Your crew keeps bringing up the Bahamas, and a yacht charter from Miami to the Bahamas is closer than you think. Clear water, an island lunch, no airport line, no boarding group. Here's what you might not have clocked: the closest Bahamian island sits about 48 nautical miles off Miami, and a fast boat covers that water before lunch. Leave a Miami marina at sunrise and you can have your feet in Bimini sand by mid morning.
This guide is the real version of that trip. How far it is, how long it takes, which of our boats handle the Gulf Stream best, the paperwork CBP and Bahamas Customs actually want, the weather window you have to respect, and what a day or a long weekend costs once you split it across your group. We run this crossing out of Miami with a licensed captain and crew, so I'm writing from the helm, not a brochure.
How far is the Bahamas from Miami by boat?
Bimini, the closest Bahamian island, sits about 48 nautical miles east of Miami across the Gulf Stream. On a powerboat at 20 to 35 knots that's roughly a two to three hour run in calm seas, longer if it's rough. It's the shortest hop from Florida to the islands.
The catch is what sits in the middle. The Gulf Stream is a warm current that flows north along Florida's coast. NOAA puts its average speed around 4 mph, reaching about 5.6 mph near the surface. That current is constantly pushing you north while you're trying to go east, so your captain steers a heading 10 to 20 degrees south of due east, around 110 to 120 degrees, to land on Bimini instead of well north of it. A good captain points the boat at a spot that looks wrong on the chart and lets the Stream carry you onto the island. That correction is the whole skill of the crossing, and it's why the right person at the wheel matters more than raw speed.
Which boat should you take across the Gulf Stream?
Pick by crew size and how much the Stream is moving. A heavier hull with a flybridge rides the chop better and gives your group somewhere comfortable to sit on a longer day. A light sport boat gets you there fastest on a calm morning. All four boats below leave from Miami or Miami Beach with a captain and crew, and each seats up to thirteen.
- The 52ft Prestige flybridge is my default pick for a full crew. Three cabins, two heads, and a flybridge mean thirteen people aren't stacked on top of each other, and it's set up to leave Miami at sunrise and still be comfortable in Bimini at sunset. From $5,500.
- The 2024 Jeanneau DB43 is the newest hull we cross on, and its shape handles a building sea smoothly, so it's the one I book when the forecast is borderline. Thirteen aboard, two cabins, from $6,300.
- The 45ft Cantius splits the difference, a comfortable cruiser with two cabins for a crew that wants room without paying the flybridge premium. Thirteen aboard, from $6,000.
- The 38ft Axopar is the fast, sporty option for a smaller, lighter group that wants to be first to the sandbar on a calm day. From $5,000.
Our fleet runs to 131 boats, and the Bimini and Bahamas charter page lists the ones rigged for the crossing, so you can compare hulls before you commit.
What does the crossing day actually look like?
You meet the captain at a Miami marina around sunrise, load your coolers and bags, and push off while the harbor is still quiet. The Stream crossing fills the first two to three hours. By mid morning you're clearing Bahamas Customs at Bimini, and the rest of the day is beach, water, and lunch.
The early start isn't for the photos, it's strategy. The wind and the sea state are usually calmest at first light, so leaving at sunrise buys you the smoothest water of the day for the open part of the run. We watch the gap close on the chart plotter, North Bimini comes up out of the haze, and the captain runs you into the harbor to clear in. Until the boat is cleared, only the captain steps off to handle paperwork while your crew stays aboard, so have everyone's documents ready before you tie up. Clearance usually takes a short while, then you're free to move. From there it's your day. Anchor off a beach, get in the water, eat, and watch the clock for a relaxed afternoon run back, or stay the night aboard if you booked an overnight.
Do you need a passport to take a yacht to the Bahamas?
Yes. Every person aboard needs proof of citizenship, and US citizens must carry a valid passport. The boat clears Customs and Immigration at the nearest Bahamian port of entry on arrival, and until it's cleared, only the captain may step off. No passport, no crossing.
