Ferries from the USA to the Bahamas

Four scheduled crossings connect Florida with the Bahamas, and every one of them works out of Fort Lauderdale. Port Everglades lists nine cruise lines and exactly one ferry service, which is a fair measure of how narrow this corridor is. Two things need settling before you compare sailings: where the ferry can actually put you ashore, and the fact that you are leaving the country.

Where the ferry reaches, and where it does not

Balearia Caribbean serves two Bahamian landfalls, Bimini and Freeport on Grand Bahama. Nassau is not one of them, and neither is any of the Out Islands. The Bahamian tourist board names air, cruise and private boat as the ways into Nassau and Paradise Island, with no scheduled ferry from Florida in the list. If Nassau, Eleuthera or Exuma is the destination, the crossing is at best a first leg, to be followed by a flight or by the inter island network of Bahamas Ferries, which reaches eight Bahamian destinations and keeps an office in Freeport. For most itineraries a direct flight is the shorter answer.

Two hours to Bimini, three to Grand Bahama

Fort Lauderdale to Bimini takes about two hours and sails three days a week. Fort Lauderdale to Freeport takes about three hours and sails twice a week. The water is not the obstacle: West End on Grand Bahama lies 55 nautical miles off the Florida coast and is the first port of entry for most boaters crossing over. Frequency is. With two or three departures a week per island, a missed sailing costs days rather than hours, and the return date is fixed by the timetable long before you pack.

A border, not a state line

Passports are required of all persons entering the Bahamas. American, Canadian, British and most Commonwealth citizens need no visa, but immigration may ask for a return or onward ticket and for evidence that you can support yourself, and the officer at the port of entry sets how long you may stay. Visitors may not work. Coming back is a full United States entry at Port Everglades. Worth knowing for one way plans: Grand Bahama International Airport holds US border preclearance, so a flight out of Freeport settles the American formalities before it leaves the ground.

Customs sits alongside immigration. Anyone carrying only used personal effects can make an oral baggage declaration; everything else goes on a C17 declaration through the Bahamian customs app, receipts included. The allowance is 100 dollars of dutiable articles, with one quart of spirits, one quart of wine and up to 200 cigarettes or 50 cigars for adults.

Outing or transport

Two hours to Bimini makes a plausible day out from a Florida base, and the corridor is often used that way. Read it as transport instead and the limits show: two islands, a handful of departures a week, and every onward leg a separate arrangement.