The Crossing
Seaplane from Miami to Manjack Cay by Private Charter
Manjack Cay is an undeveloped, privately owned island at the north end of the Abacos and a seaplane is the only way there that does not end with a boat ride you did not plan for. It carries no airstrip, no settlement and no road, which is exactly what people come for and exactly what makes the last few miles the hard part on any other itinerary.
The cay lies roughly 189 statute miles from downtown Miami, about 164 nautical, almost all of it open water. On floats that is close to an hour in the air. The aircraft lifts off in Biscayne Bay, crosses the Gulf Stream into the pale water of the Little Bahama Bank and settles beside a beach with nobody on it.
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.
A seaplane from Miami to Manjack Cay is one of several seaplane routes out of the city and it starts from a seaplane base in Miami. The aircraft is a small plane on floats, eight seats and nine in some configurations, which is the airframe that makes a beach with no dock behind it a place a party can be set down at.
The Abacos run roughly 120 miles along the northern end of the Bahamas and sit east of southern Florida, which makes them the shortest reach in the country from a departure water in Miami.
Plan Your Manjack Cay Charter
How It Works
How a Seaplane Miami to Manjack Cay Actually Works
Manjack 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 Manjack Cay CharterDistance and Time to Manjack Cay
A hundred and ninety miles of open water, close to an hour of it in the air
Downtown Miami to Manjack Cay is roughly 189 statute miles, about 164 nautical, almost all of it water. On floats that is close to an hour airborne, plus the taxi out and the water landing at the far end.
The cay sits at the top of the Abaco chain, the island group closest to Florida, so this is one of the shorter crossings in the country rather than one of the long ones. The distance was never the difficult part of getting here. The last four miles were.
The Whole Aircraft
The aircraft is chartered whole, so your party flies to Manjack Cay together and comes home together
The aircraft stays with you rather than turning around, so six hours on the cay means six hours. On an island with no settlement that counts for more than it does elsewhere: there is no ferry to catch and no later flight to fall back on, so the aircraft that brought you is also the way home and it waits until your party is finished.
Water Landing at Manjack Cay
The floats land on the water off the cay, because there is no runway anywhere on it
Manjack Cay has no airstrip and no ferry dock, so every arrival by wheels lands somewhere else in the Abacos and finishes by boat. Floats end that. The Bahamas approves water landing sites through its civil aviation authority rather than leaving them to the day, so the set-down point is fixed with the itinerary. The mechanics sit in the water landing guide.
Leaving Miami for Manjack Cay
Leaving Miami for Manjack 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, so the details are asked for at the enquiry rather than at the slip on the morning.
Nothing is handed over at the dock and there is no counter to stand at, because the manifest went in days before anybody drove to the water.
Arriving in the Abacos
Manjack Cay has no customs desk, so the aircraft clears on the way and flies the last leg after
The Bahamas lets an aircraft arrive only at a designated port of entry and an undeveloped cay is not one. That is not an obstacle, it is simply the order of the day: the aircraft clears first at a port of entry on the route, then flies the short last leg to the water off the cay.
The ones that sit on this line are Treasure Cay, identifiers TCB and MYAT, a few minutes south of the cay and Marsh Harbour, MHH and MYAM, the main port of entry for the whole island group.
Which one your day uses depends on the aircraft, the route and the date and it comes with the quote. The clearance itself is arranged for you, the paperwork is filed in advance from Florida and it is quick.
The Way Back from Manjack Cay
The way back 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 Bahamian customs desks keep daytime hours, published as 09:00 to 17:30, so in practice it is the desk rather than the daylight that fixes the last useful departure. Both clocks move through the year, so the latest departure for your date comes with the quote.
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 Manjack 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 Manjack Cay from Miami
Chartering a seaplane is not booking a seat. There are four steps, and only the first one is yours.
Plan Your Manjack 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 Manjack Cay Seaplane Puts You Down
Manjack Cay is a mile or so of beach, bush and mangrove with no road on it, no settlement and nothing to buy. It is privately owned and the few residents let visitors ashore, which is the whole reason a day here feels like a day nobody else had.
What follows is what parties actually do with the hours in between, in the order they ask for it.
