The Route
Charter Flights from Miami to Ragged Island
Ragged Island sits at the far southern end of the Bahamas, about 325 nautical miles of open water south east of Miami. It is the bottom of the Jumentos chain, with one settlement, Duncan Town, and a paved strip. The island is not a port of entry, so every aircraft clears at George Town on the way down, and with that stop planned in, every aircraft we fly makes sense. The choice is about your party, your bags and the flats you came for. A party coming to fish and a family heading to a boat will not pick the same one.
Charter flights from Miami to Ragged Island are private: the whole aircraft is yours and nobody else is on board. You name the hour, we set the aircraft, the crew and the field it leaves from, 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 down to the flats, a small plane to Duncan Town, a helicopter low over the chain 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 Ragged Island Charter
Choose Your Aircraft
Flights to Ragged 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 Ragged 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 Ragged Island by seaplane with exclusive water landings and direct waterfront access.
Small Plane
Fly privately to Ragged Island on aircraft such as the Cessna Grand Caravan, Piper Aztec or Piper Navajo.
Helicopter
Fly privately to Ragged Island on helicopters such as the Bell 407, Agusta 109 or Sikorsky S-76.
Private Jet
Fly privately to Ragged Island on Light Jet, Mid Jet or Super Mid Jet aircraft.
How It Works
How Private Charter Flights from Miami to Ragged 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 island.
Plan Your Ragged Island CharterDistance and Aircraft
325 Nautical Miles and Four Ways to Fly Them
Miami to Ragged Island is about 325 nautical miles, roughly 374 statute, almost all of it open water. How long it takes in the air depends on the aircraft and the stop on the way: the seaplane and the others come back with their time in the quote. Either way the whole route is planned before you book.
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
Water by the Flats for Floats, a Runway for Wheels
A seaplane settles on the water where the boat or the flat is, around Ragged Island. A small plane and a jet land on the 3,800 foot strip at Duncan Town. The helicopter lands at the strip as well, after the same stop as the others.
Both Borders
Passports, the Manifest and Both Borders Filed for You
Ragged Island is not a port of entry, so every aircraft clears at George Town first and flies the last leg domestic. 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, Transfers and Occasions Set Up With the Flight
Whatever the day is for is organised before you leave: catering on board, a car or a golf cart 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
Several Nights or One Long Day on Ragged Island
Most parties stay a few nights and fly home on the day they choose, and on a long day trip the aircraft waits while you are on the island. Either way it is one booking. Weather and delays is the only thing that moves the plan.
Departure Points
Departure Points for Private Flights to Ragged 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 Ragged Island Flights
Booking a flight takes four steps, and only the first one is yours.
Plan Your Ragged 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 boat by the flats 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 and the landing site. Then everything around the flight: catering on board, a golf cart or ground transport on the island, 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.
On the Island
Where Charter Flights Miami to Ragged Island Put You Down
Where your flight puts you down on Ragged Island depends on the aircraft. Floats end on the water by the flats or the boat, wheels end on the strip at Duncan Town, and every aircraft has cleared at George Town on the way. Below is what waits at each end, and what a day out there can look like.
Plan Your Ragged Island CharterDuncan Town Airport for Runway Aircraft
Wheels Down
The small plane, the jet and the helicopter all arrive at Duncan Town Airport, MYRD, a single asphalt strip of 3,799 feet just outside the island's one settlement. The airport is not a port of entry, so the formalities happen at George Town on the way down, usually in minutes, since the crew filed everything before departure. The officers keep daytime hours, so a morning flight is the easier one. Tell us at the enquiry if anyone travels on a passport other than a United States one. The field has no fuel, so the aircraft is loaded for the way home before it leaves George Town. It stays parked on the apron for your return, and on the way back there is no check-in at all.
