Private Jet from Miami to Mayaguana

Fishing is what most people ask about first, and it is what gives the island a name beyond the Bahamas at all. The flats and tidal creeks behind Abraham's Bay stretch for miles and are hardly fished, because there is almost nobody on the island to fish them. That is the case for coming this far. The water is the same water the busier islands have, with a fraction of the boats on it. Parties book bonefishing and flats access, and rods and wading gear travel within the payload for the aircraft on the day. Tell us how many are fishing when you send the dates, and whether you want a guide: there are only a few on an island this size and they are booked ahead rather than found on arrival. A jet is what makes a short fishing trip down here worth it, because the distance no longer eats the days at either end.

A reef follows the coast, the offshore sites sit at roughly forty five to sixty feet, and beyond them the walls drop away. Closer in, coral heads and starfish lie in water shallow enough to stand up in, which suits anyone who would rather snorkel. The reef is not better than the reef further north. What it has is nobody else on it. No dive operation runs a fleet of boats here, so the sites are empty and the arrangements are made before you come rather than on the dock. The island is limestone, and a cave system runs back under it. On a windy afternoon that is the alternative to the water. It needs someone who knows the entrances, so mention it with the dates.

Off the eastern tip lies Booby Cay, named for the brown boobies that nest there. It also holds a rock iguana found on Mayaguana and nowhere else, and goats descended from ones left there long ago. The island's own name is thought to come from the Arawak word for that iguana, which says a good deal about what the place is known for. The cay is a short boat run east of the south coast. Nothing is built on it and nobody runs it. The birds and the lizards have had it to themselves long enough that a visiting boat hardly registers, and it is where most of the photographs from a trip here end up being taken. Go early, before the heat, and take water with you: there is nothing to buy out there.

The long pale beaches on the northwest side, near Betsy Bay and Pirate's Well, are the ones in the pictures, and they really are empty: the whole island holds about two hundred people. They are for walking, shelling and swimming, and there are practically no facilities on them. Most afternoons on that side are a beach picnic, and water toys fly down with the party if the day belongs on the water rather than the sand. The drive across from the south coast is short, and the road is quiet enough that a golf cart does the job. Bring what the day needs, shade and cold drinks included, because the beach supplies the sand and the water and nothing else.

Crabbing at Horse Pond Beach is something people who live on Mayaguana actually do, not an activity put on for visitors, and that is exactly why it is worth asking about. It is a fair picture of the island. Life runs at the pace of three small settlements a few minutes apart, and a party that wants to see that rather than be entertained by it gets more from the stay. Anything outside the usual list goes to custom requests. It is not something to book from Miami. Ask when you arrive, and somebody in the settlement will know whether it is worth going that week and where to start.

The oddest thing on the island is American. In the 1950s the United States built a missile tracking station here as part of the range running east from Cape Canaveral, and it followed early flights out over the Atlantic. It closed in 1961. What remains are empty buildings and a small memorial to a rocket nose cone recovered here in 1959, a short drive from the south coast and the one sight on Mayaguana that has nothing to do with the sea. Nobody runs it as an attraction, there is no ticket and no guide on site, and the buildings are simply left standing in the scrub. It makes a good hour between a morning on the water and an evening in the settlement, and it explains why a place this quiet once mattered to people far away.

Abraham's Bay on the south coast is the largest settlement, with the government offices and the clinic. Betsy Bay and Pirate's Well lie on the northwest side, and all three are minutes apart. The 2022 census counted 208 residents, down from 277 in 2010, which makes Mayaguana one of the emptiest inhabited islands in the country. There are rooms, golf carts and scooters to rent, and that is close to the full list, so catering and a private chef are worth naming when you book. Guests who want a choice of tables are better suited to a fly and dine day on a busier island. Everything else is a short cart ride away.

A private jet charter from Miami to Mayaguana also works as the first leg of something longer. On the way back the same aircraft can stop at Acklins, Crooked Island, Long Island, Great Inagua, the Exumas or Nassau. Not every island has a runway a jet can use: the smallest cays are reached by seaplane or helicopter. Which islands take a jet is set out across the Bahamas jet routes. That turns one island into island hopping or a wider Bahamas trip. Extra nights change the baggage, not the routing, and the baggage guidance sets out what fits. If a yacht is meeting you, that is a yacht transfer, arranged with the flight. Anything bigger than luggage is island logistics. The full island guide is on the Mayaguana destination page, and the rest of the chain is on the Bahamas destinations page.