Seaplane from Miami to Great Exuma

About an hour and three quarters in the air. George Town lies roughly 318 statute miles from downtown Miami, just over 276 nautical, almost all of it open water, which makes it the longest Bahamian crossing on our seaplane routes.

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. Great Exuma 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. A driving licence will not do and the length of the crossing changes none of that.

On the water at George Town, in Elizabeth Harbour, the long sheltered stretch between the settlement and Stocking Island. That is the practical reason to come here on floats: the harbour is protected water rather than open sound, the town is on one side of it and the beaches on the other.

Great Exuma also has a runway at Exuma International, so an amphibious aircraft can use either one and the choice is made for your date rather than promised in advance.

Great Exuma carries its own port of entry, which is the biggest single difference between this island and the cays further north. Exuma International, GGT and MYEF, has customs and immigration on site and the dock at George Town is listed for arrivals by water, so you clear on the island you came for rather than on another one first.

The desk keeps daytime hours, normally 09:00 to 17:30 and a clearance outside them carries an overtime fee paid directly to the officers. None of the paperwork is yours.

Yes. The clock is tighter than it is on the near islands: three and a half hours of the day are in the air before anything else happens, so an early departure is worth more here than anywhere else on the chain.

The aircraft waits on the island rather than turning around, so the hours ashore are yours. Parties who want a long afternoon in the water usually stay a night instead, which changes the baggage rather than the route.

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 and the customs desk closes before the sun does.

On a crossing of an hour and three quarters those two clocks together set the last useful departure and both move through the year, which is why the figure for your date comes with the quote. A return arriving after dark lands on a lit runway instead of on water.

Further than most people expect. Big Major Cay, where the pigs are, lies about 50 miles north west of George Town, which is roughly two hours in a fast boat and around twenty minutes in the air.

Great Exuma is the southern end of the chain and the pigs are in the middle of it, so a day built around them is better flown to Staniel Cay directly. Say which one you want when you send the date, because it changes the routing rather than the aircraft.

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 and fuel are aboard and fuel matters more on this leg than on the short crossings.

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 and on the longest crossing we fly the fuel takes its share of that number first. 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.

On a long crossing a delayed start can also cost the return slot rather than just the hour, which is why the call is made early. The decision belongs to the operator rather than the guest and you are told before you book how a moved departure is handled.

Almost always, because the alternative is two flights and a wait between them. The ferry from Nassau to George Town takes about fourteen hours, so it is a way of moving cargo rather than a way of arriving.

A direct charter removes the connection, the second bag drop and the second security queue and it lands you at the harbour rather than at an airport half an hour from town. The gain is the morning, not the flight time.

Yes. Great Exuma is the southern end of the chain rather than the whole of it and the same aircraft carries on north to the cays or east to Long Island, Cat Island and San Salvador.

Say so when you send the date, because a second leg changes 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.