The Crossing
Small Plane Flights Miami to Exuma
Exuma is a chain of hundreds of cays with a full-length runway at the bottom of it, and that runway is why this flight is straightforward.
Exuma International carries the identifiers GGT and MYEF and an asphalt strip of 7,051 feet at Moss Town, a few minutes from George Town. A small charter plane lands there on wheels, the same as it would at home, and the border desk is in the same building.
George Town lies about 276 nautical miles from Miami, which puts it roughly an hour and three quarters away in the air. You leave Florida behind, cross the deep water and then the chain appears under the wing and stays there. What that runs in block time depends on the aircraft and the departure point and it comes back with the quote.
Everything between those two moments is ours: the departure point in Miami, the aircraft and the crew, both border filings and the travel documents the Bahamas wants before you leave Florida. Your party brings passports and a bag.
This is one of several Small Plane routes from the city and one of the few that reaches this far down the Bahamian chain. Where a cay has no strip at all, the same trip is flown by seaplane instead, which is a different aircraft and a different page.
Plan Your Exuma Charter
How It Works
How a Small Plane Charter Miami to Exuma Actually Works
Exuma is a different country, so a day there is two border crossings in one afternoon. On this route both of them happen at an airport, so it stays simple. Nothing about the paperwork is yours except the passports.
The short version: you clear out of Florida, you fly the chain, you land at George Town, you clear in at the desk beside the apron and you are in the Exumas.
Plan Your Exuma CharterThe Runway
The runway at George Town is the reason this works on wheels
The strip runs 12/30 and measures 7,051 feet of asphalt, long enough for airline equipment and several times what a small small plane needs. It sits at Moss Town, a short drive from George Town on Great Exuma. Nothing to circle and no approach over terrain, so a landing here is an ordinary one.
The Border
Customs and immigration sit at the Exuma airport, not somewhere on the way
Exuma International is an Airport of Entry, which is the part that matters for a private flight. The Bahamas requires the first landing in the country to happen at one, so a cay without a desk means touching down elsewhere first.
Here it does not. You land where the desk is, the crew files the manifest before departure and the travel documents are checked in Florida rather than at the counter.
Leaving Miami
Leaving Miami is the quieter of the two borders
Outbound from Florida the filing is done for you and the aircraft departs from a general aviation ramp rather than a terminal. You arrive at the departure point close to the boarding time, not two hours before it.
Coming home is the step people forget: a return from the islands clears United States customs at a designated field and the crew plans the routing around that not around the shortest line.
The Last Leg
Once you are cleared in, the small strips up the chain are domestic
Most of what people come to the Exumas for sits well north of George Town, and several of those cays have their own strips. Staniel Cay has 3,031 feet of asphalt, and there are shorter ones at Norman's Cay, Black Point and Farmer's Cay.
None of them has customs. Because you have already cleared at George Town, the hop up the chain is a domestic leg on the same airframe rather than a second international arrival.
Weather
Weather closes water before it closes the Exuma runway
A rough morning can make a water landing a bad idea while a paved strip is entirely unbothered, and on a crossing this long that matters more than it does close in.
That is the practical argument for wheels down the chain in winter and it is the reason we quote both. What the aircraft needs on the day is a crew decision, taken against published minimums, never a preference.
The Block
The small plane waits, which is what makes an Exuma day trip possible at all
On a charter the airframe is yours for the block, so the return is set by you rather than by a timetable. At this distance that is the difference between a day out and an overnight, because a scheduled connection through Nassau eats the hours a direct charter gives back.
Departure Points
Departure Points for Small Plane Flights to Exuma from Miami
A small plane uses short fields that a jet cannot, so the departure point is chosen for your ground time. These are the four we use around Miami. Select one to see exactly where it sits.
Miami Executive
Miami Executive Airport, TMB, Kendall
Kendall-Tamiami in the south west of the county and the field both small planes sit at, the land aircraft and the amphibian. A charter that starts here starts without a positioning leg, which is what decides an early morning on a same day return. It is also the shortest drive from the south and west of the county.
Opa-locka Executive
Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, OPF
The executive airport north west of the city, with private terminal handling and the point most Bahamas day trips are dispatched from. It is also where a return from the islands clears US customs. That makes it the default on a Bahamas day unless the drive is against you.
Miami International
Miami International Airport, MIA
A pickup rather than a base, for a party already at MIA that wants the onward leg to leave from the same airport. Arranged per flight and confirmed with the operator before it is quoted. It costs ground time, because a commercial field moves on its own schedule.
Fort Lauderdale Executive
Fort Lauderdale Executive, FXE
Fort Lauderdale Executive, the Broward departure, with its own federal inspection station for the return from the islands. The usual choice when the group is north of Miami and the drive south would cost more time than the flight saves. The return clears there as readily as it does at Opa-locka.
