Seaplane from Miami to Bahamas

Closer than most people expect. Bimini, the nearest island, lies about 50 nautical miles off Miami and Nassau about 160, roughly 184 statute miles in a straight line. The Exumas are further again, a little over 250 statute miles.

Almost all of it is open water, which is why a seaplane suits the crossing: it lands beside the island rather than at an airport you still have to leave.

It depends on the island. Bimini is about 25 minutes in the air and Nassau roughly an hour. The Exumas take longer again. 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 rarely the flight. It is the two border filings and how long the aircraft waits for you.

A valid passport for every passenger, children and infants included, because this is an international flight. 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. The details of what counts as valid sit in the travel documents guidance, and there is nothing to hand over at the slip on the day.

The Bahamas lets an aircraft arrive only at a designated port of entry. If the island you are going to is one, you clear where you were landing anyway.

If it is not, the aircraft clears at a port of entry first and flies on, and that stop is planned into the timing before you book. None of the paperwork is yours: we make both filings and arrange the clearance, so your part is the enquiry.

Pig Beach is on Big Major Cay in the Exumas, right beside Staniel Cay. There is no road and no ferry from Miami, so parties come by boat or by air.

A seaplane can set down in the water off the cays, and the swimming pigs come out to meet whatever arrives. The route has its own page, Miami to Big Major Cay by seaplane, and the timing for the day comes back with the quote.

Yes, and it is one of the most common ways parties do it. Out in the morning, back before dark, with the aircraft waiting on the island rather than turning around, so you fly back when you are ready.

Bimini and Nassau suit a day best. The Exumas are possible in a long day and easier as an overnight. Both borders are filed in advance from our side, so the day needs nothing on your list.

It depends how long you are staying and which island you want. The fast ferry to Bimini leaves from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale rather than Miami, takes about two hours each way and sails only a few days a week, so the date has to fit its timetable.

On an overnight that trade is defensible. On a single day the crossing costs the part of the day you came for, and beyond Bimini there is no fast ferry from Miami at all.

The aircraft is chartered whole, 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.

Rods, 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.

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.

Send us the departure point, the number of guests, the island you want and from when to when, on WhatsApp or by email. We check what is free on your date and send back the seaplanes that fit, with seats, baggage and flight time for each. You pick one, we set the pickup point and the landing site, and the boarding time comes back to you.

A charter is priced as a whole aircraft, not per seat, so the number moves with four things: which island, which aircraft flies your date, how many of you there are once bags are aboard and how long the aircraft waits for you.

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.

Yes. The same aircraft carries on from Bimini to Nassau, 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.