The Crossing
Seaplane from Miami to Atlantis Bahamas by Private Charter
Atlantis sits at the eastern end of Paradise Island, across the harbour from Nassau and a seaplane from Miami to Atlantis Bahamas is the version of the trip that starts on the water rather than in a terminal. The resort lies roughly 185 statute miles from downtown Miami, just under 161 nautical and almost every one of those miles is open water.
The crossing runs about an hour in the air. The aircraft lifts off in Miami, turns south east and flies the Gulf Stream at a height where the water still reads as water. The deep blue gives way to the pale bank around New Providence while you are still looking at it and the island with the towers on it is visible long before you are down.
Everything between those two moments is ours: the departure point in Miami, the aircraft and the crew, both border filings and the travel documents the Bahamas wants before you leave Florida. Your party brings passports and a bag. Up to nine seats travel on one booking.
This is one of several seaplane routes out of the city and it leaves from a seaplane base in Miami. If the island rather than the resort is the point, that day is on the Miami to Paradise Island page.
Plan Your Atlantis Charter
How It Works
How a Seaplane Miami to Atlantis Bahamas Actually Works
Atlantis is in another country, so a day there is two border crossings in one day. Filed in advance it is paperwork. Left to the morning it is the reason an itinerary falls apart. The distance is the short part.
Two governments want the passenger list before the aircraft moves and both filings sit on our side of the desk rather than yours. What follows is the whole sequence in order, from the water at the Miami end to the ramp where the day finishes on the way home.
Plan Your Atlantis CharterDistance and Time
About 185 miles of open water, roughly an hour of it in the air
Downtown Miami to Paradise Island is roughly 185 statute miles, just under 161 nautical and nearly all of it is water. On floats that is about an hour airborne, plus the taxi out in Miami and the road leg at the far end.
The Whole Aircraft
The aircraft is chartered whole, so your party flies to Atlantis together and comes home together
Up to nine seats travel on one booking and the aircraft stays on the island rather than turning around, so six hours ashore means six hours.
Where the Aircraft Lands
Nassau Harbour has no authorised seaplane landing area, so the arrival is at the airport rather than at the resort dock
This is the one thing worth knowing before you plan the day. There is no approved place to put floats down in Nassau Harbour, so a seaplane to Atlantis arrives at Nassau like every other charter aircraft and the last leg is a road transfer of about half an hour.
The floats earn their keep at the Miami end, where the day starts on the water rather than at a terminal and on any leg you fly afterwards. How that works elsewhere is in the water landing guide.
Leaving Miami
Leaving Miami for Atlantis means the manifest is filed before you reach the dock
Every passenger needs a valid passport, children included and a driving licence will not do. What counts as valid is in the travel documents guidance. Names and numbers go in from our side, in advance.
Arriving in the Bahamas
Arriving in the Bahamas means clearing at an airport of entry and Nassau is the one next door to Atlantis
An aircraft entering the Bahamas has to land at a designated airport of entry the first time it arrives and Nassau is that airport for Paradise Island. So the clearance happens where you were landing anyway: passports out, forms already filed from Florida and it is quick.
Normal customs hours in the country run from 9:00 to 17:30 daily, so a very early or very late movement is planned around the desk not around the light. From the hall it is about half an hour by road over the bridge to the resort and that transfer is arranged with the flight rather than left to a rank outside.
The Way Back
The way back carries its own clock and it usually ends at US customs in Opa-locka
Nassau is one of the two airports in the country with an instrument approach, so the far end of this route is not tied to the water landing window the way an out island is.
The Miami end still is if your departure is off the water and the customs desk closes before the evening does, so the last useful departure for your date comes back with the quote rather than being guessed at now.
The return is filed with US Customs before you leave and that filing decides where the aircraft may put down in South Florida. Opa-locka Executive is where a return from the islands clears, so a day that started on the water often finishes on a ramp. We take care of both ends of any chartered flight from Miami to the Bahamas.
