Complete Guide to Staniel Cay by Private Jet

Staniel Cay is the single most requested Exumas destination at our desk, and with good reason. In a five hour ground window you can swim with pigs on Big Major, snorkel a grotto made famous by James Bond, feed nurse sharks at Compass Cay, and be back on your aircraft with enough daylight to make South Florida before sundown. The catch is that the airstrip is not set up for jets. Getting this trip right starts with choosing the correct turboprop and the correct departure airport.

This guide covers the operational realities of flying into Staniel Cay Airport (MYES), flight times from the three primary Florida hubs, which aircraft can actually land there, the experiences that justify the trip, and what a realistic day trip and overnight itinerary look like. It is written from the perspective of the operators and crews we work with every week on this route.

Why Fly Private to Staniel Cay

Staniel Cay has no commercial service worth planning around. There is a limited scheduled turboprop that routes through Nassau, but the schedule is tight, the aircraft are small, and a missed connection at Lynden Pindling means a lost day. For visitors treating Staniel as a bucket list experience, a private turboprop from South Florida is the only reliable way in. You land within walking distance of the Staniel Cay Yacht Club dock, your boat is waiting, and you are on the water within twenty minutes of wheels down.

The alternative most travelers try first is flying commercial into Nassau, clearing customs at MYNN, and then transferring to an inter island charter. This works, but it burns two to three hours of daylight on the transfer and it exposes you to weather delays on both segments. A direct charter from South Florida eliminates the handoff entirely. Your aircraft clears customs at Staniel Cay itself, which is a designated port of entry for general aviation.

There is also a weight and space question. Once you add snorkel gear, a cooler, dry bags, and the kind of soft luggage a three day Exumas trip actually requires, the scheduled aircraft start to feel cramped. A PC-12 or King Air 350 gives you a proper baggage compartment and a cabin you can move around in, which matters on a return leg where everyone is sunburned and ready to lie down.

The Airport: MYES at a Glance

Staniel Cay Airport carries the ICAO identifier MYES and the IATA code TYM. The single runway is oriented roughly 07/25, measures approximately 3,000 feet, and is a mix of paved and grass surface depending on which portion you land on. The strip is classified as VFR daylight preferred. There is no instrument approach, no tower, and no fuel available for purchase on the field. Operators carry enough fuel on board for the round trip, or they tanker up at Governor's Harbour or Exuma International on the way home.

The airport is a designated port of entry, which means Bahamas Customs and Immigration clear your flight on arrival. The building is modest, the process is friendly, and the typical clearance time is fifteen to twenty minutes. Your crew or broker submits the C7A general declaration and inbound manifest in advance, and your passports are stamped at a small desk inside the terminal. There is no FBO in the Florida sense of the word, but the handling agent on the field can arrange golf carts, boats, and any pre staged provisions.

The runway surface and length combine to rule out jet operations entirely. This is not a matter of operator policy, it is a matter of performance. Even a short field capable light jet like the Phenom 100 or CJ3 cannot meet balanced field length requirements on the existing surface, and insurance underwriters will not cover the risk. Every charter into Staniel Cay you see, no matter how the broker markets it, is a turboprop or a piston twin.

Flight Times From FLL, MIA, and PBI

The three primary Florida departure options for Staniel Cay are Fort Lauderdale Executive (KFXE), Miami Opa Locka (KOPF), and West Palm Beach International (KPBI). Block times are similar, but aircraft availability and operator concentration differ. KFXE and KOPF see the highest volume of Bahamas turboprop operators, while KPBI offers a shorter drive for clients in Palm Beach, Jupiter, and Wellington.

