Norman's Cay

Norman's Cay is a low island in the northern Exumas with an airstrip, a beach bar and a wrecked Curtiss C-46 lying in shallow water off the northern end, wings just under the surface. The aircraft crashed in the early 1980s during the period when the cay was controlled by a drug-trafficking operation that used it as a transshipment point, an episode the island has never quite shaken. The wreck is now a snorkelling site in two or three metres of water.

History

From 1978 until around 1982 the cay was the base of Carlos Lehder's cocaine smuggling for the Medellín Cartel, which lengthened the airstrip to 1,000 metres for small aircraft refuelling on the way to the United States and kept armed guards, dogs and radar on the island. In later years the government sold its part of the island to private owners, and in 2017 promotional footage for the Fyre Festival was filmed here (Wikipedia, Norman's Cay).

The main sights

• The sunken aircraft - a Curtiss C-46 in shallow water, snorkelled from a boat.
• The beaches - quiet white sand along the eastern shore.
• The airstrip - the strip that made the cay useful, still in use for light aircraft.
• The shallows - clear water over sand flats around the northern end.

When to go

November to April is the dry season and calmest. The wreck is best snorkelled at slack water and in sun. Winter fronts stir the shallows and cut visibility.

Good to know

The wreck sits in shallow water and the metal is sharp and corroded; it is a look rather than a swim-through. Much of the cay is private property and going ashore beyond the beach bar is not welcome. The trafficking history is often sold as glamour and was not.

Nearby

Allan's Cay is north, and the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park is immediately south.

Key facts