We’ve spent the last week at Norman’s Cay. This island became famous between 1978 and 1982 when Carlos Lehder controlled it for drug smuggling. He built an airstrip to refuel planes moving cocaine from Colombia to the United States while the Bahamian government looked the other way. In 1982 the U.S. shut down his operation and eventually imprisoned him. Today the deeper water on the south side of the island is full of U.S. and Canadian boats.
We enjoyed a tiny island with one palm tree. I could walk around the whole island in about 5 minutes. The west side of the island had a little beach and sand bar and the east side is mostly volcanic rock. Genny and Marie scoured the island looking for building materials and made their camp.
They whipped up a little salad in half a coconut shell.
Topaz enjoyed a little roll in the sand. Nothing better than getting sand right down to the skin, in your ears and eyes and up your nose.
Genny had been watching charter boat guests wake boarding and started craving her favorite thrill ride. Since we’re not exactly sure where we’ll be able to get more dinghy fuel she decided scurfing behind the Hobie would provide a bit of thrill and conserve fuel.
Eventually she did get her time on the wakeboard.
The bottom of the whole bay is mostly sand with some grass. This isn’t necessarily an environment the tropical fish flourish in, so the snorkeling can be a bit boring. So, its a treat to see a reef. The highlight of the bay is a drug plane that didn’t make the runway. I haven’t found any details on this wreck, a Curtis C-46 Commando, but I’m guessing it’s been there for about 30 years.
Coral is growing in little patches here and there.
Fish have made the fuselage their home.
Under the wing was a hide-hole for these giant dinner plate sized angel fish.
The sergeant majors really got in my face. It was hard to take their picture because they were getting so close.
It is nice to see something that represents a disastrous time in history become a beautiful reef home for underwater wild life.
The picture below is a giant ray buried in the sand.
The other activity we enjoyed each afternoon is walking on the sand bars at low tide.
Low tide came in the late afternoon while we were here. By then everyone was ready to run in the sand.
Many acres of beach appeared as the water receded and still more area could be explored with water ankle to knee deep.
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The sand is soft, white and clean and the beaches are empty except for another boater out for a walk here or there.
We waded out toward the east until the water was chest deep and then walked up onto another sand bar.
The water is clearer than most swimming pools.
Back in among the low tide sand bars there are occasional pools and streams.
The girls spotted a hidden mickey made by some little clam or crab thing.
Walking back to the dinghy we had to watch where we stepped to miss the star fish. Eric spotted a tiny octopus but the picture didn’t come out very well because of his advanced camouflage abilities.
We noted that, yes, Eric and I both work very hard to maintain the boat, but his work goes largely unnoticed. I waxed the hull to a mirror like shine, made all kinds of beautiful and comfortable canvas and cushion items, painted the cockpit table and toilet seats. Things used and admired daily.
Eric on the other hand does things that keep the boat mechanically sound like replacing fuel tanks, adding watermaker membranes, changing fluids and on this day he greased the propellers. .
Marie was his helper she passed him grease, bolts, and tools. While he was down there using the hookah, (100 feet of hose attaching the scuba tank to the regulator), he took some pictures of this weird situation with the current. Normally, the anchor digs into the sand, we always use at least 100 feet of chain and then down wind of the anchor Makai floats and tugs on the ground tackle. In this anchorage the tidal current is so strong that the struggle between the wind and the current had Makai floating above the anchor with the chain somewhere in the area laying on the ground.
Here Marie, Eric’s prop greasing assistant, is snorkeling along the side of Makai and the anchor chain is squiggled up under the boat.
Another project is Makai’s bottom. When Eric launched the boat one year ago he put fresh red bottom paint on it. Over the winter we would inspect it for barnacles and scum. Then we had an unfortunate run in with a shoal in Saint Martin where the sand scraped off the anti-fouling paint on the bottom of our keels. Over the summer when the water was either too cold, too murky, or too full of jelly fish, we just ignored the bottom promising to take care of it in warmer waters. The result was a thick layer of scum which I started on at Rose Island, and a thick layer of barnacles that Eric scraped off the prop in Key Biscayne and barnacles on the keels that he took care of here in Norman’s Cay. Next September Makai will be hauled and painted to protect the bottom from growth for another two years.
Even though the drug runners are gone, planes occasionally fly by. I don’t think I’ve actually seen any land here but plenty of sea planes go by.
We moved to the east side of the island to get away from the tidal currents. We’re the only boat anchored here and have enjoyed sailing the Hobie and playing on the beach. If it could all just be 10 degrees warmer. The 75 degree water has us wearing wet suits and the 70 degree night air has me in a sweatshirt, but the beauty it unparalleled. We still have plenty of food even though we’re coming up on 3 weeks since our last Florida grocery store.
The fresh produce situation is looking pretty grim, but most of the crew isn’t interested these items anyway. Before we get scurvy we’ll have to go through a whole locker of tomato sauce, the bilges are filled with fruit juice, and there are several lockers of canned fruits and vegetables.
In a few minutes we’re heading to the next island Shroud Cay where the Exuma Cays land and Sea Park begins.