Direct turboprop flight times, wheels up to wheels down, land on a tight range depending on winds aloft and aircraft type:

• Fort Lauderdale (KFXE) to Staniel Cay (MYES): approximately 1 hour 20 minutes
• Miami Opa Locka (KOPF) to Staniel Cay (MYES): approximately 1 hour 25 minutes
• West Palm Beach (KPBI) to Staniel Cay (MYES): approximately 1 hour 15 minutes

On a PC-12, cruise altitude will typically be 20,000 to 25,000 feet for the first leg, which keeps the aircraft above most weather in the Florida Straits and provides the smoothest ride. King Air 350 operators will fly a similar profile at 23,000 to 27,000 feet. In winter months, a quartering headwind out of the north can stretch the return leg by ten to fifteen minutes, so brokers quoting same day round trips should build that into the schedule rather than promising a strict turn.

Aircraft That Can Land at MYES

The short list of aircraft cleared to operate regularly into Staniel Cay is small, and the differences between them matter. We brief every client on three options: the Pilatus PC-12, the King Air 350, and the Cessna Caravan. Each has a place depending on group size, luggage, and budget.

Pilatus PC-12

The PC-12 is the most common choice for a Staniel Cay trip and, in our view, the best all around turboprop for the Out Islands. A single engine turboprop with a stand up cabin, it seats up to eight passengers in executive configuration, carries generous baggage, and operates comfortably off short grass and paved strips. The pressurized cabin keeps the ride on par with a light jet, and the rear cargo door makes loading dive gear and coolers a non event. Hourly operating costs run roughly $2,000 to $2,800 wet, which makes it the value leader on this route.

King Air 350

The King Air 350 is a twin engine turboprop that shines on larger groups and routes with overwater legs where operators or clients prefer two engines. It seats up to nine passengers, pressurizes to jet like altitudes, and carries a full crew of two pilots. Short field performance is competent at this runway length, though it demands more attention than the PC-12. Hourly rates run $2,800 to $3,800 wet. For a nine passenger party, the 350 is almost always the right answer.

Cessna Caravan

The Caravan is the workhorse of the Bahamas Out Islands. An unpressurized single engine turboprop, it handles the 3,000 foot strip with ease and carries up to nine passengers plus baggage. The trade off is comfort: it cruises lower and slower than the PC-12 or King Air, and the cabin is built for utility rather than luxury. For an adventure oriented family willing to trade twenty minutes of flight time for a lower total price, the Caravan works well. Hourly costs run $1,400 to $1,900 wet.

Light jets, midsize jets, and heavy jets cannot land at MYES. If a broker offers you a jet into Staniel Cay, they are either routing you into Exuma International (MYEF) at Moss Town with a 45 minute drive and boat transfer, or they have the facts wrong.

The Swimming Pigs at Big Major Cay

The pigs live on Big Major Cay, an uninhabited island roughly one nautical mile north of Staniel Cay. They are feral, they are large, and they swim out to meet boats in a shallow sandy cove on the lee side of the island. The origin story has shifted over the years, but the most credible version is that they were left behind by sailors generations ago and the population stabilized as tour operators began feeding them.

From the Staniel Cay Yacht Club marina, the ride is about ten minutes by skiff. Your guide will anchor off the beach and you can wade in or swim with the pigs in chest deep water. Bring apples or root vegetables if you want to feed them, but avoid bread, which the local tourism board discourages. Go early. By mid morning the anchorage fills with day boats from Nassau and the experience becomes more chaotic than charming. A 9:00 or 9:30 arrival at the cove typically gives you thirty minutes of near private time with the pigs before the first commercial boats arrive.

Thunderball Grotto

A five minute boat ride from the pig beach puts you at Thunderball Grotto, the underwater cave system that gave the 1965 Bond film its aquatic set pieces. The grotto is a hollowed out limestone rock with multiple entry points, shafts of light that pierce the ceiling at slack tide, and a resident population of sergeant majors and parrotfish that will feed from your hand.

Timing is everything. The grotto must be swum at or near slack tide, because the currents between high and low tide are strong enough to make swimming through the narrow entrances dangerous. Any competent local guide will check the tide tables and sequence your day accordingly. Most operators bring you to the grotto first thing, before the pigs, specifically to catch the morning slack. Mask, snorkel, and fins are essential. A waterproof flashlight elevates the experience but is not strictly required.

