Seaplane from Miami to Governor's Harbour

About an hour and twenty-five minutes in the air. Governor's Harbour lies roughly 243 statute miles from downtown Miami, close to 211 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.

Yes. Governor's Harbour is on Eleuthera 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.

On the water on the bight side, the sheltered western coast the settlement faces. The town has a runway of its own as well, GHB and MYEM, with an asphalt strip of 8,025 feet.

It sits outside the town the way runways do. The point of the floats is that the arrival and the settlement are the same place, so there is no transfer at the far end and no ferry.

The Bahamas lets an aircraft arrive only at a designated port of entry and Governor's Harbour is one of them. It is listed twice on the official register, once as the airport and once as the public dock, which is the entry that matters for a float aircraft.

Normal customs hours in the Bahamas are 09:00 to 17:30 and a clearance outside them is charged as overtime. None of the paperwork is yours: we make both filings and arrange the clearance.

Yes. With an early departure it works comfortably. 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. Both borders are filed in advance from our side and the clearance is planned into the hours the officers keep. Parties who want the beach and the town without hurrying usually stay a night.

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.

Bahamian customs keep normal hours of 09:00 to 17:30, so in practice the desk sets the return before the sun does. Both clocks move through the year, which is why the latest departure for your date comes with the quote.

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. The bight side is the sheltered coast, which is why it is the one used.

An Atlantic swell matters less there than it would on the ocean side. The call belongs to the operator rather than the guest and you are told before you book how a moved departure is handled.

It depends where you sleep. Governor's Harbour is the middle of the island and the administrative centre, with the harbour front, the beaches and the preserve around it.

North Eleuthera is the top and the jumping off point for Harbour Island and Spanish Wells, roughly 34 miles up the road. Landing at the wrong one costs an hour each way, so tell us the address and the answer comes back with it already chosen.

Yes. Eleuthera is reachable from every departure point in the corridor and the difference in crossing time between them is small once the drive to the water 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. Eleuthera sits in the middle of the chain rather than at the end of it and the same aircraft carries on to Harbour Island, Nassau, Cat Island 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.