The Crossing
Seaplane from Miami to Kamalame Cay by Private Charter
Kamalame Cay is a private island of 96 acres off the north east coast of Andros, across a narrow channel from the village of Staniard Creek. A seaplane from Miami to Kamalame Cay is the crossing that finishes at the cay itself rather than at a runway on the far side of Andros. Downtown Miami to Staniard Creek is roughly 158 statute miles, about 137 nautical and almost every one of them is water.
The crossing runs about an hour in the air. The aircraft lifts off Biscayne Bay, turns east and crosses the Gulf Stream while you are still looking at it. The deep blue gives way to the pale shallows of the Great Bahama Bank, then Andros comes up low and green on the far side and the floats settle in the lee of the cay.
Everything between those two moments is ours: the departure point in Miami, the aircraft and the crew, both border filings and the travel documents the Bahamas wants before you leave Florida. Your party brings passports and a bag.
Up to nine seats travel on one booking from a seaplane base in Miami and this is one of several seaplane routes out of the city. The cay is not a port of entry, so the aircraft clears Bahamian customs at Andros Town first and flies the last few minutes up the coast afterwards.
Plan Your Kamalame Cay Charter
How It Works
How a Seaplane Miami to Kamalame Cay Actually Works
Kamalame Cay is a different country, so a day there is two border crossings in one day. Filed in advance it is paperwork. Left to the morning it is the reason an itinerary falls apart. The distance is the short part.
Two governments want the passenger list before the aircraft moves and both filings sit on our side of the desk rather than yours. What follows is the whole sequence in order, from the water at the Miami end to the ramp where the day finishes on the way home.
Plan Your Kamalame Cay CharterDistance and Time
A hundred and fifty eight miles of open water, about an hour of it in the air to the cay
Downtown Miami to the cay is roughly 158 statute miles, about 137 nautical, almost all of it water. On floats that is around an hour airborne, plus the taxi out at the Miami end and the arrival in the lee of the cay. The block time for your date comes back with the boarding time.
The Whole Aircraft
The aircraft is chartered whole, so your party flies out to the cay together and comes home together
The aircraft stays with your day rather than turning around, so six hours on the cay means six hours. Up to nine seats travel on one booking.
Leaving Miami
Leaving Miami for the cay means the manifest is filed before you reach the dock
Every passenger needs a valid passport, children included and a driving licence will not do. What counts as valid is in the travel documents guidance. Names and numbers go in from our side, in advance.
Clearing In on Andros
Arriving in the Bahamas means clearing at a port of entry and the cay is not one of them
The Bahamas lets an aircraft arrive only at a designated port of entry. On Andros there are three: Andros Town at Fresh Creek, San Andros in the north and Congo Town in the south.
Kamalame Cay is none of them, so the aircraft clears at Andros Town and flies the last leg up the coast afterwards. Passports out, forms already filed from Florida and it is quick. The same sequence applies to any private cay in the chain.
Arriving at the Cay
Arriving at Kamalame Cay on the water skips the road and the boat that a runway arrival needs
The cay has no airstrip of its own. By runway the island is reached through Fresh Creek, then roughly twenty minutes of road up the east coast and then a boat across the channel. A water arrival puts the party in the lee of the cay instead, with the walk up the beach as the only transfer left. The mechanics sit in the water landing guide.
The Way Back
The way back from the cay carries its own clock and it ends usually at US customs in Opa-locka
Water landings run only from 30 minutes after sunrise to 30 minutes before sunset, so nothing on floats arrives in the dark and the return leg carries a deadline from the moment the date is set.
The clearance desk on Andros keeps its own hours and the two clocks together set the last useful departure for your date, which comes back with the quote. A return that would arrive after dark needs a lit runway rather than water.
The return is filed with US Customs before you leave and that filing decides where the aircraft may put down in South Florida. Opa-locka Executive is where a return from the islands clears, so a day that started on the water often finishes on a ramp. We take care of both ends of any chartered flight from Miami to the Bahamas.
Departure Points
Departure Points for a Seaplane Miami to Kamalame Cay
A seaplane needs no airport at the Miami end, so the departure point follows your morning rather than the aircraft. Two of these four put you on the water, two on a ramp.
Miami Seaplane Base
555 NE 15th St, Miami
The water departure, on Biscayne Bay just north of downtown. Boarding is from the dock, so nothing between the car and the aircraft looks like an airport. The shortest ground leg for Brickell, downtown and the beach and the usual choice when a yacht is the other half of the day.
Opa-locka Executive
Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, OPF
The executive airport north west of the city, with private terminal handling at both ends of the day. It is also where a return from the islands clears US customs, which is why an international day that leaves from the water often comes back here rather than to the dock it started from.
