Seaplane Charter from Fort Lauderdale

Bimini is the short one at 51 nautical miles, about twenty minutes in the air, and Freeport follows at 81 miles and about thirty five. Nassau is 164 miles at roughly an hour and five, Marsh Harbour 167 at the same, and North Eleuthera 191 at about an hour and a quarter.

Going south, Islamorada is about half an hour and Key West about fifty minutes. These are air times, and the block time comes with the boarding time.

Anywhere in the Bahamas, yes: the flight crosses a border, so each person aboard needs a passport that is still valid, babies too.

Names and passport numbers are collected when you book, and we prepare both border filings from them well before the day. A trip to the Keys never leaves the United States, and a photo ID is all it needs.

Around Fort Lauderdale the candidates are the Intracoastal Waterway and the wider canals, but the operator decides which stretch the floats can use on your date, depending on the wind and the traffic on the water.

We confirm that with the quote instead of promising it earlier. Bahamian rules are firmer: every water landing site needs written permission from the Civil Aviation Authority, and we obtain it ahead of the date.

The airports our operator partners name are Fort Lauderdale Executive and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, and which one is used depends on availability that day. The water side is settled separately for each date. Send us the address where you are staying and we answer with the departure point and the time to be there.

The first place you land in the Bahamas must be a port of entry, and customs desks there work between 09:00 and 17:30. Freeport, Marsh Harbour, Walker's Cay and Chub Cay each have their own desk.

For Harbour Island the clearance happens at North Eleuthera first, and Walker's Cay opens only by appointment, so that stop is arranged early. Coming back, you clear United States customs before leaving the airport, and Fort Lauderdale Executive has a Federal Inspection Station of its own. All the paperwork on both sides is ours.

Bimini and Freeport fit most comfortably. You depart in the morning, spend the afternoon ashore and are back before dark, with the aircraft waiting where it set you down.

The clearing stop falls inside the officers' working hours, so you carry nothing extra. Nassau is possible as a long day. The Abacos and anything further are better with a night away.

Water landings happen only in daylight, between half an hour after sunrise and half an hour before sunset, so every day has a hard end. In practice the Bahamian customs desk closes earlier than the light, and it is that desk that sets the homeward hour.

Both times shift with the season, so your quote states the latest departure for your date. When it is dark, an amphibian lands on a lit runway rather than on water.

The aircraft carries up to eight, and because it is chartered whole the manifest holds your party only, who also fly home together on the same plane. The number of usable seats depends on the payload once luggage is aboard, and the quote confirms it. A group above that size splits across two aircraft, arranged before the date.

In most cases they can. Fishing rods, dive kit and hard cases travel regularly, as part of the payload the aircraft has that day.

Weight is the limit, not the number of bags, so bulky equipment is declared at booking because it shares the payload with the passengers. Valuable gear leaving the United States can be registered with customs beforehand.

Any island in the northern and central Bahamas that has water or a runway to land on. From Fort Lauderdale that begins with Bimini and Freeport, continues to Nassau and Paradise Island, and reaches the Abacos from Walker's Cay down to Hope Town, the Berry Islands, Harbour Island and Eleuthera.

The Exumas work as a long day or with a night away. Each landing is cleared at a port of entry first.

Conditions are calmest from about December to April, when winds are lighter and the water flatter. That is also the busy season along the Broward coast, so mention a weekend on the water when you enquire. Summer flies well too, as long as the departure is in the morning, since the afternoons are what move.

Yes. We can have a car ready as the floats touch down, a transfer on to the hotel, or a dock pickup where the aircraft ties up beside a marina or hotel dock. Name the place where the day ends and the quote includes the transfer, so nobody has to find a taxi on an unfamiliar island.

No. A seaplane taxi flies on demand. Your party charters the whole aircraft, you name the hour, and no timetable is published at all. What you pay for is the aircraft and the time it spends waiting for you, never an individual seat, so the quote arrives with the boarding time and the full cost of the day.

A float aircraft depends on wind and sea state as much as on visibility, which means a departure can shift on a day that looks flawless from the beach.

In summer the afternoons move more often than the mornings, and the calm months run roughly December to April. The operator makes the call, and since only your party is aboard, a replacement slot is agreed directly with you.

Frequently, and it is the best reason to name the marina or the boat instead of only the island. Whether it works on your date comes down to the water at the far end, the tide, the clearance and the operator's review that morning, so we check it rather than promise it on a page.

If a direct set-down is out of the question, the aircraft lands at the nearest airfield and a boat or a car covers the rest, arranged with the flight.

It depends on the island. Bimini is 49 nautical miles from Miami and 51 from here, and Freeport is the closer one from Fort Lauderdale. The right departure point is the one nearest to where you stay, so tell us where the morning starts and we pick it.

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood is one of the two airports our partners name, so a party staying in Hollywood or Dania Beach starts there. Other fields in the area are reviewed on request, and a seaplane sets down on the water in between, so tell us where the day is built around when you send the date.

Yes, pets fly in the cabin with you. All we ask is that you tell us when you enquire, with the type of animal and its weight, so the seating and the load plan are right from the start.

On a float aircraft weight matters more than the carrier, because it comes out of the same payload as the luggage.

The whole aircraft is priced as one, never seat by seat. Which aircraft takes your date, how many travel once luggage is counted, and how long the plane stays on the ground for you set the figure.

The destination shapes it as well, which is why it is the first thing we ask. With those answers you receive one price that already contains the entry fees, before any payment is due.