Norman's Cay, Bahamas

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We arrived in Norman's Cay on Saturday, April 21, 2007 after a 5 hour sail from Warderick Wells. If you're interested in looking up the location of the anchorage the Longitude and Latitude are N 24.36.707 W 76.49.241. Norman's Cay is about 4 miles long and is located 210 miles off the coast of Florida.
For 4 years Norman's Cay was drug central and a hideaway for the Medellin cartel kingpin Carlos (Joe) Lehder. In 1978 Lehder, et al, started buying up property on the island including a home, a hotel and an airstrip. The locals began noticing an increase in air traffic and armed guards walking the beaches. Lehder began harassing the residents until ultimately they all fled. Lehder now had his own island and could do as he pleased. The Bahamian Prime Minister at the time was Norman Pindling. He is believed to have taken bribes for looking the other way. There was said to be an arrangement where Pindling would warn Lehder if he became aware of an potential dangers to his operation.

Norman's Cay soon became a stopover and refueling place for small planes carrying cocaine for Lehder, et al from Columbia to the US. Lehder had the airstrip protected by radar, body guards and Doberman attack dogs. When planes came that were not wanted, they would simply block the landing strip. You can read about one couples story at http://www.aopa.org/pilot/features/2004/cay0404.html.

You can also read an interview with Lehders personal pilot Fernando Arenas http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/interviews/arenas.html.

In 1982 after extreme pressure from the US, the Bahamian government began to crack down on the drug operation and the party ended. There was an expose that ran on American television that helped put the pressure on the government. During our travels in the Bahamas we learned that during the 1970's and 1980's many locals and politicians looked the other way when it came to drug operations because it was a great source of income.

Inside the lagoon we found this plane the size of a DC-3 that had been ditched in 10 feet of water. The story goes that the pilot was high and mistook a moonbeam for a runway....I checked the web to find out if that was the real story but couldn't find any info. If anybody happens to know the real story let us know, or, maybe the moonbeam thing is for real. The plane's now a haven to fish and a favorite snorkeling spot for visitors. There is a restaurant on the island called MacDuff's that is supposed to be the Cheeseburger in Paradise, place that Jimmy Buffet sings about, but we didn't go ashore so we didn't see the restaurant, the airstrip or the ruins from the drug era.

On one of the beaches we found this wrecked fishing boat. Michael thought he might be able to fix it. Hmmm.

On the other end of the island we found this lagoon with resort houses. The picture to the right is what looks to be the docks for the houses. The houses are hidden in the bushes and trees. The lagoon was so clear we saw all kinds of sea life, including a huge sting ray , a reef shark and a nurse shark. You can see the animals in the photos but it's not real clear. The left is the sting ray and the right is the reef shark.

Here are a few other pictures from around the island, you can see how beautiful it was, Cheers for now Mike and Kim on Ka'imi