How to Charter
Charter a Small Plane from Miami to Exuma
Chartering an aircraft is not booking a seat. There are four steps, and only the first one is yours.
Plan Your Exuma Charter- 01
Contact Us
Write to us on WhatsApp or by email. Send your dates, how many guests, where you are coming from and where you want to travel. Tell us the hour you would like to leave. A small plane runs airport to airport. Your pickup can also be a marina, a hotel dock or a beach. With a seaplane we can collect you there.
- 02
Get Aircraft and Prices Back
We check what is free on your date and send the small planes that fit. Seats, baggage and flight time for each one. Every aircraft costs a little differently, so we can find the best fit for you.
- 03
Confirm and Pay
You pick the aircraft, and we set the pickup point and the landing site. Then everything around the flight. Catering on board, a car or a golf cart waiting when you land, ground transport to your hotel or back to the airport.
Flowers if the day is a special one. You approve it, you pay, and your boarding time, departure point and everything included come back to you.
- 04
Just Arrive 30 Minutes Early
You will have no terminal and no queue. Just make sure you are there 30 minutes before. Then you take off, land right at your destination, and enjoy the day.
On the Island
Where a Miami to Exuma Small Plane Puts You Down
The aircraft puts you on the runway at Moss Town on Great Exuma, which is the southern end of the chain and the only place in it with a border desk. Everything below is reached from there, either by boat from George Town or by a second short flight up the cays once you are cleared.
What follows is what parties actually do with the hours in between, in the order they ask for it.
Plan Your Exuma CharterThe Exuma Runway and the Border Desk
Where You LandThe strip runs 12/30 across the low ground at Moss Town, 7,051 feet of asphalt with the bank on one side and scrub on the other. It is built for airline equipment, so from the seat of a small small plane it is an ordinary landing with a great deal of runway left over.
The terminal is one building. Customs and immigration are inside it, which is the fact that shapes this whole route: Exuma International is an Airport of Entry, so you clear where you land rather than somewhere along the way.
Expect the formalities to take minutes rather than an hour. The crew has filed everything before departure and the desk keeps its own hours, which is the one reason an early slot beats a late one. Say at the enquiry if anyone travels on a passport other than a United States one.
George Town and Elizabeth Harbour
The Southern End
George Town is the working town of the southern chain and it is a short drive from the apron. A few hundred people, a harbour that fills with cruising boats in the spring and one road that does most of the work.
Elizabeth Harbour runs along the front of it, with Stocking Island lying across the entrance as a natural breakwater. The ferry over takes minutes and the beaches on the ocean side of that island are the reason most people make the trip. A cart or a car can be waiting when you land through ground transport.
The Strip at Staniel Cay
Three Thousand FeetStaniel Cay sits in the middle of the chain, roughly fifty miles north of George Town, and it has its own asphalt runway of 3,031 feet. That is short by airport standards and comfortable for this aircraft, which is the whole argument for the type on this route. It has no customs desk.
That is not a problem once you have cleared at George Town, because every leg after the first one is domestic, so the hop up the chain is fifteen minutes on the same airframe rather than a second international arrival. Almost everything the middle Exumas are known for is a short boat run from that strip. The Staniel Cay page covers the island itself.
Big Major Cay and the Swimming Pigs
Minutes by Boat
The pigs live on Big Major Cay, an uninhabited island a few minutes by boat from Staniel Cay, and they swim out to meet boats in the shallows. It is the single most photographed thing in the Bahamas and it is genuinely as odd in person as it looks.
It is a boat stop rather than a flight stop: there is no strip on Big Major, so the day is a landing at Staniel Cay and a short run across. Bring something to drink for yourself rather than food for them, because they are fed and overfeeding is the problem the island has.
Thunderball Grotto and Compass Cay
In the Water
The grotto is a hollow limestone cay off Staniel with light coming through holes in the roof and fish in numbers you do not see outside an aquarium. It is swum at slack water, which is a tide question rather than a weather one, so the time of day matters more here than anywhere else on the trip.
Compass Cay, a little further north, is where the nurse sharks come in around the dock. They are harmless and habituated and standing in knee-deep water among them is the other picture everybody comes back with.
Both are boat stops from Staniel Cay rather than places an aircraft goes. A day that wants both plus the pigs is a full one, so say so at the enquiry.
The Small Strips Up the Chain
Norman's, Black Point, Farmer'sBeyond Staniel Cay the chain carries several more airstrips, none of them long and none of them with a customs desk: Norman's Cay at the northern end, Black Point on Great Guana Cay and Farmer's Cay in the middle. They matter because they change what a day can look like.
