Seaplane from Miami to Iguana Island

Iguana Island is the name visitors use for Bitter Guana Cay, an uninhabited cay in the middle of the Exuma chain about 86 miles south of Nassau and roughly three miles south of Staniel Cay.

It has one beach on its western side, white limestone cliffs behind it and a colony of Exuma Island iguanas living in the scrub. Nobody lives there, nothing is built there and there is nothing to book on the cay itself.

About an hour and a half in the air. Bitter Guana Cay lies roughly 262 statute miles from downtown Miami, 228 nautical, almost all of it open water.

On top of that comes the clearance stop on the way in, which is ground time rather than flying time because the port of entry sits almost exactly on the straight line. The exact block time depends on the aircraft and the departure point and it is confirmed with the boarding time before you book.

Yes. The Exumas are 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 off the beach on the western side of the cay and a tender runs the last few yards ashore. There is no dock and no airstrip on Bitter Guana Cay, which is why every other way in starts with a boat chartered somewhere else.

The pilots decide on the day whether the state of the bank allows a water landing and the honest alternative is a runway arrival at Staniel Cay and a boat south.

The Bahamas lets an aircraft arrive only at a designated port of entry and there is none in this part of the Exumas. The aircraft clears on the way down, usually on Andros for example, which carries three of them, at San Andros, Fresh Creek or Congo Town, then flies the last leg to the cay.

Which port your flight uses depends on the routing and comes back with the quote. Fresh Creek sits almost on the direct line, so a stop there costs ground time rather than air time. None of the paperwork is yours: we make both filings and arrange the clearance.

Yes and with the aircraft waiting off the beach rather than turning around it is the way most parties do it. Out in the morning, clear inbound on the way down, back before dark. 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.

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 desks keep normal hours of 09:00 to 17:30, so on a route this far down the chain the desk usually closes the day before the sun does. Both clocks move through the year, which is why the latest departure for your date comes with the quote.

They are on the cay all year and they are not shy. The animals shelter in the scrub behind the beach overnight, come out with the sun and walk down onto the sand when people arrive, because generations of them have learned that visitors mean food.

They are not aggressive and you can walk the beach among them, but they have sharp teeth and good eyesight for anything held in a hand. They are a protected species and they are not fed.

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.

Yes and most parties do. Big Major Cay is about three miles north of Bitter Guana Cay, with Staniel Cay and the nurse sharks at Compass Cay in the same few miles of water, so a day here is usually two or three stops rather than one. Say which ones when you send the date: whether the aircraft moves between them or a boat does changes the hours and it changes what we file.

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. The middle Exumas are reachable from every departure point in the corridor and the difference 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 at the cay.

Tell us those and you get one all-in number, with the departure point, the boarding time and the hours at the cay 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.