The Crossing
Seaplane from Miami to Little San Salvador by Private Charter
Little San Salvador is the island most people know under its other name, Half Moon Cay and the first thing worth saying about it is the thing nobody says on a booking page.
The 2,400 acres ashore are privately owned by a cruise line and the beach is open to guests of its own ships. There is no day pass, no landing fee and no application anyone can file, so no charter operator can put you on that sand. We say it here rather than after your deposit.
What is not private is the sea around it. Half Moon Bay is Bahamian water and a listed anchorage, the cays and the coast on either side are open like any other and the two islands it sits between are Eleuthera and Cat Island.
From the Miami Seaplane Base to the island is 240 nautical miles, 277 statute, on a line that runs southeast down the whole length of the Bahamas. It sits roughly 100 miles southeast of Nassau, in the Cat Island District and it is the reason the flight is a crossing rather than a hop.
What we take care of on that crossing is everything between the two moments: 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.
This is one of the longer crossings we fly from a seaplane base in Miami and one of many seaplane routes out of the city. The aircraft is a small plane on floats, eight seats and nine in some configurations.
Plan Your Little San Salvador Charter
How It Works
How a Seaplane Miami to Little San Salvador Actually Works
This is a different country and a long way into it, so the day is two border crossings and a crossing of open sea. Filed in advance it is paperwork. Left to the morning it is the reason an itinerary falls apart. Two governments want the passenger list before the aircraft moves and both filings sit on our side of the desk rather than yours.
The Bahamas also wants a word about the water: a float landing at a given spot goes to the Civil Aviation Authority for approval and that request is ours to make. 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 Little San Salvador CharterDistance and Sea
Two hundred and forty nautical miles of open water, southeast down the whole chain
The Miami Seaplane Base to Little San Salvador is 240 nautical miles, 277 statute, measured between the two sets of coordinates. Almost all of it is water. The block time depends on the aircraft, the departure point and the wind on the day, so it comes with the boarding time rather than off a table.
The Whole Aircraft
The aircraft is chartered whole, so your party flies to Little San Salvador together and comes home together
The aircraft stays with you rather than turning around, so the hours you asked for are the hours you get.
Where the Floats Go Down
A water landing needs approved water and around Little San Salvador that is the open bay rather than the beach
Half Moon Bay is Bahamian water and a listed anchorage, so a float aircraft putting down there is an application rather than an exclusion. The request goes to the Director of Civil Aviation for the landing spot, the same as for any other water landing in the country.
The mechanics sit in the water landing guide. Going ashore on the island itself is the owner's call and the owner is a cruise line, so a tender is what collects you, not a beach.
Leaving Miami
Leaving Miami for Little San Salvador 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.
Arriving in the Bahamas
Arriving in the Bahamas means clearing at an airport of entry first and Little San Salvador is not one
The Bahamas lets an aircraft arrive only at a designated airport of entry the first time it enters the country. Little San Salvador carries no airstrip, so the clearance happens at the nearest one and the last leg is flown afterwards.
New Bight on Cat Island is the port of entry for that island, 31 nautical miles southeast of the cay, with a 5,049 foot asphalt runway. Rock Sound on Eleuthera is an airport of entry too, 23 nautical miles west, with 7,215 feet. Either one clears the aircraft, the crew and your party and neither is a detour worth arguing about at that range.
The Way Back
The way back from Little San Salvador 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. Customs on Cat Island closes at official sunset and Rock Sound keeps published hours of 1400 to 2200 Zulu, so at this distance it is usually the desk that fixes your departure rather than the daylight.
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 Little San Salvador
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 Little San Salvador from Miami
Chartering a seaplane is not booking a seat. There are four steps, and only the first one is yours.
Plan Your Little San Salvador 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 Water
Where a Miami to Little San Salvador Seaplane Puts You Down
Little San Salvador is four square miles of low scrub, sand and a brackish lagoon and 98 percent of it has never been built on. Roughly 50 acres carry the cruise line's landing, the rest is a wild bird preserve and the lagoon inside it is named an important wetland by the Bahamas National Trust.
What follows is what a day around it is actually made of, in the order parties ask for it.
Plan Your Little San Salvador CharterHalf Moon Bay and the Water Around It
Bahamian Water
The bay is the first answer. Half Moon Bay is a crescent of pale sand and shallow water on the northwest side, it holds yachts as a listed anchorage and it is Bahamian water rather than anybody's property.
That is where a float aircraft can be asked to put down and where a tender comes out to collect a party. It is also the difference between this island and every other one on the chain: the sea is open and the sand is not.
The approval for a landing spot on the water goes to the Director of Civil Aviation, the same as for any other float landing in the country and it is asked for at the same time as the manifest rather than on the morning. Say when you send the date whether a boat is going to be lying there, because a set-down alongside and a set-down in open water are planned differently.
The Beach Ashore Belongs to a Cruise Line
Not Bookable
The 2,400 acres ashore are private. A cruise line bought the island in December 1996 for six million dollars and has run it as a call for its own ships ever since and the owner's own guidance says guests reach it by tender from the ship. About 50 acres are developed. The other 98 percent is a wild bird preserve and stays that way.