Plan Your Manjack Cay CharterThe Beaches at the North End of Manjack Cay
Most Asked For
Most come for the sand first. The beaches run along the northern end of the cay, pale and long enough that a party can walk for a while without meeting anybody, which is rarer in the Abacos than the map suggests.
There is nothing behind them: no bar, no rental hut, no boardwalk. That is the point of the place and it is also the thing to plan around, because shade, water and lunch come in on the aircraft rather than off a menu.
Say how many are swimming when you send the date and say whether anybody wants the whole day on the sand rather than half of it. On a cay with no shelter the hours you choose matter more than they would on an island with a hotel on it.
Rays and Nurse Sharks Off the Cay
In the Shallows
The shallow water either side of the cay is what most parties remember. Rays come in over pale sand close enough to stand with and nurse sharks gather in the same kind of water, which is the calm half of what the Bahamas is famous for rather than the loud half.
Neither is tied to a particular month, so both hold up whatever date the party has already fixed. That is worth knowing on a cay like this: there is no season to plan around and no boat to book, because the water starts at the beach you landed beside.
The Creek and the Mangroves at Manjack Cay
High Tide Only
A creek runs into the middle of the cay through mangrove. It can be paddled by kayak or taken slowly in a small boat and it is where the turtles are. The tide decides it rather than the hour you would prefer.
At high water the creek opens up and at low water it does not, so it is the one part of a day here that is set by the sea. Mention it when you send the date and the boarding time can be built around the water rather than against it.
Snorkelling Off Manjack Cay
Straight Off the Sand
Reef sits close in on both sides of the cay, so the snorkelling starts off the beach rather than an hour offshore behind a boat. For a party with children along that is the difference between a morning in the water and a morning getting to the water.
Masks and fins travel with the bags, within the payload for the aircraft on the day. Anybody who would rather have the gear waiting adds water toys to the flight instead of carrying it.
The Walking Trails on the Cay
A Short Walk
The residents keep a couple of paths cut across the cay, from the beach on one side through the bush to the water on the other. They are short, they are the only made ground on the island and they are the reason a day here is not only a beach day.
Nothing about them needs booking. They need shoes rather than sandals and an hour rather than an afternoon, which makes them the natural thing to do while the sun is at its highest and the sand is not the place to be.
The Anchorage Between Manjack Cay and Crab Cay
Where the Boats Sit
The bay at the south end, between the cay and Crab Cay, is the best protected anchorage in this part of the Abacos and it is usually where any boat in the picture will be waiting. If a yacht is meeting you, the aircraft can set the party down alongside rather than at a pier.
That is a yacht transfer and on a cay with no dock for visitors it is often the tidiest way to run the day. A dock pickup covers the same thing when the boat comes to you.
Neighbours a Few Minutes South
Same Morning
The cay sits at the top of a chain rather than on its own. Green Turtle Cay is four nautical miles away, Treasure Cay a little further and Great Guana Cay, Elbow Cay and Marsh Harbour run away south from there. Minutes by air, longer by water.
A party that wants a settlement and a table in the same day as an empty beach books a fly and dine day and says so early, because a second set-down changes the timing rather than the price alone. Anything outside the usual list goes to custom requests.
Onward Down the Chain
Same Aircraft
A private seaplane charter Miami to Manjack Cay also works as the first leg rather than the whole day. The same aircraft carries on to Grand Bahama, Nassau, Harbour Island, Andros 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. The wider island guide sits on the Abacos destination page, the cay itself on the Manjack Cay destination page and the rest of the chain on the Bahamas destinations page.
Ready When You Are
Ready to Book Seaplane Flights from Miami to Manjack 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 Manjack Cay Add-Ons
Anything else you have in mind is arranged with the flight.
In Detail
Seaplane from Miami to Manjack Cay: The Gulf Stream, the Bank and a Water Landing
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.
Each of the five sections below takes one of those and finishes it, so the questions that usually come back after a first enquiry are answered here rather than in an exchange of messages. Read the ones that apply to your date and skip the rest.