Two more pieces of paper make the trip legal. First, a foreign private vessel needs a Bahamas cruising permit, and the fee runs by boat length. On the official Bahamas Customs schedule, a 30 day temporary permit is $250 for a boat over 30 and under 50 feet and $350 for a boat from 50 to under 100 feet. On a BillsIn charter your captain handles the clearance and the permit, so you're not standing in a customs line working it out yourself.
Second is the return into the United States. Federal rules require the operator of a small pleasure vessel arriving from a foreign port to report to CBP immediately. The simplest way to do that is the free CBP ROAM app, an approved system that lets the captain report your entry from a phone. It needs a free login.gov account, so it's worth setting up before you leave rather than fighting with it on the water. Your captain runs this too, but knowing it exists tells you why the trip is buttoned up and legal.
When is the best time to cross from Miami to the Bahamas?
Cross on a day with light wind from the south or southeast, and skip any day with real wind from the north. North wind against the north flowing Gulf Stream stacks up steep, dangerous seas far bigger than the wind alone. The calmest windows run late spring through early fall.
This is the rule we won't bend. A 15 knot north wind on a flat day in the bay turns the middle of the Stream into a wall of short, hard waves, because the current and the wind are fighting each other. So we watch the forecast and pick the window, not the calendar date. If your day looks wrong, we move it. That weather rebooking is built into how we run the crossing, and it's the single biggest reason to go with a captain who crosses this water all the time instead of renting a boat and guessing.
The boats carry the safety gear Florida and the Coast Guard require, including a wearable life jacket for every person plus a throwable device, a fire extinguisher, day and night distress signals, and a sound device on the smaller hulls. Your captain also leaves a float plan with someone ashore so they know your route and timing. You don't have to think about any of this, but you should know it's handled.
What does a Miami to Bahamas charter cost?
A private crossing is priced by the boat, not per person. Our crossing boats start around $5,000 to $6,300 before tax, with the captain and fuel already in the price. Split across a crew of eight to thirteen, the per head number drops well under a per person day trip.
That per boat math is the whole argument for going private with a group. A ferry seat or a packaged day trip charges every head that walks aboard. A charter charges once for the boat, and you decide who fills the other twelve seats. On the 52ft Prestige from $5,500, a crew of twelve comes out to a few hundred dollars a head for a private yacht with a captain, which is the kind of number that makes the islands an easy yes. Fuel for the crossing is already in the price, so the Stream miles don't surprise you at the end, and the only thing added on top is tax. For a real figure on your dates and crew, message us for a quote and you'll usually hear back in about a minute.
What's worth doing once you reach Bimini?
Bimini packs a lot into a small island. The Bahamas tourism board bills it as the Sport Fishing Capital of the World, and the fishing backs that up, with marlin, sailfish, tuna, and wahoo all running these waters. If diving is more your speed, the island is known for shark and reef dives including the Great Hammerhead Safari. For an easy afternoon, Radio Beach on North Bimini is white sand and calm water, and the wreck of the SS Sapona sits in shallow water as a snorkel and dive site you can reach by boat. There's real history here too, and locals love telling it.
If your crew has more than a day, the crossing also opens the door to the rest of the Bahamas. From Bimini you can keep going southeast on a multi day trip toward the Exumas, where the swimming pigs draw a crowd and the cays get quieter the farther out you go. For a warm up closer to home, a Miami sandbar day is a good test run before you commit to the full crossing.
How to book your Miami to Bahamas crossing
Booking is a conversation, not a checkout maze. Tell us your dates, your group size, and whether you want a single day or an overnight, and we'll match you to the right hull and a captain who crosses this water regularly. We watch the forecast for your window and move the date if the Stream looks ugly, because a safe, smooth crossing beats a scheduled one every time.
Message Bill T. and the BillsIn captains for a quote and you'll usually hear back in about a minute. If you already know you want the islands, start on the Bimini and Bahamas charter page or tell us your dates here, and we'll take it from there.