Open Water by the Flats for the Seaplane
On the Water
A seaplane skips the strip altogether. It lands on the water where the boat or the flat is, at a site approved in advance by the civil aviation authority. It clears at George Town like the others and flies the last leg south over the chain. It is the shortest way from Miami to a bonefish flat on Ragged Island, and the details are on the seaplane from Miami to Ragged Island page. The trade is the water. A seaplane needs a calm enough surface to land, so on a rough winter morning the runway is the safer plan, and we tell you that before you book rather than on the day.
The Clearance Stop at George Town
One Stop on the Way
Ragged Island is not on the customs list of ports of entry, so every aircraft lands first at George Town on Great Exuma, about 78 nautical miles north, and clears you into the Bahamas there. The stop is short and the crew files it before departure. The last leg south is then a domestic flight, and both legs are planned in the quote, so you see the whole day before you book. The strip on Long Island sits close by as well, but its port of entry is listed as inactive, which is why the day runs through George Town.
Duncan Town and the Salt Ponds
The One Settlement
Duncan Town is the only settlement on Ragged Island, named after Duncan Taylor, who opened the salt ponds in the late nineteenth century. It has a harbour, a lighthouse and the salt pond, and families still rake salt from their own plots. A few dozen people live here, so a stay is planned ahead rather than found on arrival. What there is to do once you are there is covered on the Ragged Island destination page. If you want food waiting when you land, add catering, and anything unusual goes to custom requests. Hurricane Irma struck in September 2017, and since 2020 a solar field has carried most of the island's power. Longer stays usually plan around a boat, which is why a seaplane landing next to one appeals to them.
Flying Over the Reef
Seen From Above
The last part of the flight is the best part. South of George Town the water breaks into the turquoise of the Jumentos bank, and from a low flying aircraft you see the reef, the sandbars and the flats clearly on a sunny morning. The Jumentos and Ragged Island Range runs over 110 miles with more than a hundred cays, Flamingo Cay and Raccoon Cay among them. It is one of the reasons people ask for scenic flights on the approach. Ask the crew to come in low over the chain if the day allows, and have a camera ready by the window.
Bonefish, Permit and Tarpon on the Flats
Ragged Island's Signature Catch
Fishing the flats is the reason most guests fly to Ragged Island. Bonefish run to around fifteen pounds here, permit past twenty five and tarpon past eighty, on flats that see very few boats. Off the chain there are grouper, snapper, barracuda, tuna and kingfish. A boat runs out from the harbour, and a beach picnic on a sandbar fits into the same afternoon. Hog Cay to the north has a sheltered bay where people from Duncan Town keep a covered meeting place on the beach. The cays up the chain are minutes by air, so they fit into the same day as a flight from Miami.
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. Fly rods, dive gear, 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 by the flats becomes the easy choice.
Onward Through the Bahamas From Ragged Island
Domestic After George Town
Ragged Island also works as part of a longer trip. The border is cleared at George Town on the way down, so every leg after it stays inside the Bahamas. The same charter can carry on to Long Island, George Town, Nassau or Staniel Cay and the Exumas. That is how one island becomes island hopping or a Bahamas day. The ready-made version of a single day is the Ragged 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 Ragged 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 Ragged 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 Ragged Island: What to Know Before You Fly
Everything above is the day. What follows is the detail behind flights from Miami to Ragged Island: what the crossing looks like, who sets the hour, who files the border and what people fly over to mark. Other flights to the Bahamas work the same way, most of them shorter.
Miami to Ragged Island Charter Flights: Four Ways Down the Bahamas Chain
The same long stretch 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 over the banks it turns turquoise again. 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 turns the crossing into a short hop. South of George Town the Jumentos Cays line up below, more than a hundred of them over 110 miles and almost none lived on. That is why charter flights to Ragged Island from Miami double as scenic flights for anybody sitting by a window. The bonefish flats around the cays are just as clear, and so is the dark line where the reef starts. Nobody on board has to lean over a stranger to see it, because the whole cabin belongs to your party. 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 Ragged Island from Miami: You Decide the Departure Time
Your hour, your names and a charter flight to Ragged Island
Private flights to Ragged 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 island and the one you want to be home, and the whole plan is built backwards from those three times. The aircraft is 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 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 trip and a long weekend on the island are planned the same way: three times from you, one aircraft held for your party and nobody else's schedule anywhere in the day. A morning departure puts you on the sand before the heat builds, and an evening return has you back in Miami for dinner. Every hour in between belongs to your party and to nobody else.
