Seaplane from Miami to Moriah Harbour Cay

About an hour and three quarters in the air. Moriah Harbour Cay lies roughly 326 statute miles from downtown Miami, just over 283 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.

It sits in the water between Great Exuma and Little Exuma, at the southern end of the Exuma chain. The Bahamas declared it a national park in 2002 and enlarged it in 2015 and the Bahamas National Trust manages it.

What is protected is not one beach but a whole coastal system: sand dunes, blue holes, coral reefs, mangrove creeks, coppice forest and seagrass meadows, together with the birds and the young fish that depend on them.

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.

On the water. There is no airstrip anywhere in the park and nothing built for aircraft, which is the whole reason floats make sense here: a runway arrival lands on Great Exuma and then needs a car and a boat to finish the job. Where exactly the floats go down on the day is the pilots' call, made on the water state and the wind and a tender has to be in the water to collect you.

The Bahamas lets an aircraft arrive only at a designated port of entry and a protected park is not one. So the aircraft clears somewhere on the way in and flies the last leg afterwards, which is exactly what makes an island with no runway reachable.

The ports that sit on this line are Bimini, Nassau and Exuma International at George Town. Which one your flight uses depends on the aircraft, the routing and the date and it comes with the quote. None of the paperwork is yours: we make both filings and arrange the clearance, so your part is the enquiry.

Yes, parties do. It is a long day rather than a hop, because the crossing runs about an hour and three quarters each way and a customs stop sits inside that. Out early, back before dark, with the aircraft waiting rather than turning around, so the hours in the park are yours rather than a schedule's. Both borders are filed in advance from our side and the clearance is planned into the hours the officers keep.

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 customs desk you clear through closes earlier than the sun, so in practice the desk sets the return and on a crossing this long the leg home has to start earlier than most people expect. Both clocks move through the year, which is why the latest departure for your date comes with the quote.

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. Up to nine seats depending on which airframe flies your date and on the payload once baggage is aboard, so the figure is confirmed with the quote. Send the headcount and say whether children are travelling: they count as passengers on an international manifest.

Rods, boards 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. Say what is coming when you send the date, because a kayak changes the calculation more than a suitcase does.

It is a park rather than a resort, so the day is made of water and walking. The Bahamas National Trust names kayaking, snorkelling, kiteboarding, bonefishing, hiking, photography and birdwatching as what the park is used for.

There are trails on the cay itself and on the eastern end of Stocking Island and reefs to snorkel at Fowl Cay. What there is not is shade, a bar or a shop, so lunch and water fly out with you.

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 park is reachable from every departure point in the corridor and the difference in crossing time between them is small against a leg this long. 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.

Tell us those and you get one all-in number, with the departure point, the boarding time and the hours ashore 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 park sits at the southern end of the Exuma chain and the same aircraft carries on north to Staniel Cay, the rest of the Exumas, Nassau, Andros 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 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.

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.