Private Jet from Miami to Gold Rock

The beach lies a little over 125 statute miles east of the city, close to 109 nautical, across open water almost the whole way. On a jet that is a short leg, and the exact block time comes back with the quote rather than as a number on a web page. What matters more on this route is that the crossing costs so little of the day that the hours on the sand are the part you actually booked.

Not at the east end itself, because there is no runway out there. The aircraft lands at Grand Bahama International in Freeport and the last leg is the shore road east, about twenty five miles, in a car booked alongside the flight. Freeport is also an airport of entry, so the border desk sits on the same field the aircraft stops on and there is no separate customs airport to fly first.

The weather. The Gulf Stream builds cloud and squalls through the afternoon, and that is what moves days on this route. A boat waits it out and a light aircraft flies underneath it or not at all. A jet climbs above the layer and holds one altitude across. At a beach that is at its best on a falling tide, and with nothing out there to wait in, arriving when you said you would is worth more than the minutes saved.

Miami has no single business airport, it has several, and the right one is the shortest ground leg from where your morning starts. The executive field north west of the city is the usual departure and is also where a return from the islands clears US customs. Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach are possible too and have their own pages. Tell us where your party is actually staying and the airport is picked around that rather than the other way round.

By road, east along the shore. It is under twenty miles in a straight line and about twenty five by road from the airport to the park gate. The car is arranged with the flight rather than found outside the terminal, so it is waiting when you clear the desk, and it stays with you for the day rather than dropping you at an empty beach and leaving.

Yes, within daylight and within what the crew is allowed to fly. That is the main thing a charter buys you. Two outside clocks stay fixed: customs on the Bahamian side keeps normal hours of nine to half past five, and the tide runs to its own schedule. Tell us which you care about and the day is built around it. The hour can still move after you confirm, and the return hour moves the same way.

No. A charter carries the people you name and nobody else. There is no seat assignment, no other party sharing the cabin, and no risk of the flight leaving without part of your group. The passenger list can also change up to shortly before the flight: a name added or dropped is a refiling on our side rather than a rebooking on yours.

Yes, for every passenger including children. The Bahamas is a different country and a jet does not change that. We take the passport details once at the enquiry and file for both sides before departure. The travel documents page lists what each passenger hands over and by when.

No. There are grills, picnic tables and benches, and that is the whole of it. No bar, no kitchen, no shop and no shade you have not brought with you. It is the reason the beach is empty on a weekday and the reason lunch has to travel with the party: catering, a cooler and cold drinks are ordered with the flight and go east in the car.

The Lucayan National Park sits directly behind the beach: boardwalks, a footbridge over Gold Rock Creek and stairs down to two of the caves in a system with about six and a half miles of mapped passage. Entry is paid at the park itself, fifteen dollars for adults and less for children and seniors, and it is a fee of theirs rather than a price of ours. Peterson Cay lies about a mile offshore, and the old film tank at Gold Rock Creek is the other thing people walk out to see.

Yes, and on a jet it is the easy version rather than the ambitious one. The crossing takes a fraction of the day, both ends are quick and the return hour stays movable while you are still on the sand. The two things that shape it are the customs window and the light: there is nothing out at the east end after dark, so an evening on Grand Bahama means staying the night in Freeport or Lucaya instead.

Less often than on anything else we fly this route with, and that is the point of the aircraft. A jet operates above the layer that grounds the rest, so an afternoon of Gulf Stream weather is usually a non-event. When it is not, the day moves: we would rather rebook a flight than fly it badly, you are told as early as we know, and because the aircraft was held for your party it is a conversation rather than a queue for the next available seat.

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.