Departure Points
Departure Points for a Seaplane Miami to Atlantis Bahamas
A seaplane needs no airport at the Miami end, so the departure point follows your morning rather than the aircraft. Two of these four put you on the water, two on a ramp.
Miami Seaplane Base
555 NE 15th St, Miami
The water departure, on Biscayne Bay just north of downtown. Boarding is from the dock, so nothing between the car and the aircraft looks like an airport. The shortest ground leg for Brickell, downtown and the beach and the usual choice when a yacht is the other half of the day.
Opa-locka Executive
Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, OPF
The executive airport north west of the city, with private terminal handling at both ends of the day. It is also where a return from the islands clears US customs, which is why an international day that leaves from the water often comes back here rather than to the dock it started from.
Miami Executive
Miami Executive Airport, TMB, Kendall
Kendall-Tamiami, in the south west of the county. When the aircraft for your date is already based at this field, the charter starts without a positioning leg. That matters most on a same day return, where an hour lost in Florida is an hour lost at the far end.
Miami International
Miami International Airport, MIA
A pickup rather than a base and the right one when the party is already landing at MIA and the onward leg should leave from the same airport. No aircraft is stationed here, so it is arranged per flight and confirmed with the operator before it is quoted.
How to Charter
How to Charter a Seaplane to Atlantis Bahamas from Miami
Chartering a seaplane is not booking a seat. There are four steps, and only the first one is yours.
Plan Your Atlantis Charter- 01
Contact Us
Write to us on WhatsApp or by email. Send your dates, how many guests, where you are coming from and where you want to travel. Tell us the hour you would like to leave. A seaplane lands on water and on runways. Your pickup can be a marina, a hotel dock or a beach, and an airport works just as well.
- 02
Get Aircraft and Prices Back
We check what is free on your date and send the seaplanes that fit. Seats, baggage and flight time for each one. Every aircraft costs a little differently, so we can find the best fit for you.
- 03
Confirm and Pay
You pick the aircraft, and we set the pickup point and the landing site. Then everything around the flight. Catering on board, a car or a golf cart waiting when you land, ground transport to your hotel or back to the airport. Flowers if the day is a special one. You approve it, you pay, and your boarding time, departure point and everything included come back to you.
- 04
Just Arrive 30 Minutes Early
You will have no terminal and no queue. Just make sure you are there 30 minutes before. Then you take off, land right at your destination, and enjoy the day.
At the Resort
Where a Miami to Atlantis Bahamas Seaplane Puts You Down
Atlantis is not one building. It is six places to stay, a waterscape, a marine habitat, a marina and a golf course on the far side of a bridge and the day works or does not work depending on which of them you came for.
What follows is what parties actually do with the hours in between, in the order guests ask about them.
Plan Your Atlantis CharterAquaventure and the Waterscape
Most Asked For
This is the thing people mean when they say Atlantis. Aquaventure is a 141-acre waterscape of slides, pools and open water sitting in the middle of the resort and it is the single subject guests ask about before they ask about anything else.
The river ride runs about a mile with rapids and wave surges along it and there are more than twenty swimming areas around it, so a family can spend a whole day inside the park without repeating itself.
Access comes with a room at the resort. Day passes exist for visitors who are not staying and those rates move from year to year, so that part is worth confirming with the resort itself rather than with us. Say how many are swimming and how old they are when you send the date: it changes the hour you want to be on the ground rather than the flight.
The Beaches at the Resort
Why People Come Back
The long beach on the north shore of the island runs about two miles and the resort sits on a stretch of it, which is the short answer to why a day here does not need a boat to work.
The water is calm on that side for most of the year and the sand runs out flat, so it suits a party with small children as easily as one that wants a lounger and nothing else. The quieter beaches belong to the individual properties rather than to the resort as a whole.
The rest of the island, the public beaches and what sits beyond the resort gates, is the subject of the Paradise Island page rather than this one. Here the point is that the sand is a five minute walk from the room and not a drive.
