Spreading out among its six small towns, the Vineyard hosts a variety of sightseeing beauties. From its alluring beaches and quaint harbor towns to the country farmlands and neighborhood Carpenter Gothic cottages, the relaxed lifestyle of this picture-perfect property not only continues its bucket-list vacation legacy but has also recruited more year-round residents. It’s also no secret that visiting the island might offer a celebrity encounter. Over the years, many well-known notables have called the Vineyard home.

And while Martha’s Vineyard holds all the history, salt life, and art and culture many vacationers crave, to the shark lover, the island has a whole new meaning.

Way back in 1974, the then less-populated island became the filming location for Steven Spielberg’s iconic movie Jaws. Producing an ever-growing cult following, the 1975 film based on Peter Benchley’s novel of the same title tells of a small vacation town that experiences a fatal great white shark attack in the waters of its popular beach just before the town’s money-making holiday of July 4^th.

“Prior to Jaws, films that took place on the ocean would generally have been shot in a studio tank, with the sea projected on a screen in back of the actors. But then you have no horizon. You can’t shoot down or up. How do you shoot the third act of Jaws if you don’t have a horizon? So Steven, Zanuck, and Brown and I made the commitment to have a real horizon and a real ocean so that we could shoot the shark and Orca in the same shot.” ~Bill Gilmore (production executive) from Jaws Memories from Martha’s Vineyard by Matt Taylor

And that commitment, some forty-eight years later, has brought Jaws fans back to the island ever since. So much, that Martha’s Vineyard Tours and Transport has offered a customized Jaws Tour for over twelve years! Fans make their way across the Atlantic waters each year just to explore the island that was used as the setting for Amity, the island town that was terrorized by the infamous killer shark.

I know all about these so-called Jaws cult followers because, well, I’m married to one.

That’s right, my husband, both an independent filmmaker and avid movie buff, is among Spielberg’s great white groupies. And so, for his 50^th birthday (seeing how both he and his favorite cinematic sea creature were spawned during the same decade), we traveled to Martha’s Vineyard for this exclusive, on-site expedition tour of his favorite finned fish.

The Three-Hour Tour…  

Upon arrival on the island, your guide will pick you up and, for the next three hours, you will experience all things Jaws.

Chauffeured around the island, you have access to many of the film’s locations. You will hear non-published stories and accounts about the film, the actors, and what it was like to live on Martha’s Vineyard during the making of this monumental movie classic.

“Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a killer shark…”

And who better to tell the tale than one who lived it!

“You ‘member the scene where Mrs. Kintner slaps the police chief upside the head? Now, twenty-five feet behind him, on the right, is a guy with a white hat and a beard and a girl with curly hair. That’s me and my sister. That’s my twenty-seven seconds of fame!”

Dave Alton guides the Jaws Tour for Martha’s Vineyard Tours and Transport three days a week, and although he may think his cameo in Jaws is his only brush with fame, he’s sadly mistaken. Along with the tour’s popularity, Dave makes the Jaws Tour, and he has earned quite a name for himself as its tour guide.

“I moved to Martha’s Vineyard in 1973 from Pittsburgh. My sister got me a job running a bar in Edgartown. In 1974 Universal Studios rented fifty-eight rooms in the hotel across the street to film Jaws. I had those guys in the bar every night, all night. I became buddies with them, Murray Hamilton, who was the mayor, Richard Dreyfuss, and Roy Scheider who was a first-class gentleman. They invited me on the set, and I watched them make that movie. It was forty-eight years ago, but to me, it was like yesterday. It was just beyond good times!”

“Once the locals realized these people coming in were nice guys, and spending money… You know, this is a tourist island, and tourism is the number one thing, and these guys were showing up and having fun with a bag full of money! They were really a lot of fun!”

During the filming, many of the townspeople of Martha’s Vineyard played extras, just as Dave did in the famous Kintner mom slap scene. Others who ran across the beach and screamed during the shark attack were paid $64 each.  

“It took twenty-six takes for that, and every time she slapped him, she slapped him right upside the head! And I mean, she slapped him like she was pissed off! And finally, Roy Scheider, after twenty-six takes and he never complained about a thing, he said, ‘I’m done!’ His face was bright red! But, you know? I got paid $4.75 an hour to stand there like an idiot in the hot sun watching her slap him upside the head.” Dave laughs.  

The original filming plans on the island were set for six weeks, but that six weeks quickly turned into six and a half months. Problems arose on the set, particularly with the mechanical sharks.

The stories Dave shares are priceless. As he drives you all over the island, stopping at numerous film locations, Dave’s descriptive stories, the sights, the sounds, and even the smells, create a vivid image of what life was like living on the Vineyard during the filming of the major motion picture.

“In the meantime, as we stood in that hot sun, that 1,100-pound tiger shark was hanging there and had been there for five days, and was starting to decompose. That thing smelled all to be damned!”

Dave talks of the one shark in the film that was not mechanical. In the scene where Hooper, the shark expert played by Richard Dreyfuss, inspects the hanging display of Amity’s proof that the killer shark had been captured and killed was, in fact, an authentic dead shark.

“It’s hanging there by its tail, and once this stuff decomposes, it all starts to sag towards the head, and… ugh,” Dave stops for a second. “Anyway, it was nasty!”

The deceased shark was shipped from Sarasota, Florida, and basically perfumed the town with its decomposing eau de toilette until the scene was over. It was taken away by the local fishermen and given a proper burial at sea.

Among the many film locations and stops, Dave swings by some of the islanders’ favorite spots and hangouts, including that of Menemsha Fish Market, which was also the site of Quint’s place in the movie.

The seafood market offers counter service and is rumored by locals to have the best lobster rolls on Martha’s Vineyard. Intrigued, we decided to grab a quick lunch while Dave joined us by the water. Ironically, market owner and commercial swordfish fisherman Stan Larsen shared with us a pretty exciting great white shark tale all his own! And as far as Stan’s lobster rolls? The rumor was spot-on! They were the absolute best I have ever tasted!!

And the grand finale of our Jaws Tour? The Jaws Bridge, of course!

The Jaws Bridge is one of the top five island attractions and Dave always carries a supply of beach towels in the van, just in case anyone decides they want to jump!  

I’ll have to say, my Jaws fanatic husband was ecstatic with the tour, which clearly took his mind off turning the big 5-0! As for me, with each additional Jaws viewing, (and I wanna say I’ve seen the movie somewhere around five more times since our visit last fall) I long to hop in the car, board that ferry, grab another one of Stan’s lobster rolls, and do Dave’s tour, all over again!

The Jaws Tour is one of the many ways to explore the island with Martha’s Vineyard Tours and Transport! From a beach walk, to their Gallery Tour, to the breathtaking Aquinnah Cliffs, and more!

Rated Trip Advisor’s # 1 Martha’s Vineyard Tour!

Click below to book your tour today!