Miami to Ragged Island Flights: The Crew Handles Both Borders
Passports are all your party carries on a Ragged Island crossing
Miami to Ragged Island flights cross an international border twice on every trip, 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 the way in and a US return filed before you head home. Ragged Island is not a port of entry, so every aircraft on this page clears at George Town first and flies the last 78 nautical miles as a domestic leg. 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 island, 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 Ragged Island: Milestone Days and Bahamas Weekends
A long weekend, a fishing week or something to celebrate on Ragged Island
Most people who fly over mark something. Charter flights Miami to Ragged Island are booked for a birthday, a proposal, an anniversary or a weekend away with the people who matter, and the whole aircraft is yours, so the occasion stays the point of the trip. Some parties fly down for a long day when the daylight allows, 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 dinner booking or a boat leaving at a set hour 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 Ragged Island from Miami: Questions Answered
How long is the flight from Miami to Ragged Island?
Ragged Island is about 325 nautical miles from downtown Miami, roughly 374 statute, almost all of it open water, with a clearance stop at George Town on the way down.
The time in the air depends on the aircraft and the field you leave from, and it comes back with the quote. What really sets the length of the day is the border on both sides and how long you stay.
What is the best way to get to Ragged Island?
It depends on where you want to end up and what you carry. A seaplane sets down on the water where the boat or the flat is.
A small plane or a jet lands on the paved strip at Duncan Town and handles more weight and rougher water. A helicopter flies low over the chain the whole way. We quote the options side by side so you can compare.
Do I need a passport to fly to Ragged 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 in Ragged Island?
Yes, in two ways. Duncan Town Airport has a paved runway of 3,799 feet, so a small plane, a jet or a helicopter lands there. A seaplane lands on the water instead, at a site approved in advance.
Ragged Island is not a port of entry, so every aircraft clears into the Bahamas at George Town on Great Exuma first and flies the last leg as a domestic flight. Which of the two suits your day is the first thing we answer when you send your dates and your party size.
Where does the flight land in Ragged Island?
That depends on the aircraft. Runway aircraft land at Duncan Town Airport, just outside the island's one settlement. A seaplane lands on the water close to the boat or the flats you came for. There is no fuel on the field, so the way back is planned before the aircraft leaves George Town. Both options have cleared customs on the way down.
Can you take a day trip to Ragged Island?
It can be done, but it is a calculation rather than a given. On a charter the aircraft waits for you, so the return is set by you and not by a timetable.
The flight out, the clearance stop, the flight home and the daylight all have to fit one day, and the plan for your date comes back with the quote. Most guests come for a few nights, and the return is planned for the day they choose.
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 golf clubs, dive gear, rods and anything with a battery, and the answer comes back with the quote rather than at the aircraft.
Fly rods and fishing gear are common on this route, so they are rarely a problem once we know about them. If the load decides it, the aircraft is chosen around what you bring, not the other way round.
Is Ragged Island good for families?
It suits families who want somewhere quiet: the flats are shallow and warm, the beaches on the cays are empty and Duncan Town is a village of a few dozen people. 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. A stay is planned ahead, often around a boat, so nobody waits on arrival.
Can we fly on to another island from Ragged Island afterwards?
Yes. The border is cleared at George Town on the way down, so every leg after it is domestic. The same aircraft can carry on to Long Island, Staniel Cay or Nassau, 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.
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, and a delay of an hour or two often solves it.
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. On a day trip that usually means several more hours on the island, and no waiting in a terminal on either side of the water, which is the comparison worth making.
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 on the island, 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 Ragged 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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