Miami Executive
Miami Executive Airport, TMB, Kendall
Kendall-Tamiami, in the south west of the county. When the aircraft for your date is already based at this field, the charter starts without a positioning leg. That matters most on a same day return, where an hour lost in Florida is an hour lost at the far end.
Miami International
Miami International Airport, MIA
A pickup rather than a base and the right one when the party is already landing at MIA and the onward leg should leave from the same airport. No aircraft is stationed here, so it is arranged per flight and confirmed with the operator before it is quoted.
How to Charter
How to Charter a Seaplane to Kamalame Cay from Miami
Chartering a seaplane is not booking a seat. There are four steps, and only the first one is yours.
Plan Your Kamalame Cay Charter- 01
Contact Us
Write to us on WhatsApp or by email. Send your dates, how many guests, where you are coming from and where you want to travel. Tell us the hour you would like to leave. A seaplane lands on water and on runways. Your pickup can be a marina, a hotel dock or a beach, and an airport works just as well.
- 02
Get Aircraft and Prices Back
We check what is free on your date and send the seaplanes that fit. Seats, baggage and flight time for each one. Every aircraft costs a little differently, so we can find the best fit for you.
- 03
Confirm and Pay
You pick the aircraft, and we set the pickup point and the landing site. Then everything around the flight. Catering on board, a car or a golf cart waiting when you land, ground transport to your hotel or back to the airport. Flowers if the day is a special one. You approve it, you pay, and your boarding time, departure point and everything included come back to you.
- 04
Just Arrive 30 Minutes Early
You will have no terminal and no queue. Just make sure you are there 30 minutes before. Then you take off, land right at your destination, and enjoy the day.
On the Cay
Where a Miami to Kamalame Cay Seaplane Puts You Down
The cay is a mile and a half of beach with the buildings strung along it and a water arrival puts you on that beach. Everything on the island is a walk or a cart ride away, which is the whole reason a day here works and a day reached by road and boat does not.
What follows is what parties actually do with the hours in between, starting at the beach and working outwards.
Plan Your Kamalame Cay CharterThe Beach and the Walk Up
Most Asked For
The arrival is the first thing guests describe afterwards. The floats settle in the lee of the cay, the aircraft comes in to the sand and the party walks up the beach. There is no terminal on the island, no bag hall and no transfer vehicle waiting, because there is nowhere for one to have driven from. That is the difference this route sells.
By runway the same beach costs a landing at Fresh Creek, roughly twenty minutes of road up the east coast and then a boat across the channel and all three fall at the end of the morning. Say in the enquiry how many are walking and whether anybody needs a hand with the step down, because a beach is not a jetway.
The Reef Off the Cay
Snorkel and Dive
The Andros Barrier Reef runs down the east coast in front of the island and it is the third largest barrier reef in the world, roughly 190 miles from end to end. From the cay it is a short run offshore rather than a day out.
Behind the reef the water is shallow enough to stand in and in front of it the bottom falls away into the Tongue of the Ocean, a trench of about 6,000 feet that starts almost at the reef line.
Snorkellers and divers are therefore looking at two completely different things within a few hundred yards of each other. Say which of the two the party wants when you send the date: a dive boat and a snorkel boat are not always the same boat.
The Flats Behind the Island
Fishing Days
If the day is about fish rather than swimming, this is one of the serious addresses. Andros is called the bonefishing capital of the world and the flats that earn it the name start behind the cay rather than an hour south of it.
That is why parties book bonefishing and flats access or a full fishing day by seaplane. Rods and gear travel, within the payload for the aircraft on the day and they are declared with the enquiry rather than weighed at the dock.
The Water Off the Beach
Half a Day
Most of what happens here happens within sight of the sand. The channel between the cay and the mainland is flat, shallow and sheltered, which is the kind of water that suits a party with children in it or an afternoon that nobody wants to plan.
That is where a beach picnic goes and where the light is best late in the day. Add water toys if the party wants the afternoon on the water rather than on the sand, or a dock pickup if a boat is meeting you.
Staniard Creek Across the Channel
The Mainland Side
Staniard Creek is the settlement opposite the cay and it is the nearest thing to a high street on this stretch of coast: a handful of houses, a church and a beach that runs north from the mouth of the creek. It is a short crossing rather than an excursion.
North and south of it the coast road is the only road, so anything on the mainland is measured in driving time rather than in distance. That is worth knowing before an afternoon gets planned around it and it is the reason we ask what the party wants to do before the aircraft is matched to the day. Ground transport on the Andros side is arranged with the flight.