The Ocean Club and the Golf
For a Longer Stay
The golf course at the eastern end of the island is an eighteen hole, par seventy two layout designed by Tom Weiskopf, laid out with the sea on both sides for much of the round.
It is not a public course. Play is for guests of the resort or of the club next to it, which is the reason it stays quiet on a Saturday morning when everything else on the island is full.
Clubs travel on the aircraft within the payload for the day, which is a weight rather than a bag count. Say that bags are coming when you send the date, the same way you would say a pram or dive gear is and it is in the baggage guidance before you book.
Dolphin Cay
With Children Along
Dolphin Cay is the marine habitat on the resort's own ground, built around conservation and rehabilitation work with dolphins and sea lions not around a show. Encounters are booked by time slot and the good ones go early, which is the one part of an Atlantis day that really does have to be arranged before the flight rather than after it.
It is also the reason a number of these charters happen at all: a family that would not put small children through an airport queue will put them in an aircraft that leaves from a dock. A meet and greet on arrival at Nassau takes the rest of the friction out of the morning.
The Marine Habitats and The Dig
The Rainy Afternoon
Under the resort runs a set of open air marine habitats holding more than 250 species, among the largest of their kind anywhere and you walk through them rather than look into them from above. The Dig is the part built as the streets and tunnels of a lost city, with the exhibits set into the walls and the predator lagoon is the one people stand in front of longest.
This is what an afternoon turns into when the weather closes in, which matters more on a day trip than on a week. A departure that moves because of weather runs under the weather and delays policy and the aircraft carries only your party, so a new slot is agreed rather than assigned.
The Marina and Arriving to a Boat
If a Yacht Is Waiting
The marina sits on the harbour side of the resort with 63 slips and it is where a good share of these flights actually end: the guest is joining a boat rather than checking into a room. If that is the day, say so in the first line of the enquiry.
The aircraft can put the party down alongside on a yacht transfer instead of running the road leg, or a dock pickup can meet you if the boat is lying somewhere else in the harbour. Crew changes work the same way and they are the reason the return leg is often the important half. Freight that has to travel separately goes by island logistics rather than in the cabin with you.
Dinner, the Casino and the Evening
If You Stay the Night
The restaurants run from a burger counter by the water to rooms you book weeks out and the casino sits in the middle of the resort rather than off to one side, so the evening does not need a taxi. That is the argument for staying over instead of flying home the same day.
A day trip ends when the desk at Nassau closes, an overnight does not and the difference in what the day feels like is larger than the difference in cost. If dinner is the point of the trip rather than the resort, a fly and dine day is the shape for it and catering or a private chef can travel on the aircraft instead.
Beyond the Resort
The Rest of the Chain
Over the bridge is Nassau, about ten minutes by road from the resort, with the harbour, the old town and the fish fry under the bridge. Further out, the same aircraft carries on to Harbour Island, Andros, Staniel Cay and the Exumas once the clearance at Nassau is done, which is what turns one resort into island hopping or a wider Bahamas day.
The packaged version of this island is the Paradise Island getaway, the town across the water has its own Nassau explorer day and the rest of the chain is on the Bahamas destinations page. Anything outside the usual list goes to custom requests.
Ready When You Are
Ready to Book Seaplane Flights from Miami to Atlantis Bahamas?
Send the departure point, the number of guests and from when to when. You get back what is free on your dates, the boarding time and what the day costs, before anything is booked.
Add-Ons
Seaplane to Atlantis Bahamas Add-Ons
Anything else you have in mind is arranged with the flight.
In Detail
Seaplane from Miami to Atlantis Bahamas: The Gulf Stream, the Bank and a Bridge
Everything above is the day. What follows is the detail behind it: where the aircraft actually puts you down, the two borders, the chain that keeps going past Nassau and what charter and private really change about a flight to the Bahamas.
