Seaplane from Miami to Athol Island

About an hour in the air. Athol Island lies roughly 189 statute miles from downtown Miami, about 164 nautical, almost all of it open water. The exact block time depends on the aircraft and the departure point and it is confirmed with the boarding time before you book.

What sets the length of the day is not the flight. It is the two border filings and the clearance stop at Nassau on the way in.

Athol Island sits three quarters of a mile east of Paradise Island, off the northeastern shore of New Providence, so it is about three miles from the middle of Nassau.

It runs two miles from west to east and works as a natural breakwater for that side of New Providence, which is why the water between the two is the sheltered water and the ocean side is not.

Yes. Athol Island is in the Bahamas, so this is an international flight and every passenger needs a valid passport, children and infants included.

Full names and passport numbers go in when you book rather than at the dock, because both border filings are made in advance from our side. There is no check-in desk on this route and nothing to hand over at the slip.

Athol Island is uninhabited and is not a port of entry, so the flight clears first and lands there second. On New Providence the airport of entry is Lynden Pindling International and the official ports of entry list also carries the Bay Street docks and the private marinas for arrivals by water.

The aircraft clears at Nassau, three miles west, then flies the last few minutes east. None of the paperwork is yours: we make both filings and arrange the clearance, so your part is the enquiry.

Yes, once the flight has cleared. A seaplane needs sheltered water rather than a runway and the strip between Athol Island and Paradise Island is exactly that on most days. Water landing sites also need the agreement of the Bahamian civil aviation authority, which is arranged rather than assumed.

When the easterly is up and the water is not usable, the honest answer is a landing at Nassau and a short run out by boat and we say so before you book rather than on the morning.

Yes. Athol Island carries the pig beach closest to Nassau and it is the reason most day boats come out here at all.

The famous swimming pigs of the Exumas live at Big Major Cay, which is around 80 miles southeast of Nassau, so a day there is a different flight and a longer one. Athol Island is the half day version of the same idea, minutes from the harbour instead of hours.

It is the reason the island has a name. The waters west of Athol Island were declared the first marine protected area in the Bahamas back in 1892, under the name Sea Gardens and glass bottomed boats have been coming out to look at them ever since.

What is down there is seagrass beds and patch reefs with stony and soft corals rather than a wall, so it is shallow, bright and easy water that suits a mixed party with children.

No. The island is uninhabited and has been for a long time, which is the whole character of a day here. There is no dock, no bar, no rental hut and no shade except what the scrub gives you, so whatever the party wants for the afternoon travels on the aircraft.

The ruins of a quarantine station built in 1871 and a former lighthouse are still standing on it, the only two structures on two miles of island.

The aircraft is chartered whole rather than sold by the seat, so your party travels together on one booking and comes home on the same aircraft.

How many seats that is depends on which aircraft flies your date and on the payload once baggage is aboard, so it is confirmed with the quote rather than promised in advance. Send the headcount and say whether children are travelling: they count as passengers on an international manifest.

Yes and it is the most common way parties do it. Out in the morning, back before dark, with the aircraft staying in the area rather than turning around.

Both borders are filed in advance from our side and the clearance at Nassau is planned into the hours the officers keep, so the day needs nothing on your list. Nothing about it is shared with anyone.

A seaplane needs daylight on the water. Landings run from 30 minutes after sunrise to 30 minutes before sunset, so the day has a hard end rather than an open one.

Because the clearance happens at Nassau rather than on the island, the desk hours there and the daylight window together set the latest useful departure and both move through the year. That is why the last departure for your date comes with the quote. A return arriving after dark lands on a lit runway instead of on water.

Water operations depend on wind and sea state as well as visibility, so a departure can move on a day that looks clear from the beach and an easterly matters here more than it does further west.

The call belongs to the operator rather than the guest and you are told before you book how a moved departure is handled. Because the aircraft carries only your party, a new slot is agreed with you rather than assigned to you.

Yes. Athol Island sits in the middle of the chain rather than at the end of it and the same aircraft carries on to Rose Island, Harbour Island, Andros and the Exumas.

Say so when you send the date, because a second leg changes the aircraft and the timing and the clearance is planned around the port of entry rather than the stop you want. For a yacht or a private cay we pass the coordinates, the pilots decide whether they can put down there and a tender has to be in the water to collect you.

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.