Fresh Creek and the Blue Holes
A Drive South
Andros carries more than 180 blue holes, inland and offshore, the highest concentration anywhere in the world. The best known of the inland ones sit in the national park south of Fresh Creek, which is also where the airstrip and the customs desk are.
From the cay that is a drive rather than a walk, so it belongs to a full day rather than to an afternoon. The wider island, the settlements and the west side are on the Andros destination page and the crossing to the island as a whole is Miami to Andros by seaplane.
A Party That Takes the Whole Island
Weddings and Buyouts
A private island is bookable as a private island, so a wedding party or a family group that fills it does not share it with anybody. The flight is the part of that which usually gets planned last and causes the most trouble, because a group arriving by road and boat arrives in pieces over several hours.
A seaplane lands the party in one movement, on the beach, at an hour that suits the day rather than a timetable. Weddings and elopements and milestone celebrations are the two we are asked about most often here. For a larger group the aircraft flies more than once on the same day and the sequence is planned backwards from the hour you want everybody ashore.
Onward Down the Chain
Same Aircraft
A private seaplane charter Miami to Kamalame Cay also works as the first leg rather than the whole day. The same aircraft carries on east and south to Nassau, Harbour Island, Grand Bahama, Bimini or Staniel Cay and the Exumas. That is what turns one cay into island hopping or a wider Bahamas day.
Overnight changes the baggage rather than the route. If a yacht is meeting you, the aircraft can set the party down alongside instead of at a dock. That is a yacht transfer and it is the reason a good number of these flights happen at all.
The full island guide sits on the Kamalame Cay destination page, the packaged version is the Kamalame Cay getaway day trip and the rest of the chain is on the Bahamas destinations page.
Ready When You Are
Ready to Book Seaplane Flights from Miami to Kamalame Cay?
Send the departure point, the number of guests and from when to when. You get back what is free on your dates, the boarding time and what the day costs, before anything is booked.
Add-Ons
Seaplane to Kamalame Cay Add-Ons
Anything else you have in mind is arranged with the flight.
In Detail
Seaplane from Miami to Kamalame Cay: The Bank, the Reef and a Water Arrival
Everything above is the day. What follows is the detail behind it: the crossing, the two borders, the rest of the chain and what charter and private actually change about a flight to the Bahamas.
Seaplane Miami to Kamalame Cay: Flying Low Over the Reef and the Flats
Room enough and a window each on a Kamalame Cay seaplane
The crossing is not dead time between two airports. A seaplane runs low and slow, so the water under the wing is the first thing the day gives you. Downtown Miami to Staniard Creek is roughly 158 statute miles, about 137 nautical and almost every one of them is water. The Bahamian declaration goes in from Florida, the aircraft clears at Andros Town because the cay is not a port of entry and the US return is filed before you leave, which is what sets where you may land coming home. The deep blue gives way to the pale shallows of the Great Bahama Bank, then Andros comes up low and green on the far side and the floats settle in the lee of the cay. Charter the aircraft and it is yours alone: the crew and the day belong to your party. Every seat is a window seat on seaplanes in the fleet of this size, so nobody watches the crossing over someone's shoulder. Other seaplane routes from Miami fly the same way.
Seaplane to Kamalame Cay from Miami: You Decide the Departure Time
Your hour, your names and a seaplane to Kamalame Cay
Nobody hands you a timetable on a charter. The day is built around the hour you name. You name the hour you want to lift off, the hour you want to be standing on Kamalame Cay and which water in the city suits your morning. The aircraft belongs to your party for the day, so all three are your decision rather than a departure somebody else set, and a change the week before is a message to us. If the drive is shorter the other way, the same day runs out of Fort Lauderdale. Half an hour before the lift-off is the whole of the check-in. Your party walks from the car to the aircraft, the bags go on in front of you, and the list for that flight carries your names and nobody else's. Nothing about the morning waits on a stranger. The whole party travels on one booking rather than on a row of seats. And the crossing is a reason in itself. The windows are deep and the aircraft crosses low, so there is room for everybody to sit and watch the water change instead of taking turns at one of them.
Miami to Kamalame Cay Seaplane: The Crew Files Both Borders, You Carry a Passport
Passports are all your party carries on a Kamalame Cay crossing
A seaplane from Miami to Kamalame Cay crosses an international border twice in a day. It is the part that goes wrong when nobody files it in advance. Entry into the Bahamas asks for a declaration filed from Florida, clearance at a port of entry on arrival and a US return filed before you leave, which is what sets where you may land coming home. On a Crown Air charter the crew files all three. Your party carries a valid passport and nothing else. Passports for everyone, children included, per the travel documents guidance. What may travel sits in the baggage guidance. That same filing sets where you land coming home: a return from the islands clears at Opa-locka Executive, so a day that began on the water finishes on a ramp and a departure moved by weather runs under the weather and delays policy. If the party changes before the flight, the crew refiles. A name added, a name dropped: that is a message to us rather than a problem for you.
