Our next stop was Norman's Cay. This island has an infamous and rich history. In 1978, the Colombian Drug runner, Carlos Lehder, came to the island in the middle of the intense days of the Bahamian drug running. Right away, Lehder started buying up most of the property - all while running the locals out of and off the island. He bought a house for himself, that he ran the family out of, along with a hotel and airstrip that he extended to help with his drug smuggling operations.
Norman's Cay quickly became the hub of cocaine smuggling from 1978 - 1982 between Columbia and the US. I believe Lehder is portrayed by a character named Diego in Johnny Depp's movie BLOW. I have not watched the movie but would love to see it now, knowing the history of the island.
After a NBC report aired on September 5, 1983 reporting on the corruption of the Bahamian government corruption, Lehder was forced off the island and not allowed to return. The government seized all his money and frozen all his assets. The paradise island was available to return to the paradise that it once was before becoming a den of debauchery.
We pulled into the quiet waters of Norman Cay after a rough
night of heavy swells and little sleep.
The gorgeous blue waters were like a
siren calling us to anchor. Right away we saw the infamous sunken airplane, the wreckage of a Curtiss C-46 Commando that crashed in the shallow waters when it missed the runway on a drug delivery. It sits in
about 12' of water and we anchored a couple hundred yards away. Anxious to
explore the wreckage we'd read so much about, once the anchor was set, we were
in the dinghy heading that way. We were not disappointed! What an amazing
sight. Many colorful fish, lots of large fish. We swam through the fuselage,
over the wings, and even around the tail. We would have stayed there hours but
the current was rocking through there and with the sharp, rusty edges of the
plane's skeleton, we decided it wasn't worth someone getting cut so we headed
back to Miss Daisy.
These are not my pictures since our underwater camera was off-duty that day but they give you an idea of what we saw.
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| * not my photo * This is the condition we found it in. |
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| *not my photo* This is what it looked like in the 80's and insert is now. |
Windy weather moved in later that day and stayed with us for
a couple days. The waves into the once calm harbor had since picked up and
along with the swells, were often uncomfortable. Not ones to shy away from a challenge,
we stayed where we were while we watched all of our neighbors' boats raise
anchor and bail out. Leaving only a large work barge being used for work on the
other side of the island. On one of the calmer days, we took off exploring the
flats at low tide. So many sand dollars, starfish, and large helmet conchs! We
also saw a lemon shark, and an eel?? and found what we have since dubbed the
"Pirate cup". We ended up at the prettiest little beach with pools of
warm tidal water full of colorful fish. It made for a long walk but was worth
it. Unfortunately, I didn't think we'd be gone long and didn't bring my camera
so you'll have to take our word for it. We, however, have plenty of memory
photos for ourselves.
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A far off view of where we walked through but
taken from Miss Daisy |
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A far off view of where we walked through but
taken from Miss Daisy
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Being surrounded by plenty of beaches, we had our pick to
walk the dogs. Having the anchorage empty allowed us to let the dogs run off
leash on the beaches, which is their favorite and works out their wiggles. So,
one morning while Dani and Steve were walking the dogs off leash on an empty
beach, they were surprised when the dogs ran off to greet some new friends.
Apparently these unexpected new friends were exploring the island from the
large charter yacht anchored offshore. Dani ran after Louie but being barefoot
and not looking, stepped on coral and sliced her heel pretty badly. Needless to
say, she was out of commission for a few days so her and I spent a day in the
air-conditioning watching chick flicks and began the planning of Jacob's super
secret awesome Harry Potter birthday extravaganza.
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| A view of one of the beaches with some old huts from Lehder's days |
After the third night of bouncing to sleep, and a
particularly windy night, we awoke to see the work barge had drug his anchor,
leaving him right in front of us. Not comfortable with that and realizing we
probably weren't going to get to shore to explore the island and old ....
compound, we decided it was time to head out. We left the quiet but rough
harbor of Norman's Cay, past the lone palm tree on the little island, past the large
charter yachts anchored well offshore, and onward to our next adventure.
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| Goodbye lonely palm tree! |
Next stop, Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park!
Once off the rocks and onto the soft sandy beach, we had a
pleasant walk and swim in the soft waves. We spent a couple hours there before
heading back, extra careful this time to avoid the nesting beauties. Once back
in the dinghy, we continued down the inland river in the same direction we were
in before we stopped. We ended up coming out of the island on the same side but
about a mile down from Miss Daisy. While on the way back, we spotted a sign on
one of the small beaches. We had read about a fresh water well that had been
used for over a hundred years and here was a sun-faded sign that read simply
"To Well". We beached and followed the path, up the cliff, aided by
steps that had been carved into the limestone. At the top was another sign that
read "Trail to Well" shaped into a makeshift arrow. We followed a
path that ended at a large natural hole. There were a couple of buckets with
ropes attached, so Steve pulled one up and sampled the water. Delicious! We
just so happened to have our large water container with us [always plan ahead]
so we filled it up and our strong man-child, Jacob, carried it back to the
dinghy.
