The Route
Charter Flights from Miami to Pig Island
Pig Island is the name everyone uses for Big Major Cay in the Exumas, about 225 nautical miles southeast of Miami. Nobody lives on it and nothing lands on it, so every flight ends with a short boat ride from Staniel Cay next door. The choice is which aircraft carries your party down the chain: a family with bags, a couple out for the pigs and lunch and friends meeting a boat will not pick the same one, and that is fine.
Charter flights from Miami to Pig Island are private: the whole aircraft is yours and nobody else is on board. You name the hour, we set the aircraft, the crew, the stop where you clear in and the boat at the end, and both border filings are ours. Your party brings passports and a bag, per the travel documents guidance.
Four aircraft fly this route and each has its own page: a seaplane to the water off Pig Beach, a small plane to Staniel Cay, a helicopter that skips the airport and a private jet. The choice right below this block shows you the difference in one look, and if you are still unsure, ask us: we quote them side by side for your date.
Plan Your Pig Island Charter
Choose Your Aircraft
Flights to Pig Island: Seaplane, Small Plane, Helicopter or Private Jet
Your island escape starts with the flight. You can choose between several aircraft for a private journey to Pig Island with breathtaking ocean views. Tell us your travel dates, group size and what you’re bringing. We’ll help you find the perfect aircraft for your needs and preferences.
Seaplane
Fly privately to Pig Island by seaplane with exclusive water landings and direct waterfront access.
Small Plane
Fly privately to Pig Island on aircraft such as the Cessna Grand Caravan, Piper Aztec or Piper Navajo.
Helicopter
Fly privately to Pig Island on helicopters such as the Bell 407, Agusta 109 or Sikorsky S-76.
Private Jet
Fly privately to Pig Island on Light Jet, Mid Jet or Super Mid Jet aircraft.
How It Works
How Private Charter Flights from Miami to Pig Island Work
Private charter flights from Miami follow the same six steps, whatever the aircraft. Here is what every one of them includes, from the first message to the moment you are on the beach with the pigs.
Plan Your Pig Island CharterDistance and Aircraft
225 Nautical Miles and Four Ways to Fly Them
Miami to Pig Island is about 225 nautical miles, across the Gulf Stream and down over the banks to the Exuma Cays. How long it takes in the air depends on the aircraft: the seaplane is about an hour and a half, the others come back with the quote. Either way the pigs are the long part of the day.
The Whole Aircraft
One Party on Board and No Seats Sold
Every flight on this page is a charter, so the cabin is yours and the departure time is the one you give us. That is the difference to a scheduled seat, and it holds for all four aircraft. A larger party simply flies a larger aircraft or a second one, and the party still travels on one booking.
Where Each One Lands
Staniel Cay, the Water and a Boat for the Last Mile
Big Major Cay has no runway, so a small plane lands on the strip at Staniel Cay next door and a boat crosses to Pig Beach in five to ten minutes. A seaplane sets down on the water instead. A jet lands at Norman's Cay and a short connecting flight brings you down to Staniel Cay.
Both Borders
Passports, the Manifest and Both Borders Filed for You
Staniel Cay is not an airport of entry, so every routing clears into the Bahamas at a port of entry on the way and flies the last leg after it. Passengers carry a passport, children included, and everything else sits on our side. What counts as valid is in the travel documents guidance.
On Board and Ashore
Catering, the Boat and Occasions Set Up With the Flight
Whatever the day is for is organised before you leave: catering on board, the boat out to the pigs at the other end, flowers for a birthday. A proposal or an anniversary is planned into the flight as a custom experience rather than around it.
How Long the Day Runs
Same-Day Return or Several Nights in the Exumas
Many parties fly down in the morning and home the same evening, and the aircraft waits while you are with the pigs. Staying longer is the same booking with a later return. Weather and delays is the only thing that moves the plan.
