Norman’s Cay
Norman’s Cay has the wreck of a drug-smuggling aircraft lying in shallow water, left over from the island’s time as a trafficking base in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It is one of the best easy snorkels in the Exumas.
The aeroplane
A Curtiss C-46 sits in a few feet of water just off the beach, broken into sections and thick with fish. You can snorkel the whole thing comfortably without diving. It is a genuinely strange sight: a large aircraft on a sandbank in turquoise water, now a reef.
The island’s history
In the late 1970s the cay was effectively taken over by the Medellín cartel associate Carlos Lehder and used to move cocaine towards Florida. That period ended in the mid-1980s and the island has long since returned to ordinary private ownership and quiet development.
Anchoring and conditions
There is a large sandy anchorage with room for several yachts and good holding. It is reasonably protected in the prevailing wind. The wreck itself sits in very shallow water, so tenders approach it carefully and at the right state of tide.
Ashore
MacDuff’s is the restaurant and bar on the beach, worth booking ahead through the crew. There is an airstrip, a handful of houses, and otherwise very little, which is the appeal.
Send us your dates and party size and we will put together a shortlist of crewed yachts that can take you here.