There is no day pass, no landing fee and no application anyone can file, so nobody can sell you an afternoon on that beach and we will not pretend otherwise. It is the one thing on this page worth reading twice, because it changes what the day is built around rather than whether the day happens.
Cat Island, Thirty One Miles Southeast
Where You Clear
Cat Island is the near neighbour and the one most days end up on. It lies 31 nautical miles southeast, carries the airport of entry at New Bight and holds the highest ground in the country.
Mount Alvernia, called Como Hill locally, rises to 206 feet and the small stone monastery on top of it was built by hand in 1939 by a priest the island still calls Father Jerome. The way up is a stone staircase. It is the single most photographed thing on the island and it costs nothing to see.
New Bight has a 5,049 foot asphalt runway and the customs desk there closes at official sunset, which at this range is usually what fixes the return rather than the light on the water.
The island itself runs long and thin with empty beaches down both sides, so an afternoon here is a car and a swim rather than a schedule. It is flown in its own right as Miami to Cat Island and Miami to Hawk's Nest.
Eleuthera, Twenty Three Miles West
Hotels and Tables
Eleuthera is the other neighbour, 23 nautical miles west of the cay at Rock Sound and it is where a day goes when the party wants a hotel and a table rather than an anchorage.
Rock Sound is an airport of entry with 7,215 feet of runway and published customs hours of 1400 to 2200 Zulu, so it is the alternative to Cat Island for the clearance and it puts you on a long island with a road down the middle of it.
Governor's Harbour sits an easy run north, Harbour Island and its pink sand lie at the far end and Spanish Wells is a short hop beyond that. All of them are open to anybody who books them, which is the practical answer to an island that is not.
A Yacht Lying in the Bay
Most Booked
If a yacht is the point of the day, this is where the route earns its keep. The bay is a working anchorage and a float aircraft can be set down alongside a boat lying in it.
That is a yacht transfer and it is the reason a good number of these flights happen at all. Add a dock pickup if the tender is meeting you, or water toys if the afternoon is going to be spent in the water rather than on it.
Send the coordinates and the boat name with the date. The pilots decide on the day whether the water works, because wind and swell in an open bay matter more than they do in a harbour and a tender has to be in the water to collect you. That last part is worth arranging rather than by radio on the morning.
Open Sand at Low Water
Beach Days
For a beach day with nobody on it, the answer is an open cay rather than this one. The bank between Eleuthera and Cat Island dries into sand at low water in several places and none of it belongs to anyone.
That is where a beach picnic goes and a party that wants a table instead books a fly and dine day on Eleuthera. Anything outside the usual list goes to custom requests.
Low water is what decides the hour on a day like that, not the hour you would prefer and it moves through the month. It is the one part of the plan set by the sea rather than by the aircraft, so it is worth naming the sandbar afternoon when you send the date rather than after it.
Guateo, Little San Salvador, Half Moon Cay
Three Names
The name is worth knowing before you plan around it. The Lucayans called the island Guateo, distant land and it has carried at least three names since. Half Moon Cay is the trading name a cruise line gave it after buying it, taken from the crescent bay on the northwest side and it was renamed again in 2024.
Little San Salvador is the name on the chart and the one the Bahamas uses: it sits in the Cat Island District, about 100 miles southeast of Nassau.
It is a different island from San Salvador, which lies far to the east, is many times the size and is open to anybody. The two get confused on booking sites more often than they should and at 240 nautical miles out that is not a mistake worth making on the day.
Onward Down the Chain
Same Aircraft
The same aircraft carries on from here rather than turning for home and at this range most days already have a second stop in them, because the clearance happens on a neighbouring island anyway. Down the chain lie Long Island, Nassau and the Exumas, north of it North Eleuthera and Royal Island.
That is what turns one crossing into island hopping or a wider Bahamas day. Overnight changes the baggage rather than the route. The full island guide sits on the Little San Salvador destination page, the packaged version is the Little San Salvador getaway and the rest of the chain is on the Bahamas destinations page.
Ready When You Are
Ready to Book Seaplane Flights from Miami to Little San Salvador?
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 Little San Salvador Add-Ons
Anything else you have in mind is arranged with the flight.
In Detail
Seaplane from Miami to Little San Salvador: The Bay, the Border and What Is Actually Open
Everything above is the day. What follows is the detail behind it: the crossing, the two borders, what a private island does and does not allow and what charter and private actually change about a flight to the Bahamas.