Departure Points
Departure Points for Private Flights to Pig Island from Miami
Where your flight leaves from follows the aircraft you pick and where your party is staying. These are the four fields we use around Miami for a flight to the islands. Select one to see exactly where it sits.
Miami Executive
Miami Executive Airport, TMB, Kendall
Kendall-Tamiami, a general aviation field in the south west of the county, and the easy start for a small plane or a helicopter. Parking sits close to the ramp, so the walk to the aircraft is short. Pick it when your party is staying south or west of downtown.
Opa-locka Executive
Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, OPF
Opa-locka Executive in the north west, with private terminal handling for every aircraft on this page. Most flights to the islands are dispatched from here, and a return from the Bahamas can clear US customs in the same place. If nothing else decides it, this is where the day begins.
Miami International
Miami International Airport, MIA
Miami International as a pickup, for a party arriving on an airline that wants to go straight on to the island. Set up flight by flight and confirmed with the operator before the quote. Allow extra ground time, because a big commercial airport keeps its own pace.
Fort Lauderdale Executive
Fort Lauderdale Executive, FXE
Fort Lauderdale Executive, for a party staying in Broward or further north. It has its own federal inspection station, so a return from the islands can clear there too. The aircraft comes to you rather than you driving south to it.
How to Book
Book Miami to Pig Island Flights
Booking a flight takes four steps, and only the first one is yours.
Plan Your Pig Island Charter- 01
Contact Us
Write to us on WhatsApp or by email. Send your dates, how many guests, where you are coming from and which aircraft you have in mind, or tell us you are not sure yet. Tell us the hour you would like to leave and whether you come back the same day. That is all we need to start.
- 02
Get the Options Back
We check what is free on your date and send the aircraft that fit your party, side by side: seats, bags, time in the air and the price of each. That is usually where the choice between water and runway makes itself: calm water and a light party point one way, a load of gear or a windy forecast the other.
- 03
Confirm and Pay
You pick the aircraft, and we fix the departure point, the stop where you clear in and the boat to the pigs. Then everything around the flight: catering on board, a golf cart or ground transport on Staniel Cay, flowers if the day is a special one. You approve it, you pay, and the boarding time comes back to you.
- 04
Be There 30 Minutes Before
There is no terminal queue on a charter. Arrive half an hour before the time we sent, walk to the aircraft with your bags and take off.
In the Exumas
Where Charter Flights Miami to Pig Island Put You Down
Where your flight puts you down for Pig Island depends on the aircraft. Wheels end on the strip at Staniel Cay, floats end on the water, and from either one a short boat ride takes you to the beach where the pigs swim. Below is what waits at each end, and what a day down there can look like.
Plan Your Pig Island CharterStaniel Cay Airport for Runway Aircraft
Wheels Down
The small plane lands on the strip at Staniel Cay, the inhabited island next to Big Major Cay, and the jet's connecting flight from Norman's Cay ends here as well. Staniel Cay is not an airport of entry, so your party has already cleared into the Bahamas on the way down, usually on Andros for a small plane and at Norman's Cay for a jet. The arrival here is domestic, with no desk and no queue. Tell us at the enquiry if anyone travels on a passport other than a United States one. From the strip a golf cart or the boat is waiting if you booked it, and the aircraft stays parked for your return. On a day trip that means the same short walk back in the evening and no check-in at all.
On the Water for the Seaplane
Floats Down
A seaplane skips the strip altogether and sets down on the sheltered water of the Exuma Cays, which keeps the boat ride to the pigs short. Like every routing it clears into the Bahamas at a port of entry on the way, usually on Andros, before it flies the last leg. Where it sets down and meets the boat is planned for your date, and the details are on the seaplane from Miami to Pig Island page. The trade is the water. A seaplane needs a calm enough surface to land, so on a windy morning the strip at Staniel Cay is the safer plan, and we tell you that before you book rather than on the day.