Seaplane Miami to Atlantis Bahamas: Flying Low Over the Reef and the Flats
Room enough and a window each on a Atlantis Bahamas seaplane
The crossing is not dead time between two airports. A seaplane runs low and slow, so the water under the wing is the first thing the day gives you. The resort lies roughly 185 statute miles from downtown Miami, just under 161 nautical and almost every one of those miles is open water. Atlantis sits at the eastern end of Paradise Island, across the harbour from Nassau and a seaplane from Miami to Atlantis Bahamas is the version of the trip that starts on the water rather than in a terminal. The deep blue gives way to the pale bank around New Providence while you are still looking at it and the island with the towers on it is visible long before you are down. Charter the aircraft and it is yours alone: the crew and the day belong to your party. Every seat is a window seat on seaplanes in the fleet of this size, so nobody watches the crossing over someone's shoulder. Other seaplane routes from Miami fly the same way.
Seaplane to Atlantis Bahamas from Miami: You Decide the Departure Time
Your hour, your names and a seaplane to Atlantis Bahamas
Nobody hands you a timetable on a charter. The day is built around the hour you name. You name the hour you want to lift off, the hour you want to be standing on Atlantis Bahamas and which water in the city suits your morning. The aircraft belongs to your party for the day, so all three are your decision rather than a departure somebody else set, and a change the week before is a message to us. If the drive is shorter the other way, the same day runs out of Fort Lauderdale. Half an hour before the lift-off is the whole of the check-in. Your party walks from the car to the aircraft, the bags go on in front of you, and the list for that flight carries your names and nobody else's. Nothing about the morning waits on a stranger. And the crossing is a reason in itself. The windows are deep and the aircraft crosses low, so there is room for everybody to sit and watch the water change instead of taking turns at one of them.
Miami to Atlantis Bahamas Seaplane: The Crew Files Both Borders, You Carry a Passport
Passports are all your party carries on a Atlantis Bahamas crossing
A seaplane from Miami to Atlantis Bahamas crosses an international border twice in a day. It is the part that goes wrong when nobody files it in advance. Entry into the Bahamas asks for a declaration filed from Florida, clearance at a port of entry on arrival and a US return filed before you leave, which is what sets where you may land coming home. On a Crown Air charter the crew files all three. Your party carries a valid passport and nothing else. Passports for everyone, children included, per the travel documents guidance. What may travel sits in the baggage guidance. That same filing sets where you land coming home: a return from the islands clears at Opa-locka Executive, so a day that began on the water finishes on a ramp and a departure moved by weather runs under the weather and delays policy. If the party changes before the flight, the crew refiles. A name added, a name dropped: that is a message to us rather than a problem for you.
Seaplane Miami Atlantis Bahamas: Milestone Days and Bahamas Weekends
A day trip, a weekend or something to celebrate on Atlantis Bahamas
A private seaplane from Miami to Atlantis Bahamas is booked when the day is worth marking: a birthday, a proposal, a graduation, a weekend away with the people who matter. The flight is short enough that the occasion, not the travelling, is what the day is about. That is what a seaplane Miami Atlantis Bahamas charter is for. There is no terminal to walk through and no queue at either end, so the party stays together from the car to the cabin. The aircraft waits rather than turning around for its next departure, so an afternoon that runs long is simply an afternoon that runs long. Some parties fly over for the day and are home the same evening. Others stay on and book the return for the day they want. Both are the same charter, and the whole group travels together on one booking. If there is something to celebrate, say so when you book: catering, a private chef, premium beverages and flowers travel with you. Everything is in place before you board in Miami.
Questions
Seaplane from Miami to Atlantis Bahamas: Questions Answered
How long is the flight from Miami to Atlantis?
About an hour in the air. Paradise Island lies roughly 185 statute miles from downtown Miami, just under 161 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 how long the aircraft waits for you.
Can a seaplane land at Atlantis or in Nassau Harbour?
