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Hello Everyone,

My wife and I are talking about a December-ish trip to the Bahamas via the FL Coast. We live in TN near Knoxville and will fly to Pensacola then discover the coast all the way to Naples where we have family. After that, we would love to have a chance to fly to the Bahamas with other Icons if anyone is interested?

If enough people show interest, Cristina (my wife) can help organize. I will organize the Karaoke! Let me know!

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Hi Michel, I should be in Naples for the winter in December, just not yet sure when we are migrating down. If I am there when you arrive, I have a hangar at Naples for you to shelter in (if we both fold our wings), and would love to do the Bahama's trip with you.

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Thanks Brett! I look forward to this trip. I am going to research wind/weather patterns to find the best time window to consider. Will be a fun Icon trip!

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Hi everybody! I take delivery of my Icon in late August and will base it in Miami so that’s absolutely a trip I’d look forward to taking!

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Welcome James! Im in Naples all winter, we will have to join up for some fun in the Keys. You new to aviation, or just new to Icon?

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Thanks Brett! I’m just new to Icon. I fly the big boys at a major airline. I’ve always loved my GA flying though so I look forward to getting back into it. And I’ll definitely be taking you up on that offer!!

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Moving to Sarasota shortly. Definitely interested in joining you.

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We are in Jacksonville, FL and definitely interested in joining too.

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This has the makings of an awesome swarm!!!!!

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Hey James, for who and what do you fly? 787 at AA myself. You will truly love the Icon. I've had mine for 4 years now - I actually finished up my type rating ride on the A330 in the morning and started A5 training that afternoon. THAT was an interesting day!

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Hi Michael! I’m an A320 Captain at Delta. I had a blast just doing my demo ride in the Icon so I definitely can’t wait to bring it home! ?

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Just researching ICON ownership. Did this Bahama's trip ever happen? We live in Cape Canaveral and I'm very curious what flying to Bahama's is like....

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Hey Matt,

Not sure if that particular trip happened. However, there are videos on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram of A5’s in the Bahamas. Totally doable.

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Sorry, we postponed the trip due to the house construction and the US warnings about travel to the Bahamas. As soon as the house is done, we will look at organizing the trip.

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For those who haven't been, Bahamas is totally doable - I flew out there in 2023 and another owner (flytheicon on insta) does it all the time - the key thing to mind is fuel availability and weather, and you'll want to make sure you can rinse the plane. Recognize too that if you get stuck somewhere in the Bahamas, things could get a bit complicated.

Customs is a breeze - you need to file in advance, but when you get there it's quick and friendly. If you just want to "try it" you could shoot out to Bimini and back on a tank (it's about 45min without wind from Miami).

Lots of info for you here on what you need to do:
https://www.bahamas.com/getting-here...ion/pilot-faqs

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Beware the giant fee hike they just implemented a couple months ago for private plane arrivals/visitors.

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Beware the giant fee hike they just implemented a couple months ago for private plane arrivals/visitors.

Do you have a link with info for the fees?

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I haven't seen a good one-stop link, and reports I have heard suggest (to me, cynically) in part that's so they can make stuff up as they go, which some pilots have reported even when they had quoted fees they were sometimes charged more without any adjustment for it being in writing otherwise.

Here is one for Bahamian customs: https://www.bahamascustoms.gov.bs/pr...und-fees-2024/

Here's another good one: https://www.bahamas.com/getting-here...ion/pilot-faqs

Notice that some of the fees there aren't consistent with or updated to reflect the changes in the prior link. Besides the inbound (and possibly outbound) aircraft fees, there are personal departure fees (I think $29/ea. including pilot), and potentially more that don't show up and may not be consistently applied/charged throughout the archipelago.

Also here is a potentially helpful link with documentation checklist, etc.: https://www.aopa.org/travel/internat...travel/bermuda

I would try to contact AOPA and the Bahamian government and confirm all those, and just be prepared to haggle on the ground and/or be charged something that never showed up to plan for.

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Thanks for the info.

The AOPA link you showed was for Bermuda.

The correct link is https://www.aopa.org/travel/internat...travel/bahamas

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Thanks, Ted, good catch, sorry.

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Flying to the Bahamas is an icon goal for me so if something gets organized I would love to go. I live in Houston so it would be a trek but it would be epic. My email is [email protected] if I don’t respond on here. I am a relatively new pilot (June 2024) but have 150 hours of which 125 are in the icon.

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On my bucket list! When you go, posts pics!

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Looking a FARs for overwater water flights outside of land. For folks that flew to the Bahamas, what light weight life raft did you have to take?

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Looking a FARs for overwater water flights outside of land. For folks that flew to the Bahamas, what light weight life raft did you have to take?

You only need a flotation device for non commercial flights in a seaplane to Bahamas as I understand it (and have personally done in the ICON)

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Interesting. I obviously have inflatable life jackets, but I thought you had to have at least a recreation raft. When working with 60lbs cargo, it's a lot of math to make things work

I was also wondering if I even need to bring my canopy cover. I'm worried if sand would get between cover and windshield it would rub in permanent scratches.