The Boat Across to Pig Beach
Five to Ten Minutes
Big Major Cay has no runway, so the last stretch is always on the water. From Staniel Cay a boat crosses about 1.28 miles to Pig Beach in five to ten minutes. The boat is held for your aircraft rather than run to a timetable, so the skipper knows which landing they are waiting on and a late flight changes nothing for you. We quote it together with the flight. Bags can stay with the aircraft on a day trip, so the boat ride is swimwear, a towel and a camera, and the whole hop from the aircraft to the beach is arranged before you land.
Swimming Pigs at Pig Beach
The Reason to Go
The pigs live on the beach at Big Major Cay and swim out to meet the boats as they come in. The water is shallow and clear, so the whole party can stand in it with them. Nobody lives on the island, so there is no hotel and no restaurant, just the beach and the anchorage. What there is to know before you go is covered on the Pig Island destination page, and anything unusual goes to custom requests. Visitors are asked to feed the pigs only what the skipper hands out and to keep the beach clean. An hour with them is usually enough, and the rest of the day is for the cays around.
Flying Over the Exuma Cays
Seen From Above
The last part of the flight is the best part. The deep blue of the Gulf Stream gives way to the banks, and the Exuma Cays come up as a chain of small islands with turquoise water and sandbars between them. Pipe Creek, the maze of cays and channels just north of Staniel Cay, dries out into sandbars at low tide and is one of the sights on the way in. It is one of the reasons people ask for scenic flights on the approach. Ask the crew to come in low over the cays if the day allows, and have a camera ready on the side facing the chain.
Compass Cay and Thunderball Grotto
The Rest of the Day
The pigs rarely fill the whole day. Compass Cay, with its nurse sharks in the shallows by the marina, is about twenty minutes north by boat. Thunderball Grotto, the snorkelling cave from the Bond film, sits beside Staniel Cay, and a beach picnic on a sandbar fits into the same afternoon. Tell us which of them you want with your date, and the boat is booked for the whole loop rather than just the crossing to the pigs.
Bags, Gear and Payload by Aircraft
What Each One Carries
What you can bring is a question of weight, and every aircraft answers it differently. Floats carry less than wheels, a helicopter less again, and a jet the most. Snorkel gear, rods, a cooler for the boat: tell us at the enquiry and the right aircraft comes back with the quote. The baggage guidance explains the trade between passengers and weight. Anything bigger than luggage travels as island logistics instead. The simple rule: the more you carry, the more the runway aircraft make sense, and the lighter you travel, the more the water landing becomes the easy choice.
Onward Through the Bahamas From the Exumas
Domestic After Entry
Pig Island also works as one stop of a longer trip. Once you have cleared in on the way down, every leg after it stays inside the Bahamas. The same charter can carry on to Staniel Cay and the Exumas, George Town, Nassau or Exuma. That is how one beach becomes island hopping or a Bahamas day. The ready-made version of a single day is the Pig Island getaway day trip, and the rest of the islands are on the Bahamas destinations page.
Ready When You Are
Ready to Book Charter Flights to Pig Island from Miami?
Send your date, the number of guests and the aircraft you are leaning towards. You get back what is free, what each option costs and when it can leave, and nothing is booked until you say so.
Add-Ons
Charter Flight to Pig Island Add-Ons
Name the ones you want when you send your dates and they are priced together with the flight.
In Detail
Flights from Miami to Pig Island: What to Know Before You Fly
Everything above is the day. What follows is the detail behind flights from Miami to Pig Island: what the crossing looks like, who sets the hour, who files the border and what people fly down to mark. Other flights to the Bahamas work the same way, some of them shorter.