A party staying on a house or a boat somewhere in the middle of the chain does not have to land at George Town and drive or sail for two hours. You clear at the airport of entry, then fly the last few minutes to the strip nearest the bed.
Which of them the aircraft can use on your date is a crew answer rather than a menu, and it comes back with the quote. Norman's Cay also has the wrecked aircraft in the shallows, visible from the air and a snorkel stop once you are down.
Clubs, Tanks and Freight on Wheels
What Wheels Carry
This is the part of the day a runway changes most. Load on a small aircraft is a weight question rather than a bag count and a wheeled airframe has more of it to give than floats do.
Golf clubs, dive tanks, rods, a cooler for the boat, a case of something for the house: all of it travels, within the payload for the aircraft on the day.
On a crossing of this length fuel takes a larger share than it does on a short hop, so say what is coming at the enquiry rather than at the ramp and see the baggage guidance for how the trade between passengers and weight actually works.
Anything larger than luggage is a different service on the same runway and that is island logistics rather than a charter with extra bags. Provisioning a house or a boat this far down the chain is why people fly a small plane rather than a jet.
Onward and Back Up the Chain by Small Plane
Same Aircraft
Exuma works as one stop on a longer movement rather than only as a destination, and clearing in at George Town is what makes that easy: once you are through the desk, every leg after it is domestic. The same airframe carries on north and west to Nassau, Andros, Harbour Island or Grand Bahama.
That is what turns one island into island hopping or a wider Bahamas day. Where the next cay has no strip of its own, that leg switches aircraft rather than cancelling the plan. The packaged version of a single day is the Exuma getaway day trip and the rest of the chain is on the Bahamas destinations page.
Ready When You Are
Ready to Book a Small Plane Charter from Miami to Exuma?
Send the departure point, the number of guests and from when to when. You get back what is free on your dates, the boarding time and what the day costs, before anything is booked.
Add-Ons
Small Plane Flights to Exuma Add-Ons
Tell us which of these you want when you send your dates and they go on the same quote as the flight.
In Detail
Small Plane Miami to Exuma: The Crossing, the Runway at George Town and the Cays
Everything above is the day. What follows is the detail behind it: the 276-mile crossing, the strip at the far end, the border that sits beside it and what charter and private actually change about a flight to the Bahamas.
Miami to Exuma by Small Plane: Flying Low Over the Reef and the Flats
Room enough and a window each on a Exuma small plane
The crossing is not dead time between two airports. A small plane crosses low enough to see what is under it, so the water is part of the day rather than something to sit through. A small aircraft flies low and slow over the water. The first stretch out of Florida is deep and navy. Then the Great Bahama Bank comes up underneath and the colour changes to something with light in it, shallow enough that you can see the bottom and the shadow of the aircraft on it. The last part is the reason people book this route rather than a seat. Everything between those two moments is ours: the departure point in Miami, the aircraft and the crew, both border filings and the travel documents the Bahamas wants before you leave Florida. Every seat is a window seat on an aircraft this size, and the same is true of scenic flights of this size, so nobody watches the crossing over someone's shoulder. Other small plane routes from Miami fly the same way.
Small Plane to Exuma from Miami: You Decide the Departure Time
Your hour, your names and a small plane to Exuma
Nobody hands you a timetable on a charter. The day is built around the hour you name. You name the hour you want to lift off, the hour you want to be standing on Exuma and which water in the city suits your morning. The aircraft belongs to your party for the day, so all three are your decision rather than a departure somebody else set, and a change the week before is a message to us. If the drive is shorter the other way, the same day runs out of Fort Lauderdale. Half an hour before the lift-off is the whole of the check-in. Your party walks from the car to the aircraft, the bags go on in front of you, and the list for that flight carries your names and nobody else's. Nothing about the morning waits on a stranger. Everything else is filed before departure; the travel documents page lists what we need and by when. And the crossing is a reason in itself. The windows are deep and the aircraft crosses low, so there is room for everybody to sit and watch the water change instead of taking turns at one of them.
Small Plane Charter to Exuma from Miami: The Crew Files Both Borders, You Carry a Passport
Passports are all your party carries on a Exuma crossing
A small plane from Miami to Exuma crosses an international border twice in a day. It is the part that goes wrong when nobody files it in advance. Entry into the Bahamas asks for a declaration filed from Florida, clearance at a port of entry on arrival and a US return filed before you leave, which is what sets where you may land coming home. On a Crown Air charter the crew files all three. Passports for everyone, children included, per the travel documents guidance. What may travel sits in the baggage guidance. That same filing sets where you land coming home: a return from the islands clears at None, so a day that began on the water finishes on a ramp and a departure moved by weather runs under the weather and delays policy. If the party changes before the flight, the crew refiles. A name added, a name dropped: that is a message to us rather than a problem for you.