Seaplane Miami to Little San Salvador: Flying Low Over the Reef and the Flats
Room enough and a window each on a Little San Salvador 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. From the Miami Seaplane Base to the island is 240 nautical miles, 277 statute, on a line that runs southeast down the whole length of the Bahamas. What we take care of on that crossing is everything between the two moments: the departure point in Miami, the aircraft and the crew, both border filings and the travel documents the Bahamas wants before you leave Florida. Half Moon Bay is Bahamian water and a listed anchorage, the cays and the coast on either side are open like any other and the two islands it sits between are Eleuthera and Cat Island. The hold is yours too, so seaplanes in the fleet are matched to the load . 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 Little San Salvador from Miami: You Decide the Departure Time
Your hour, your names and a seaplane to Little San Salvador
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 Little San Salvador 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. 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 Little San Salvador Seaplane: The Crew Files Both Borders, You Carry a Passport
Passports are all your party carries on a Little San Salvador crossing
A seaplane from Miami to Little San Salvador 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. 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 Little San Salvador: Milestone Days and Bahamas Weekends
A day trip, a weekend or a celebration on Little San Salvador
A private seaplane from Miami to Little San Salvador 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 Little San Salvador charter is for. Little San Salvador is the island most people know under its other name, Half Moon Cay and the first thing worth saying about it is the thing nobody says on a booking page. The name is worth knowing before you plan around it. 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 Little San Salvador: Questions Answered
Can you land on Little San Salvador?
Not on the beach. The island is privately owned by a cruise line and the shore is kept for guests of its own ships, which reach it by tender. There is no day pass and no application anyone can file, so no charter operator can put you on that sand and we will not tell you otherwise.
Half Moon Bay itself is Bahamian water and a listed anchorage, so a float landing there is a request to the Civil Aviation Authority rather than a closed door and a yacht or a tender is what meets you.
Is Little San Salvador the same island as Half Moon Cay?
Yes. Little San Salvador is the name on the chart and Half Moon Cay is the trading name the cruise line uses, after the crescent bay on the northwest side. The Lucayans called it Guateo, distant land. It was renamed again in 2024 and you will see all of those on different maps. It is not San Salvador, which is a separate and much larger island further east and open to anybody.
How far is Little San Salvador from Miami?
Two hundred and forty nautical miles, 277 statute, measured between the Miami Seaplane Base and the island, almost all of it water. It sits about 100 miles southeast of Nassau, roughly halfway between Eleuthera and Cat Island. The block time depends on the aircraft, the departure point and the wind on the day, so it is confirmed with the boarding time rather than promised off a table.
Do I need a passport to fly to Little San Salvador?
Yes. This is the Bahamas, so it 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 the aircraft clear customs on the way to Little San Salvador?
At an airport of entry, because the Bahamas requires the first landing in the country to be at one and the cay is not on that list. New Bight on Cat Island is the port of entry for that island, 31 nautical miles southeast and Rock Sound on Eleuthera is another, 23 nautical miles west.
The aircraft clears at whichever suits the day and flies the last leg afterwards. The inward declaration is form C7A in triplicate with an immigration card per person and a 50 dollar process fee for the aircraft and all of it is filed from our side.
Can you do Little San Salvador as a day trip from Miami?
Yes and it is worth planning as a full day rather than a morning. At 240 nautical miles the crossing, the clearance and the return all want daylight, so the departure goes early and the aircraft stays with your party rather than turning around.
Most parties build the day around the bay and one of the two neighbouring islands. Both borders are filed in advance from our side and nothing about the paperwork is on your list.
How late can we fly back from Little San Salvador 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.
At this distance the customs desk usually decides before the sun does: Cat Island closes at official sunset and Rock Sound keeps published hours of 1400 to 2200 Zulu. Both clocks move through the year, which is why the latest departure for your date comes with the quote.
How many people can fly to Little San Salvador on one charter?
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 the fuel for a long crossing are 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.
Can the seaplane put us on a yacht anchored at Little San Salvador?
That is the most common reason this flight is booked. Half Moon Bay is Bahamian water and a listed anchorage, so a boat may lie there and a float aircraft may be asked to put down alongside.
Send the coordinates and the boat name with the date. The pilots decide on the day whether the water works and a tender has to be in the water to collect you, which is a yacht transfer rather than a beach landing.
What is there to do near Little San Salvador if we cannot go ashore?
A great deal, because the neighbours are both open. Cat Island is 31 nautical miles southeast and carries Mount Alvernia, at 206 feet the highest ground in the Bahamas, with a hand-built stone monastery on the summit from 1939.
Eleuthera is 23 nautical miles west at Rock Sound and runs north past Governor's Harbour to Harbour Island and Spanish Wells. The bank in between dries into open sand at low water, which is where a beach picnic goes.
What happens if the weather stops the Little San Salvador flight?
Water operations depend on wind and sea state as well as visibility and an open bay at this distance is more exposed than a sheltered harbour, so a departure can move on a day that looks clear from the beach.
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.
What does a private seaplane charter from Miami to Little San Salvador 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 stays with you. This is a long crossing, so the routing and the fuel matter more here than on a short hop.
Tell us those and you get one all-in number, with the departure point, the boarding time and the hours 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 Little San Salvador to another island the same day?
Yes and most days already do, because the clearance happens on a neighbouring island anyway. From here the same aircraft carries on to Cat Island, Eleuthera, Harbour Island, Long Island, Nassau or 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 airport of entry rather than the stop you want.
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 Little San Salvador?
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 costs.
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