Miami to Pig Island Charter Flights: Four Ways Down to the Exumas
The same 225 miles of water seen from four different aircraft
The crossing is not dead time between two airports, whichever aircraft you take. Leaving the coast, the water turns from harbour green to the deep blue of the Gulf Stream, and further on the banks come up pale and shallow for mile after mile. How you see it depends on the aircraft. A seaplane and a helicopter stay low enough to read the water, and the helicopter has glass on every side. A small plane gives everybody a window. A private jet climbs over the weather and makes the long leg the short one. The last part runs along the Exuma Cays, a chain of small islands with sandbars and channels between them. That is why charter flights to Pig Island from Miami double as scenic flights for anybody sitting by a window. The sandbars of Pipe Creek are clear from the air on a sunny day, and nobody leans over a stranger to see them. An afternoon return shows the same water in a lower light, so the way home is a second view, not a repeat.
Private Flights to Pig Island from Miami: You Decide the Departure Time
Your hour, your names and a charter flight to Pig Island
Private flights to Pig Island from Miami have no timetable. The day is built around the hour you name, not around a departure board. You pick the hour you want to lift off, the hour you want to be on the beach and the one you want to be home, and the whole plan is built backwards from those three times. The aircraft and the boat are held for your party, so a change a few days before is a message to us. Half an hour before departure is the whole check-in. Your party walks from the car to the aircraft, the bags go on in front of you and the only names on the list are yours. The same freedom holds on the way back. If lunch on Staniel Cay runs long or the water is too good to leave, the aircraft waits, and the hour home moves with you instead of a gate closing on you. A day with the pigs and a long weekend in the Exumas are planned the same way: three times from you, one aircraft held for your party and nobody else's schedule anywhere in the day. An early departure puts you on the beach before the day boats arrive, and an evening return has you back in Miami late that night. Every hour in between belongs to your party and to nobody else.
Miami to Pig Island Flights: The Crew Handles Both Borders
Passports are all your party carries on a Pig Island crossing
Miami to Pig Island flights cross an international border twice in one day, and that is the part that goes wrong when nobody prepares it. The Bahamas asks for a declaration filed from Florida, clearance at a port of entry on arrival and a US return filed before you head home. Staniel Cay is not one, so a stop on the way clears you in. The crew files all of it. Your party carries a valid passport and nothing else, children included, per the travel documents guidance. What may travel is in the baggage guidance. A name added or dropped before the day is a message to us, and a departure moved by weather runs under the weather and delays policy. Coming home works the same way in reverse. The return is filed before you leave the Exumas, and the aircraft lands where the United States can clear you, which is part of the plan we send with the quote. None of this is paperwork your party fills in at a counter. The passport list is all we need from you, and we send it on with the filings before the day, so nothing waits for you at the desk. If a detail changes on the day, the crew updates the filing.
Charter Flights Miami to Pig Island: Milestone Days and Bahamas Weekends
A day with the pigs, a long weekend or something to celebrate in the Exumas
Most people who fly down mark something. Charter flights Miami to Pig Island are booked for a birthday, a proposal, an anniversary or a weekend away with the people who matter, and swimming with the pigs is the kind of moment the whole party remembers. Some parties fly down for the day and are home the same night, others stay a few nights and book the return for the day they want. The whole party travels together on one booking. If there is something to celebrate, say so when you book: catering, a private chef and flowers travel with you, set up before you board. The date comes first and the aircraft is planned around it, so a lunch booking on Staniel Cay or a yacht waiting at anchor decides when you fly, not the other way round. Tell us the occasion and the number of guests with your date, and the quote comes back with the aircraft, the hours and whatever you asked to have on board, ready for you to confirm with one reply.
Questions
Charter Flights to Pig Island from Miami: Questions Answered
How long is the flight from Miami to Pig Island?
Pig Island is about 225 nautical miles southeast of Miami, in the Exuma Cays. A seaplane covers it in about an hour and a half in the air. For a small plane, a helicopter or a jet the time depends on the aircraft and the field you leave from, and it comes back with the quote.
Every routing adds one stop to clear into the Bahamas and a short boat ride at the end, and that is what really sets the length of the day.
What is the best way to get to Pig Island?
