Seaplane from Miami to Pigeon Key

About half an hour in the air. Pigeon Key lies roughly 95 statute miles from downtown Miami, just under 83 nautical and almost all of that is water, so the aircraft follows the reef line down the outside of the Keys rather than the highway.

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 daylight and how long the aircraft waits for you.

No. The modern Seven Mile Bridge carries the highway straight over the island without an exit, so the drive down the Keys ends in Marathon and the last two miles are covered on foot, by bicycle or on the ferry from the marina.

That is the reason the aircraft is worth its price on this route: a seaplane is the only arrival that finishes at the island rather than two miles short of it, with the walk still ahead of you in the middle of the day.

On the water beside the island. Pigeon Key is five acres with a dock and a handful of historic buildings on it, so there is no airstrip and no space for one.

The nearest runway is the airport on Vaca Key in Marathon, which is a real option when the water is rough, but it puts you on an apron with the same two miles left to cover. How a water arrival actually works is set out in the water landing guide.

The aircraft is chartered whole rather than sold by the seat, so the party travels together and comes home on the same aircraft. Full names for everyone travelling go in when you book, children and infants included, because a float aircraft is payload limited rather than seat limited and everybody counts in the same weight calculation.

Yes and it is the most common way parties do it. Out in the morning, back before dark, with the aircraft staying in the Keys rather than turning around, so six hours ashore means six hours, and the only outside limit is the light. The island is small enough to walk end to end in minutes, which is why half a day there is a full visit rather than a rushed one.

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.

Sunset in the Keys moves by well over an hour between December and June, which is why the latest useful departure for your date comes with the quote rather than as a standing time. A return that would arrive 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 even on a domestic manifest.

A village that has not moved since 1908. Pigeon Key was the work camp for Henry Flagler's Overseas Railroad, built between 1908 and 1912 and more than 400 people lived on these five acres at the peak of construction, with a post office, a commissary and a one room school.

Eleven historic buildings are still standing, one of them a museum in the old Assistant Bridge Tender's house and the island has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1990.

Yes. The island has a beach front and a dock and the water around it is shallow and clear, so guests snorkel straight from the shore rather than from a boat.

That is why a beach picnic and a set of water toys are the two things parties add most often to a day here. If the afternoon is meant to be on the water rather than on the island, say so when you send the date and a boat is arranged from Marathon instead.

The limit is a weight rather than a bag count. A float aircraft is payload limited, so the operator runs passenger weights, bags and fuel through one calculation and the figure for your party stands in the itinerary before any deposit. Coolers, camera gear and hard cases all travel regularly, 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.

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.

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 Keys. 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.

Yes. Pigeon Key sits halfway down the chain rather than at the end of it, so the same aircraft carries on to Big Pine Key, Little Palm Island, Key West and the Dry Tortugas, or back north east to Islamorada and Key Largo.

Say so when you send the date, because a second leg changes the timing and sometimes the aircraft. For a yacht 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.