Seaplane from Miami to North Eleuthera

A little over an hour in the air. The top of Eleuthera lies roughly 220 statute miles from downtown Miami, just over 190 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.

Yes. Eleuthera 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.

North Eleuthera is the top of the island and its own district, with the airport, the two ferry docks and the settlements at The Bluff, Upper and Lower Bogue and Current. Eleuthera itself runs a hundred and ten miles south from there, through Gregory Town, Governor's Harbour and Rock Sound. The distinction matters because the island is long: landing at the wrong end can cost you the afternoon in a car.

The Glass Window Bridge, where the land narrows to about thirty feet with the open Atlantic on one side and the Bight of Eleuthera on the other. Preacher's Cave at the northern tip, where the first settlers sheltered in 1648.

The Queen's Baths, natural rock pools a little south of the bridge. Current Cut, one of the fastest drift dives anywhere. And the beaches under the limestone cliffs along the top of the island.

The Bahamas lets an aircraft arrive only at a designated port of entry and North Eleuthera is one, so you clear where you were landing anyway. Officers keep daytime hours and a clearance outside them carries an overtime fee. None of the paperwork is yours: we make both filings and arrange the clearance, so your part is the enquiry. Parties carrying on to Harbour Island or Spanish Wells clear here as well.

Yes and it is a common way to do it. Out in the morning, back before dark, with the aircraft waiting at the island rather than turning around, so six hours ashore 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.

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 keeps daytime hours on top of that.

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.

Boards, 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. At the top of Eleuthera the Atlantic side gets up long before the Bight does, 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.

Yes and it is the most common second leg on this route. Both are about ten minutes across the water from the north end, Harbour Island from Three Island Dock and Spanish Wells from Gene's Bay. Each has its own page on this site. Say so when you send the date, because the clearance is planned around the port of entry rather than around the stop you want.

No, that is the difference. The Devil's Backbone is the reef along the north shore of Eleuthera that has wrecked ships since 1648. Boats crossing it between Spanish Wells and Harbour Island still take a local pilot. A seaplane goes over it rather than through it. You get a good look at it on the way in and it costs the day nothing.

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 island.

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, 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.