Seaplane from Miami to Rum Cay

Port Nelson lies roughly 367 statute miles southeast of downtown Miami, about 319 nautical, almost all of it open water. This is a real crossing rather than a hop and it is one of the longest we fly on floats.

The block time depends on the aircraft and the departure point and it comes back with the boarding time before you book. What sets the length of the day is not the flying. It is the clearance stop on the way in and how long the aircraft waits for you.

Yes. Rum 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.

No. Rum Cay is not on the Bahamian list of ports of entry, so an aircraft arriving from the United States cannot make its first landing there. The nearest staffed port is on San Salvador, about 35 statute miles northeast, where Customs and Immigration keep an office on the field, with George Town in the Exumas or a field on Cat Island the other options in this part of the chain.

Which one your flight uses depends on the aircraft, the routing and the date and it comes back with the quote. We route the flight through it, clear there and fly the last leg on to Rum Cay. It adds a stop to the morning rather than a day to the trip.

On the water off Port Nelson, the settlement on the south coast where nearly everyone on the island lives. The island does have a runway, Port Nelson Airport, RCY and MYRP, a single asphalt strip of about 4,500 feet and a domestic operator serves it from Nassau.

A seaplane does not need it. On a morning when wind or sea state rules out the water, the strip is the honest alternative and we say so rather than fly it anyway.

It can be flown in a day, but it is a long one: the crossing is over 360 statute miles each way and the clearance stop sits inside the outbound leg. Parties who want real hours in the water usually stay a night.

If the day trip is what you want, it starts early and we plan the return against the daylight rule rather than against the flight. Tell us which of the two you have in mind and the answer comes back with the hours ashore already worked out.

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.

On this route the outbound clearance takes a bite out of that window as well, which is why an early departure from Miami is worth more here than on any short crossing. The latest useful 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.

Yes and on this island most parties do. 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.

Not a working one. The marina at Sumner Point took hurricane damage around 2010 and has not been in operation since, so there are no dock services on the island. Boats lie at anchor off Port Nelson, which is open from the north-northwest round to the east, or in Flamingo Bay on the northwest side when the weather is settled.

None of that affects a seaplane, which comes down on the water and does not need a berth, but it does affect anyone planning to meet a boat here, so it is worth saying when you send the date.

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. Rum Cay is reachable from every departure point in the corridor and the difference in distance between them is small against a crossing this length. 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.

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 island.

Tell us those and you get one all-in number, with the departure point, the boarding time, the clearance stop 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.