It depends on how much time you have and what you carry. A seaplane lands on the water and keeps the boat ride short. A small plane lands on the strip at Staniel Cay and carries more weight.
A jet is the fastest over the long leg and lands at Norman's Cay, with a short connecting flight after it. A helicopter saves the drive to an airport. We quote the options side by side so you can compare.
Do I need a passport to fly to Pig Island?
Yes, every passenger needs one, children included. The Bahamas is another country, and a private aircraft does not change that. We take the passport details once when you enquire and file the manifest for both sides before departure. The travel documents page lists what each passenger sends and by when, including the cases that need more notice. Nothing else has to be printed or carried.
Can a plane land on Pig Island?
No. Big Major Cay is uninhabited and has no runway, so no aircraft lands on the island itself. A small plane lands at Staniel Cay next door, a jet lands at Norman's Cay and connects down, and a seaplane sets down on the water.
The last stretch to Pig Beach is a boat ride of five to ten minutes, held for your arrival. Which routing suits your day is the first thing we answer when you send your dates and your party size.
Where do we clear customs on the way to Pig Island?
At a port of entry on the way, because Staniel Cay is not one. A small plane usually clears on Andros, which sits on the line, and a jet clears where it lands at Norman's Cay. After that every leg is domestic. The crew plans and files the stop, so for your party it is a short pause, not an errand.
Can you take a day trip to Pig Island?
Yes, it is a long day but a common one. On a charter the aircraft waits for you, so the return is set by you and not by a timetable. Out early, back in the evening, with both borders handled. If you would rather stay a night, tell us when you enquire and the return is planned for that day. Many guests come for the pigs and stay for the rest of the Exumas.
How much baggage can we take?
It is a question of weight, not of the number of bags, and it differs by aircraft. Floats carry less than wheels, and a jet carries the most. Say what is coming when you enquire, including snorkel gear, rods, a cooler and anything with a battery, and the answer comes back with the quote rather than at the aircraft.
Remember the last stretch is a small boat, so soft bags travel easiest. If the load decides it, the aircraft is chosen around what you bring, not the other way round.
Is Pig Island good for families?
It is one of the days children talk about for years. The pigs swim out into shallow, clear water off the beach, and the boat from Staniel Cay is short. Children need passports like everybody else.
On a charter there is no terminal and no queue, which is usually what makes the difference with small children. Ask the skipper how to feed the pigs safely, and keep food out of reach until you are told.
Can we fly on to another island from Pig Island afterwards?
Yes. Once you have cleared into the Bahamas, every leg after it is domestic. The same aircraft can carry on to George Town on Great Exuma, Nassau or the cays further down the chain, as long as the next island has a place for it to land.
Tell us the shape of the whole trip when you enquire and it is quoted as one booking. Where the next island only has water to land on, that leg switches to a seaplane.
What happens if the weather is bad on the day?
Every aircraft handles weather differently. A seaplane needs calm enough water to land, a small plane and a jet use the runway and a jet can climb above much of it. The boat to the pigs needs a reasonable sea as well. If conditions are below what is safe, the crew moves or cancels the flight and the weather and delays policy says what that means for your booking. That call is always the crew's.
Is a charter cheaper than a scheduled flight?
No, and it is not meant to be. A scheduled seat is cheaper because someone else picked the time and you share the aircraft. A charter buys you the aircraft: your departure, your return, your party only.
We send the price for the whole aircraft, so you can split it across your party and compare fairly. Tell us what matters most, the time with the pigs, the landing point or the budget, and we suggest the aircraft that fits it best.
Can I bring a pet on a charter flight?
Yes, pets travel in the cabin with you. The one thing we ask is that you tell us at the enquiry, with the type of animal and its weight, so the seating and the load plan are right from the start.
Next Step
Ready to Book Miami to Pig Island Charter Flights?
Send your date, the number of guests and where you are leaving from. You get back the aircraft that fit, the boarding time and what the whole day costs, before anything is booked.
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