Seaplane from Miami to Montage Cay

About 80 minutes in the air. Montage Cay lies roughly 205 statute miles from downtown Miami, about 178 nautical. The line runs east across the Gulf Stream and then south east into the Sea of Abaco.

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, the clearance stop on the way in and how long the aircraft waits for you.

Yes. Montage 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.

It is a private island in the Abacos, a few hundred metres off the shore of Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco. It was formerly known as Matt Lowe's Cay. There is no bridge and no road: arrival is by yacht, by seaplane, by helicopter or by the island ferry.

From the airport at Marsh Harbour it is a short boat ride of about ten minutes. A float aircraft skips that last leg, which is the reason most parties ask about one.

The Bahamas lets an aircraft arrive only at a designated port of entry. The cay is not one, so the aircraft clears on the way in and flies the last few minutes afterwards. The entry points on this line are Leonard M. Thompson International at Marsh Harbour, identifiers MHH and MYAM, plus Treasure Cay up the coast, TCB and MYAT.

Marsh Harbour also carries entry points on the water. Which one your day uses depends on the aircraft, the routing and the date. It comes back with the quote. None of the paperwork is yours: we make both filings and arrange the clearance, which is quick.

Yes, although most parties come for longer, because eighty minutes each way and a clearance stop use more of the morning than a short hop does. Out early, back before dark, with the aircraft waiting in the Abacos 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.

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 daytime hours, normally 09:00 to 17:30.

A clearance outside them carries an overtime fee, so in practice the desk sets the return rather than the sun. Both clocks move through the year, which is why the latest departure for your date comes with the quote. A return arriving after dark lands on a lit runway instead of on water.

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.

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. 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. The Sea of Abaco is sheltered water, which helps at the far end, but the Gulf Stream crossing in the middle is open ocean.

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.

Both work and the honest answer changes with the morning. A runway arrival at Marsh Harbour puts you on Great Abaco with a car and a short boat ride still to come, which is unremarkable on a calm day and tiresome with luggage and children.

A float aircraft finishes at the waterline instead. On a rough morning the runway is the better answer and we say so rather than sell you the picture.

Yes. The Abacos are reachable from every departure point in the corridor and the crossing from West Palm Beach is the shortest of them, 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 islands. 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 in the islands.

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.

Yes. The cay sits in the middle of the chain rather than at the end and the same aircraft carries on to Hope Town, Great Guana Cay, Green Turtle Cay, Treasure Cay and south to Eleuthera and Harbour Island.

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 a private dock 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.