No and it is better to know that now than at the dock. There is no authorised seaplane landing area in Nassau Harbour, so an aircraft on floats arrives at Nassau airport like any other charter and the last leg to the resort is a road transfer of about half an hour over the bridge.
What the floats change is the Miami end, where the day starts on the water rather than in a terminal and any onward leg to a place with no runway.
Do I need a passport to fly from Miami to Atlantis?
Yes. Atlantis 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.
How does customs work on a flight from Miami to Atlantis?
An aircraft entering the Bahamas has to land at a designated airport of entry the first time it arrives and for Paradise Island that airport is Nassau. So you clear where you were landing anyway, with the forms already filed from Florida.
Normal customs hours in the country are 9:00 to 17:30 daily, which is why a very early or very late movement is planned around the desk. None of the paperwork is yours: we make both filings and arrange the clearance.
How far is Atlantis from the airport once we land?
About half an hour by road, across the bridge from Nassau onto Paradise Island. The resort quotes the same half hour for its own transfers. We arrange that leg with the flight rather than leaving you to a rank outside the hall and if the day ends alongside a boat instead of at the resort door, the aircraft can set the party down at the water instead.
Can you do Atlantis as a day trip from Miami?
Yes and it is a common way parties do it. Out in the morning, back the same evening, with the aircraft waiting rather than turning around, so six hours ashore means six hours. Both borders are filed in advance from our side and the clearance is planned into the hours the officers keep, so the day needs nothing on your list. Nothing about it is shared with anyone.
How late can we fly back from Atlantis on the same day?
Later than from an out island, because Nassau is one of only two airports in the country with an instrument approach, so the far end is not tied to the water landing window.
The Miami end still is if your departure is off the water and the customs desk closes before the evening does. Both clocks move through the year, which is why the latest useful departure for your date comes with the quote rather than being promised in advance.
How many people can fly to Atlantis on one charter?
Up to nine seats travel on one booking. The aircraft is chartered whole rather than sold by the seat, so your party travels together and comes home on the same aircraft.
How many of those seats are usable on your date depends on the payload once baggage is aboard, so it is confirmed with the quote. Send the headcount and say whether children are travelling: they count as passengers on an international manifest.
How much luggage can we take and can we bring golf clubs or dive gear?
Golf bags, dive gear and hard cases all travel regularly, within the payload for the aircraft on the day. The limit is a weight rather than a bag count, which is why bulky equipment is declared when you book rather than weighed at the dock: it comes out of the same payload the passengers do. Valuable gear leaving the United States can be registered with US Customs in advance.
What is the water park at Atlantis and is it included?
Aquaventure is a 141-acre waterscape of slides, pools and a river ride about a mile long and it is the single thing guests ask about most. Access is included for guests staying at the resort. Visitors who are not staying there buy a day pass and those rates change, so check them with the resort rather than with us. The flight is ours, the resort is theirs.
What happens if the weather stops the flight to Atlantis?
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 summer afternoons move return legs more often than mornings.
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.
Can you fly to Atlantis from Fort Lauderdale or the Florida Keys instead?
Yes. Paradise Island is reachable from every departure point in the corridor and the difference between them is measured in minutes, which is worth very little once the drive is counted. The right departure point is the one closest to where you are staying, not the one closest to the island. Say where the morning starts and the answer comes back with it already chosen.
What does a private seaplane charter from Miami to Atlantis cost?
A charter is priced as a whole aircraft, not per seat, so the number moves with three things: which aircraft flies your date, how many of you there are once bags are aboard and how long the aircraft waits.
Tell us those and you get one all-in number, with the departure point, the boarding time and the hours ashore it is based on, before anything is due. Bahamian and US entry fees are inside that number rather than added at the end.
Can I bring a pet on a seaplane charter?
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 a Seaplane Charter Miami to Atlantis Bahamas?
Send the departure point, the party size and from when to when. Nothing else needs planning: you get back what is free on your dates, the boarding time and what the Atlantis day costs.
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