Small Plane Miami Exuma: Milestone Days and Bahamas Weekends
A day trip, a long weekend or something to celebrate on Exuma
A private small plane from Miami to Exuma is booked when the day is worth marking: a birthday, a proposal, a graduation, a weekend away with the people who matter. The flight is short enough that the occasion, not the travelling, is what the day is about. That is what a small plane Miami Exuma charter is for. Three of the four sit well inside the county, which is the part that decides how early the morning starts: a field twenty minutes from the house is worth more than five minutes of flight time saved in the air. Some parties fly over for the day and are home the same evening. Others stay on and book the return for the day they want. Both are the same charter, and the whole group travels together on one booking. If there is something to celebrate, say so when you book: catering, a private chef, premium beverages and flowers travel with you. Everything is in place before you board in Miami.
Questions
Small Plane Charter Miami to Exuma: Questions Answered
Can a plane land in Exuma?
Yes. Exuma International at Moss Town has an asphalt runway of 7,051 feet, identifiers GGT and MYEF, which takes airline equipment and is far more than a small charter aircraft needs.
It is also an Airport of Entry, so a private flight lands and clears in the same place. Several cays further up the chain have their own shorter strips, and none of those has a customs desk.
How Do You Get to Exuma?
By air, and how you do it decides most of the day. A private small plane flies Miami to George Town direct in roughly an hour and three quarters and can carry on up the chain afterwards. The scheduled way costs a change of aircraft and most of a day at either end.
How long is the flight to Exuma?
George Town is about 276 nautical miles from Miami, which is roughly an hour and three quarters in the air on this type. The block time depends on the aircraft and which field you leave from and it is confirmed with the boarding time before you book.
What actually sets the length of the day is not the flight, it is the two borders and how long the aircraft waits for you.
Where are the Exumas?
They run southeast from about 35 miles below Nassau, a chain of several hundred cays stretching well over a hundred miles down to Great Exuma. George Town and the airport are at that southern end. Most of the cays people have seen photographs of, including Staniel Cay and Big Major, sit north of the runway.
Do I need a passport to fly to Exuma?
Yes, for every passenger including children. The Bahamas is a different country and a private aircraft does not change that. We take the passport details once at the enquiry and file the manifest for both sides before departure. The travel documents page lists what each passenger hands over and by when, including the cases that need more notice.
How do I get from Exuma to Pig Beach?
Big Major Cay is in the middle of the chain, roughly fifty miles north of the runway at George Town, so it is a boat run or a second flight rather than a drive. By air it is a domestic hop to the strip at Staniel Cay, minutes from the beach by boat. Say at the enquiry if that is where the day is aimed.
Why Visit Staniel Cay in the Exuma Cays?
It is the practical centre of the chain and it has its own runway, 3,031 feet of asphalt. The swimming pigs, Thunderball Grotto and the nurse sharks at Compass Cay are all short boat runs from it, which is why most days built around the middle Exumas start there. It has no customs desk, so a flight from Florida clears at George Town first.
Can you take a day trip to Exuma?
Yes, and a charter is the only comfortable way to do it. The aircraft is held for your block, so the return is set by you rather than by a timetable: out early, back in the evening, with both borders handled either side.
On a scheduled routing the connections eat the hours you came for. Tell us at the enquiry if you would rather stay a night and it is planned around that instead.
How much baggage can we take on a small plane?
It is a weight question rather than a bag count. A small aircraft trades payload against passengers and fuel, and on a crossing this long fuel takes a bigger share. Say what is coming at the enquiry, including clubs, rods and tanks, and the answer comes back with the quote rather than at the ramp.
What happens if the weather is bad on the day of the Exuma flight?
A paved runway tolerates a great deal that a water landing does not, which is the main practical argument for this aircraft on a long crossing in winter. If conditions are genuinely below minimums the crew moves or stands down the flight and the weather and delays policy says what that means for your booking. That call is the crew's, made against published limits, never a preference.
Is it cheaper than a scheduled flight?
No and it is not trying to be. A scheduled seat is cheaper because somebody else chose the time and the aircraft is shared. Charter buys the block: your departure, your return, your party only, your load. On this route it also buys back the half day a connection through Nassau takes, which is the comparison worth making rather than fare against fare.
What do we do once we are there?
That is the island's own question rather than the flight's and the Exuma destination page covers it properly. In short: the harbour and Stocking Island at George Town, the swimming pigs at Big Major, Thunderball Grotto and the nurse sharks at Compass Cay. Anything you want arranged before you land is set up with the flight.
Can I bring a pet on a small plane charter?
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.
Next Step
Ready to Book a Small Plane Charter Miami to Exuma?
Send the departure point, the number of guests and from when to when. You get back the aircraft, the boarding time and what the whole day costs, before anything is booked.
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