Seaplane Charter from West Palm Beach

Freeport and Bimini are the short ones, 74 and 72 nautical miles, roughly half an hour in the air. Walker's Cay is 95 miles and about forty minutes.

The Abaco cays of Treasure Cay and Green Turtle Cay lie 143 and 146 miles out at about fifty five minutes, Marsh Harbour 161 at about an hour and five, and Nassau 177 at about an hour and ten.

Turn south and Islamorada is about forty five minutes, Key West about an hour. All of these are air times, and the block time arrives with the boarding time.

Yes for any Bahamian destination. The flight is international, so every passenger carries a valid passport, babies included. We collect names and passport numbers at booking, not at the dock, because both border filings are prepared in advance on our side. A flight to the Keys stays inside the United States and only needs photo identification.

The Lake Worth Lagoon is the sheltered option, about twenty miles of water behind the barrier island with the Palm Beach Inlet to the Atlantic.

Which stretch the floats may use depends on the operator's decision for your date and on the wind, so it is confirmed with the quote and not promised in advance. In the Bahamas the rule is stricter: each water landing site needs written approval from the Civil Aviation Authority, which we arrange before the date.

Palm Beach International is the airport our operator partners name, and Lantana and North County are offered on request. The water side is decided per date. Tell us where you are staying and the answer returns with the departure point and the boarding time.

Your first landing in the Bahamas has to be at a port of entry, and the customs desks run from 09:00 to 17:30 every day.

Freeport, Marsh Harbour, Walker's Cay and Chub Cay have desks of their own, Harbour Island clears through North Eleuthera first, and Walker's Cay opens its customs by appointment only, so that visit is booked ahead. On the way home you clear United States customs before you leave the airport. We handle the forms on both sides.

Freeport, Bimini and Walker's Cay fit best. You leave in the morning and are home before dark, and the aircraft waits where it put you down instead of flying off. The clearing stop is built into the hours the officers keep, so the day needs nothing from you. The Abacos and the islands beyond work better with a night away.

A seaplane lands on water only in daylight, from half an hour after sunrise to half an hour before sunset, so the day ends at a fixed time. Bahamian customs closes earlier than the light does, and in practice that desk decides the return.

Both times shift through the year, so the latest departure for your date is part of the quote. After dark an amphibian uses a lit runway instead of the water.

Up to eight, and the aircraft is chartered whole, so your party is the only manifest and comes home on the same plane. How many of the seats you can use depends on the payload once luggage is aboard, which is confirmed in the quote. A bigger group takes a second aircraft, arranged before the date.

Usually yes. Rods, dive kit and hard cases fly regularly, inside the payload of the aircraft on that day. The limit is weight, not the number of bags, so bulky equipment is declared at booking: it comes out of the same payload as the passengers. If valuable gear is leaving the United States, it can be registered with customs beforehand.

Any island in the northern and central Bahamas with water or a runway to land on. From here that means Freeport and Bimini at the short end, Walker's Cay, Treasure Cay, Green Turtle Cay, Marsh Harbour and Hope Town in the Abacos, Chub Cay and Great Harbour Cay in the Berry Islands, then Nassau, Harbour Island and Eleuthera.

The Exumas are possible as a long day or a night away. Every landing is cleared at a port of entry first.

The calm stretch runs roughly December to April, when the wind is lighter and the water flatter. It is also the busy season in Palm Beach County, with Wellington's equestrian season from early January to late March and the boat show at the end of March, so those dates are worth raising when you enquire. Summer works as well with a morning departure.

Yes. A car can be waiting when the floats touch down, ground transport can take the party on to the hotel, and a dock pickup is arranged where the aircraft comes alongside a marina or a hotel dock.

Tell us where the day ends and the transfer is quoted with the flight, so nobody looks for a taxi at the far end.

No. A seaplane taxi works on demand: the aircraft is chartered whole for your party, the hour is yours to name and nothing is published as a timetable. You pay for the aircraft and the time it waits, not for a seat, which is why the quote comes back with the boarding time and the cost of the day.

Water flying depends on wind and sea state as well as visibility, so a departure can move on a day that looks perfect from the beach.

Summer afternoons shift return legs more often than mornings, and the calm stretch of the year runs roughly December to April. The decision is the operator's, and since the aircraft carries only your party, a new slot is agreed with you.

Often, and it is the best reason to send us the marina or the boat rather than just the island. The water at the far end, the tide, the clearance and the operator's review on the day decide it, so we check it for your date instead of promising it on a page.

When a direct set-down is not possible, the aircraft uses the nearest airfield and the last stretch goes by boat or road, arranged with the flight.

It depends on the island. Bimini is 49 nautical miles from Miami against 72 from here, while Freeport, Walker's Cay and the Abacos are shorter from West Palm Beach. The better departure point is the one nearest to where you are staying. Tell us where the morning starts and we choose it.

Palm Beach International serves both, since Palm Beach is the barrier island and West Palm Beach is the mainland city across the lagoon, joined by three bascule bridges. A seaplane sets down on the water between them, so say which of the two your day is built around when you send the date.

Yes, pets fly in the cabin with you. All we ask is that you tell us when you enquire, with the type of animal and its weight, so the seating and the load plan are right from the start. On a float aircraft weight matters more than the carrier, because it comes out of the same payload as the luggage.

The aircraft is priced as a whole, not seat by seat. Three things move the number: which aircraft flies your date, how many of you travel once luggage is on board and how long the plane waits for you.

The destination matters too, which is why we ask for it first. Give us those and you receive one all-in price before anything is due, with entry fees included.