Seaplane from Miami to Gold Rock

Around 55 minutes in the air if it is flown as one line. Gold Rock lies roughly 125 statute miles from downtown Miami, close to 109 nautical, nearly all of it open water.

In practice the day is flown in two legs, about 45 minutes to Freeport for the clearance and a short leg east after it. The exact block time depends on the aircraft and the departure point and it is confirmed with the boarding time before you book.

Yes. Gold Rock is on Grand Bahama, 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.

On the water off the south shore at the eastern end of the island, beside the beach rather than at an airport. The alternative is a runway landing at Freeport and about 25 miles east by road on the Grand Bahama Highway, which is the way almost everyone else arrives.

Where exactly the floats touch down is the pilots' call on the day and it is decided on the water state, not on a map.

The Bahamas lets an aircraft arrive only at a designated port of entry and on Grand Bahama that is Freeport rather than Gold Rock. So the aircraft clears at Freeport and flies the last leg east afterwards, which is a few minutes on an island this size. None of the paperwork is yours: we make both filings and arrange the clearance, so your part is the enquiry.

Yes and it is the most common way parties do it. Out in the morning, back before dark, with the aircraft waiting on the island 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.

It matters more here than on most beaches. At low water the sea pulls back and the sand runs out into a wide hard flat, which is what the beach is known for and why it is the widest on the island.

At high water it is a normal, pretty beach. Tell us the date when you enquire and the low water for it is part of the answer, so the hours ashore can be put where you want them.

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. The Bahamian desk keeps its own daytime hours and closes before the sun does, so in practice the desk sets the return.

Both clocks move through the year, which is why the latest departure for your date comes with the quote. A return arriving after dark lands on a lit runway instead of on water.

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.

There are picnic tables, barbecue pits and benches and that is the whole list. No shop, no bar, no rental hut. That is the point of the place and it is also the one thing worth planning: lunch, water and shade are either brought with you or arranged with the flight.

The national park behind the beach charges its own entrance fee per head, 15 dollars for an adult, 8 for a child and 10 over 60.

You can walk down to them and look. Two of the caves have stairs and viewing platforms above the water, reached on a boardwalk and a footbridge over Gold Rock Creek.

Swimming inside them is not allowed and cave diving needs a permit and an authorised guide arranged separately, so a day here is a walk through the park rather than a dive. The charted cave system underneath runs about 6.4 miles.

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.

Yes. Grand Bahama is reachable from every departure point in the corridor and the crossing from Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach is shorter than the one from Miami, 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.

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 on the island.

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, 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.