Seaplane from Miami to San Salvador Island

San Salvador Island lies roughly 374 statute miles southeast of downtown Miami, about 325 nautical, almost all of it open water. That is more than six times the run to Bimini, so this is a proper crossing rather than a hop.

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 only the flight: it is the clearance on arrival and how long the aircraft waits for you.

Yes. San Salvador Island 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.

The clearance happens at San Salvador Airport in Cockburn Town, which is an airport of entry with Customs and Immigration on the field, identifiers ZSA and MYSM. Once the aircraft is cleared in it is free to move to the water.

The settlements, the harbour and the sheltered water all sit on the west coast, so the airport and the landing water are minutes apart rather than on opposite sides of the island.

The Bahamas lets an aircraft arrive only at a designated port of entry. The only dedicated seaplane port of entry in the country is at North Bimini, so on San Salvador Island a float aircraft clears at the airport like every other arrival.

San Salvador Island is one of the islands that has its own. The officers keep daytime hours, which is why an early departure from Miami is worth more than a late one. None of the paperwork is yours: we make both filings and arrange the clearance, so your part is the enquiry.

It can be flown in a day, but the distance is doing the arguing. Seven hundred and fifty miles of round trip plus a clearance at each end eats most of the daylight, so a day here buys fewer hours ashore than the same day at Bimini or Grand Bahama.

Most parties who come this far out stay a night or two. Send the dates either way and the honest version of both comes back with the boarding time.

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 a 374 mile return that end arrives early.

The officers on the island keep daytime hours and the daylight window moves through the year, so 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 and the fuel for a long leg are 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. On this island most parties do. Gear travels within the payload for the aircraft on the day. The limit is a weight rather than a bag count, which is why tanks, cases and cameras are declared when you book rather than weighed at the dock: they come out of the same payload the passengers do.

Tanks and fills are arranged on the island rather than carried across. 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. On a leg this long the weather at the far end counts as much as the weather over Miami.

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.

The scheduled way to San Salvador Island is a flight into Nassau and then a second flight southeast, about 197 statute miles, on somebody else's timetable. Two airports, two check-ins and a layover that decides your day.

A private charter is one aircraft, one boarding time and one clearance. The party that walks to the dock in Miami is the party that walks off on the island.

Yes. San Salvador Island is reachable from every departure point in the corridor and the difference in distance between them is small against 374 miles. 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 stays with you. Distance is the fourth here, because this crossing is a long one.

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. San Salvador Island sits at the southeastern end of the chain and Rum Cay, Cat Island and Long Island are minutes on from there. 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 around 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.