Seaplane Miami Kamalame Cay: Milestone Days and Bahamas Weekends
A day trip, a weekend or something to celebrate on Kamalame Cay
A private seaplane from Miami to Kamalame Cay is booked when the day is worth marking: a birthday, a proposal, a graduation, a weekend away with the people who matter. The flight is short enough that the occasion, not the travelling, is what the day is about. That is what a seaplane Miami Kamalame Cay charter is for. There is no terminal to walk through and no queue at either end, so the party stays together from the car to the cabin. The aircraft waits rather than turning around for its next departure, so an afternoon that runs long is simply an afternoon that runs long. Some parties fly over for the day and are home the same evening. Others stay on and book the return for the day they want. Both are the same charter, and the whole group travels together on one booking. If there is something to celebrate, say so when you book: catering, a private chef, premium beverages and flowers travel with you. Everything is in place before you board in Miami.
Questions
Seaplane from Miami to Kamalame Cay: Questions Answered
How long is the flight from Miami to Kamalame Cay?
About an hour in the air. Staniard Creek on Andros lies roughly 158 statute miles from downtown Miami, about 137 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.
Do I need a passport to fly to Kamalame Cay?
Yes. Kamalame Cay 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.
Where does a seaplane land at Kamalame Cay?
On the water beside the cay. The island has no airstrip of its own, which is why the water arrival is worth the whole argument: the party steps off the float and walks up the beach. By runway the same island is reached through Fresh Creek on the Andros mainland, then roughly twenty minutes of road up the east coast and then a boat across the channel from Staniard Creek.
How does customs work on a seaplane flight to Kamalame Cay?
The Bahamas lets an aircraft arrive only at a designated port of entry and the cay is not one. Andros has three: Andros Town at Fresh Creek, San Andros in the north and Congo Town in the south.
The aircraft clears at Andros Town, then flies the last leg up the coast, which adds minutes rather than an afternoon because the paperwork went in from Florida. None of it is yours: we make both filings and arrange the clearance, so your part is the enquiry.
Can you do Kamalame Cay as a day trip from Miami?
Yes. Out in the morning, back before dark, with the aircraft waiting rather than turning around, so six hours on the cay means six hours. Both borders are filed in advance from our side and the clearance on Andros is planned into the hours the officers keep, so the day needs nothing on your list.
Nothing about it is shared with anyone. Say in the enquiry whether the day is a visit or the first leg of a stay, because it changes the baggage rather than the route.
How late can we fly back from Kamalame Cay on the same day?
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 clearance desk on Andros keeps its own hours on top of that and both clocks move through the year, which is why the latest departure for your date comes with the quote rather than as a rule of thumb. A return arriving after dark lands on a lit runway instead of on water.
How many people can fly to Kamalame Cay on one charter?
Up to nine seats travel on one booking. The aircraft is chartered whole rather than sold by the seat, so your party travels together and comes home on the same aircraft. Which airframe flies your date depends on the payload once baggage is aboard, so the seat count for your party is confirmed with the quote. Send the headcount and say whether children are travelling: they count as passengers on an international manifest.
How much luggage can we take and can we bring rods or dive gear?
Rods, dive gear and hard cases all travel regularly to the cay, 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.
What happens if the weather stops the Kamalame Cay flight?
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.
Is the seaplane faster than flying to Andros and driving?
It removes two transfers rather than minutes in the air. A runway arrival lands at Fresh Creek, then takes roughly twenty minutes of road up the east coast and a boat across the channel and both of those sit at the end of the morning when they cost the most.
A water arrival ends at the beach. On an overnight the difference is an inconvenience. On a single day it is the part of the day you came for.
Can you fly to Kamalame Cay from Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach instead?
Yes. The cay is reachable from every departure point in the corridor and the difference in crossing time between them is worth very little once the drive to the dock 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.
What does a private seaplane charter from Miami to Kamalame Cay cost?
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 on the island it is based on, before anything is due. Bahamian and US entry fees are inside that number rather than added at the end.
Can the seaplane take us on from Kamalame Cay to another island the same day?
Yes. Andros sits on the western edge of the chain and the same aircraft carries on to Nassau, Harbour Island, Grand Bahama, Bimini 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 another 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.
Can I bring a pet on a seaplane charter?
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.
Next Step
Ready to Book a Seaplane Charter Miami to Kamalame Cay?
Send the departure point, the party size and from when to when. Nothing else needs planning: you get back what is free on your dates, the boarding time and what the day on the cay costs.
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