Staniel Cay Yacht Club and Compass Cay

The Staniel Cay Yacht Club is the island's only proper hotel and the social hub for the entire central Exumas. Twelve pastel cottages sit along the waterfront, each with a small porch facing the harbor. Rates sit in the $500 to $900 per night range depending on season and cottage, with a two night minimum in peak months. The restaurant and bar are the best meal on the island and, because the club is a fueling stop for cruisers, the crowd on any given night is a mix of yacht crews, pilots, and guests.

If you have a second half day, push ten minutes north by boat to Compass Cay. The marina there has a population of nurse sharks that live around the dock and will swim between your legs in waist deep water. Nurse sharks are not aggressive toward humans and the experience is controlled, but it is still wildlife, so listen to your guide. There is a $10 per person landing fee at Compass Cay, paid in cash on the dock.

Other Exumas stops worth folding into an overnight stay include Pig Beach's quieter cousins at Rocky Dundas, the sandbar off Thunderball that emerges at low tide, and the iguanas at Bitter Guana Cay. Your boat captain will know the route that makes sense for the weather that day.

Day Trip, Overnight, Packing, and Costs

Day trip versus overnight

A day trip is genuinely feasible from South Florida. A realistic schedule looks like this: lift off KFXE or KOPF at 7:30, land MYES at 8:55, clear customs by 9:15, on a skiff by 9:30. Thunderball Grotto at 9:45 for slack tide, pigs at 10:30, Compass Cay for sharks and lunch at noon, back to the yacht club by 2:30. Depart MYES at 3:30, land KFXE at 4:55. It is a long day, but it is achievable and our clients do it regularly, especially as a birthday or anniversary surprise.

An overnight stay at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club trades the morning rush for a second day of water, and it lets you dive the grotto at a more forgiving slack tide. The island feels different after the day boats leave. If you can spare the night, take it.

What to pack

Soft sided luggage, not hard cases. Turboprop baggage compartments are shaped for duffels and roll bags, not Rimowa. Reef safe sunscreen, because the Exumas Land and Sea Park enforces the ban. A dry bag for phones and wallets on the boat. Water shoes for the grotto swim. A light layer for the aircraft cabin and the evening at the yacht club. Cash in small denominations for the Compass Cay fee, boat tips, and bar tabs. US dollars are accepted everywhere at par with the Bahamian dollar.

Ground logistics on the island

There are no rental cars on Staniel Cay. Golf carts are available through the yacht club at approximately $85 per day, but the island is small enough that most guests walk. Boat rentals are the real currency here: a center console with captain runs $600 to $900 per half day, and that is what you need to see any of the surrounding cays. Book the boat before you leave Florida, because day of availability in high season is not guaranteed.

Costs

Round trip turboprop charter from South Florida to Staniel Cay generally runs $8,000 to $14,000 depending on aircraft, operator, season, and ground time. A PC-12 same day round trip with four hours of ground sits at the lower end. A King Air 350 overnight, where the crew stays on island with the aircraft, sits at the upper end. Empty legs between Fort Lauderdale and the Exumas appear more often than most travelers realize, and those can cut the round trip cost by 40 to 60 percent for flexible flyers. Check the live flights board or the empty leg guide for how that works.

Beyond the flight, budget $200 to $400 per person for a guided half day boat tour, $85 to $120 per person for dinner at the yacht club, $500 to $900 per cottage per night if you stay over, and $50 to $100 in Compass Cay, tips, and incidentals. A same day round trip for a family of four typically lands between $10,000 and $15,000 all in. An overnight for the same group runs $14,000 to $22,000.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related reading: Staniel Cay destination page · Vanbert fleet overview · Live flights board · Bahamas customs and immigration · Exuma Bahamas travel guide