Seaplane Miami to Manjack Cay: Flying Low Over the Reef and the Flats
Room enough and a window each on a Manjack 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. The cay lies roughly 189 statute miles from downtown Miami, about 164 nautical, almost all of it open water. The shallow water either side of the cay is what the day is built out of, so a party that wants the afternoon on the water rather than on the sand adds water toys when the date is sent rather than after. The aircraft is a small plane on floats, eight seats and nine in some configurations, which is the airframe that makes a beach with no dock behind it a place a party can be set down at. Manjack Cay is a different country, so a day there is two border crossings in one day. 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 Manjack Cay from Miami: You Decide the Departure Time
Your hour, your names and a seaplane to Manjack 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 Manjack 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. Parties meeting a boat go alongside on a You choose the hour and the stay. 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 Manjack Cay Seaplane: The Crew Files Both Borders, You Carry a Passport
Passports are all your party carries on a Manjack Cay crossing
A seaplane from Miami to Manjack 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 Manjack Cay: Milestone Days and Bahamas Weekends
A day trip, a weekend or something to celebrate on Manjack Cay
A private seaplane from Miami to Manjack 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 Manjack Cay charter is for. The shallow water either side of the cay is what the day is built out of, so a party that wants the afternoon on the water rather than on the sand adds water toys when the date is sent rather than after. 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 Manjack Cay: Questions Answered
How long is the flight from Miami to Manjack Cay?
Close to an hour in the air. Manjack Cay lies roughly 189 statute miles from downtown Miami, about 164 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 Manjack Cay?
Yes. Manjack 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.
Is there an airport on Manjack Cay?
No. Manjack Cay is undeveloped and privately owned, with no airstrip, no settlement and no road, which is why it is normally reached by boat from a neighbouring island. A seaplane removes that last leg: it lands on the water beside the cay instead of on a runway somewhere else. The nearest airports are in the Abacos a few minutes south and they are where a wheeled aircraft would have to stop.
How does customs work on a seaplane flight to Manjack Cay?
The Bahamas lets an aircraft arrive only at a designated port of entry and an undeveloped cay is not one, so the aircraft clears on the way and flies the short last leg after. The ones on this line are Treasure Cay, TCB and MYAT and Marsh Harbour, MHH and MYAM.
Which one your day uses depends on the aircraft, the route and the date and it comes with the quote. None of the paperwork is yours: both filings are made from our side and the clearance is arranged for you.
Can you do Manjack Cay as a day trip from Miami?
Yes and it is how most parties do it. 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 is planned into the hours the officers keep, so the day needs nothing on your list. Nothing about it is shared with anyone else.
How late can we fly back from Manjack 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 Bahamian customs desks keep daytime hours, published as 09:00 to 17:30 and they close before the sun does, so in practice the desk sets the return. 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 Manjack Cay 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 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.
What should we bring to a cay with nothing on it?
Everything the day needs, because Manjack Cay has no shop, no bar and no kitchen. Food, drink, shade and water go in with the bags, which is why catering on board is the most common addition on this route.
Snorkel gear, rods and paddle gear all travel, within the payload for the aircraft on the day. The limit is a weight rather than a bag count, so bulky equipment is declared when you book rather than weighed at the dock.
What happens if the weather stops the Manjack 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.
What is there to do on Manjack Cay?
Quiet beaches along the north end, walking trails kept up by the few residents, a mangrove creek that can be paddled at high tide and shallow water either side where rays and nurse sharks come in close. The reefs off the cay are snorkelled from the beach rather than from a boat an hour offshore. The bay at the south end, between the cay and Crab Cay, is the best protected anchorage in this part of the Abacos.
Can you fly to Manjack Cay from Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach instead?
Yes. The cay is reachable from every departure point in the corridor and the crossing from Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach is marginally shorter than the one from Miami, which is worth very little once the drive 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 Manjack 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 on the water.
Tell us those and you get one all-in number, with the departure point, the boarding time and the hours on 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.
Can the seaplane take us on from Manjack Cay to another island the same day?
Yes. Manjack Cay sits at the top of the Abaco chain rather than at the end of it and the same aircraft carries on to Treasure Cay, Great Guana Cay, Elbow Cay, Marsh Harbour and further south to Nassau 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 around the stop you want. For a yacht we pass the coordinates 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 Manjack 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 Manjack Cay day costs.
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