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TRAVEL INFORMATION

Getting To The Bahamas

One of the best things about traveling to the Bahamas is the many choices in mode of travel, especially to the major islands such as Grand Bahama and New Providence. Nassau on the island of New Providence is just an hour’s flight from Miami and the flight to Freeport feels like just minutes in the air!

A quick search on one of the many internet travel sites offers you over a dozen options each day. Most of the major airlines including Delta, American, Continental, US Air and Air Canada offer several flights a day into Nassau and Freeport and fly direct from numerous cities including Miami. Ft. Lauderdale, New York and Toronto, Canada. Several European airlines also offer direct flights into Nassau and Freeport from London, Paris and many other centres.

You can even travel by cruise ship, private or chartered boat or fast ferry for a delightful day on the ocean.

To travel on to one of the quiet Out Islands (called Family Islands in the Bahamas), you can fly into Freeport or Nassau and catch another airline or ferry into the island. Bahamasair, the national air carrier of the Bahamas, travels frequently into most of the islands. For example, to travel into Eleuthera, you can catch a Bahamasair flight into one of the three airports on the island in the morning or the afternoon.

There are also many charter airlines travelling from these two hubs into the family islands. The charter airlines include:

Sunshine Air Charter offers personalized Bahamas air charter services for travel to all of Florida and The Bahama Islands, including Abaco, Andros, Berry Islands, Bimini, Cat Island and Turks & Caicos. Business charters, day trips, small package courier service.

Western Air is a fully licensed and insured air charter company in the Bahamas that currently operates daily Bahamas scheduled flights between Nassau, all airports in Andros, Bimini, and Freeport including on demand charters throughout the Bahamas, Caribbean, Central and South America.

Lynx Air offers flights to Cat Island, Eleuthera and Exuma from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Other Bahamas air travel and Caribbean destinations to choose from plus Subscription Mail Services, Standard and Express Cargo.

Southern Air offers three flights daily from Nassau into Governor’s Harbour and North Eleuthera.

Twin Air flies direct from Ft. Lauderdale to Governor’s Harbour, Rock Sound and North Eleuthera and also into Abaco.

Entry Requirements
There are entry requirements to visit the Bahamas, as there are when visiting any country in the world.

Upon your arrival to The Islands Of The Bahamas, you will be asked to fill out an Immigration Arrival/Departure Card, of which you will keep part until your departure.
• All visitors are required to be in possession of a return ticket.
• U.S. citizens staying for eight months or less need a return ticket plus a passport (passports expired up to five years may also be used) or a certified birth certificate plus an official photo identification.
• Naturalized citizens require naturalization papers (photo identification is not required).
• Alien residents in possession of a U.S. Alien Registration Card may enter The Islands Of The Bahamas without a visa for visits not exceeding thirty days. Presentation of a current national passport, or one that has been expired for five years or less, facilitates processing.
• Permanent residents (green card holders) require their green card and a valid passport from their place of birth.
• Canadian visitors staying less than three weeks need the same identification as those from the U.S. and do not require a visa.
• Landed immigrants in possession of the Canadian Immigration Record Form 1000 should follow the same requirements as Alien residents.
• All others need a valid passport.
• British subjects from the United Kingdom and colonies may enter The Islands Of The Bahamas as visitors without passports or visas for periods not exceeding three weeks. For longer stays they must present a passport.
• A Yellow Fever vaccination certificate is required from travellers over one year of age coming from the following countries: Angola, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, French Guiana, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Peru and Sudan. Travellers are required to be vaccinated 10 days prior to entering The Islands Of The Bahamas and must have a valid certificate of vaccination against Yellow Fever.

Customs Entry
When you enter The Islands Of The Bahamas, you will be asked for a verbal baggage declaration. However, your luggage is also subject to customs inspections. If you are carrying dutiable items, you will need to fill out a Baggage Declaration Form. Each adult is allowed 50 cigars or cigarettes or one pound of tobacco and one quart of spirits free of Customs Duty, in addition to personal effects. In addition, purchases up to a value of one hundred dollars ($100.00) are permitted by all arriving passengers. Household effects, such as small appliances (such as blender etc.) are dutiable at 45% of the cost. Linen and china are duty free for each arriving visit. Computers such as laptops are considered a part of your personal effects and therefore are duty-free.

Note:
Persons are advised to purchase return tickets (and seek reimbursement upon returning home for the unused ticket), even when they are certain to return via a private boat – the chance of an airline/cruise line ticket agent allowing travel on a single ticket is very slim. If, however, the person gets to the point of Bahamas Immigration on a single ticket, the Captain of the boat would have to present himself and the cruising permit. However, a copy of the cruising permit will be permitted for crew members, who may be arriving by plane and returning by boat as their names will appear on the manifest. A letter will not suffice.