Seaplane from Miami to Treasure Cay

Treasure Cay lies roughly 191 statute miles from downtown Miami, about 166 nautical. Almost all of it is open water. That makes it close to twice the run to Grand Bahama and better than three times the hop to Bimini. The block time depends on which of the four Miami departure points you leave from and on the aircraft flying your date, so it is confirmed with the boarding time before you book.

Yes. Treasure 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.

That is part of the enquiry rather than fixed by a runway. Treasure Cay Airport sits about seven miles from the beach and Marsh Harbour is a thirty minute drive further south. A float aircraft can finish nearer the water than either of them, at the marina, off the beach or alongside a boat. Say which of those your day is about and the set-down point comes back with the boarding time.

The Bahamas lets an aircraft arrive only at a designated port of entry. Abaco has two of them and both take international arrivals from Florida: Treasure Cay Airport in the north and Marsh Harbour to the south.

You clear at one of them, passports out and forms already filed from Florida. If the day ends somewhere else, at a resort dock or alongside a boat, the aircraft clears first and flies the last leg afterwards. None of the paperwork is yours.

Yes. The length of the crossing is the reason to plan it rather than improvise it. Out in the morning, back before dark, with the aircraft waiting in Abaco 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. Nothing about the day 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. On the longest crossing in this corridor that end arrives sooner.

The Bahamian desk keeps daytime hours of its own and closes before the light does, so in practice it is the desk that sets the return. 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. 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.

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.

Abaco is a fishing and boating island, so this comes up more here than on most routes. 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. Summer afternoons move return legs more often than mornings.

This crossing is open water for most of its length, which is why the call belongs to the operator rather than the guest. 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. It is the most common second stop. Green Turtle Cay sits about eight miles up the coast, it cannot be driven to and the ferry runs from a dock beside Treasure Cay Airport.

A float aircraft can also finish there directly, which turns a ferry timetable into a short leg. Say at the enquiry stage whether the day is really about Treasure Cay or about the cay across the water, because it moves the set-down point.

Yes. Abaco sits east of the Palm Beaches, so the crossing from there is the shortest in the corridor and the one from Fort Lauderdale is shorter than the one from Miami. All three are worth very little once the drive is counted.

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 in Abaco.

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.