Norman's Cay, Exumas: Lehder history, the C-46 plane wreck and MacDuff's

Norman’s Cay is a small island in the Exumas, a chain south and east of Nassau¹. It is known for its smuggling history and for the plane wreck in its shallows. See all places in the Exumas.

Where is Norman’s Cay, and is it inside Exuma Park?

Norman’s Cay is outside the Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park, north of its northern edge. The Bahamas National Trust gives the park’s north-east corner as 24°35′30″ N and its north-west corner as 24°30′37″ N². Norman’s Cay lies at about 24.63° N³, north of both corners.

The cay covers a few hundred hectares¹ and is roughly 1.5 miles long⁵. It has no road connection to any other island⁵.

Park moorings and fees are covered on the fees page.

What happened at Norman’s Cay?

From 1978 until around 1982 the island served as headquarters for Carlos Lehder’s drug smuggling operation¹. PBS FRONTLINE describes Lehder as a Medellin cartel kingpin and says the island was a smuggling hub and hideaway for him and his associates for four years⁸.

PBS FRONTLINE reports that Lehder started buying large pieces of property on the island, including a home for himself, a hotel and an airstrip⁸. It says Norman’s Cay became the stop-over and refuelling hub for planes carrying cocaine from Colombia to the US⁸. Lehder extended the airstrip to a length of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) for his fleet of aircraft¹.

PBS FRONTLINE also reports that in July 1980 a yacht belonging to a retired Fort Myers couple was found drifting near Norman’s Cay with a corpse and blood stains on board⁸. It says Lehder eventually harassed the island’s residents and visitors until they fled⁸.

The Bahamian government began to crack down on the island’s smuggling only in 1982, under pressure from US law enforcement, after years of turning a blind eye¹. In 1987, after Lehder was arrested in Colombia and extradited to stand trial in the US, his property in the Bahamas was confiscated¹.

What is the plane wreck at Norman’s Cay?

The wreck is a Curtiss C-46 cargo plane that sits submerged in the shallows just off the island’s coast and is visible from the air on approach⁵. Staniel Cay Adventures says it lies just off the cay in shallow water⁷.

Yacht Charter Fleet, a charter broker, gives depths around the wreck of 6 to 10 feet, depending on the daily tide⁴.

Can you snorkel the wreck from a boat?

Staniel Cay Adventures anchors its boat and snorkels the wreck, which it calls the most famous plane crash in the Bahamas⁷. The tour is a boat trip through the Exuma Land and Sea Park to Norman’s Cay⁷. It also covers Rachel’s Bubble Bath, Rocky Dundas and Shroud Cay, with a stop on the Shroud Cay sand bar⁷. At Rocky Dundas the cave is only accessible by swimming under a partially submerged ledge⁷. The operator says the tour is not recommended for pregnant women⁷.

More on the operator’s home base at Staniel Cay. If you are coming from Nassau instead, the Nassau day trip to the Exumas compares the options.

How do you get to Norman’s Cay?

Norman’s Cay is a tourist destination reachable by charter flight¹. It is served by Norman’s Cay Airport, which as of 2018 had no commercial airline service¹. The strip is grass and paved, and it takes light jets and turboprops; larger aircraft should not attempt it⁵.

There is no fuel guarantee on the island, so pilots should confirm fuel before departure⁵. Highbourne Cay’s marina says it is only 8 miles from the closest airstrip, at Norman’s Cay⁹. See Highbourne Cay for that marina. By sea, the island is on the tour route described above⁷.

What is on Norman’s Cay now?

Ground transport on the island is golf carts, with no taxis and no rental cars⁵. MacDuff’s, Cottages & Restaurant is reachable on foot from the airstrip in a few minutes⁵. MacDuff’s is closed while renovations are completed, per its own site, seen 18 October 2026⁶.

Who owns Norman’s Cay today?

The island has purportedly been sold to the Miami-based Fort Capital Group¹.

In 2017, Billy McFarland arranged to lease the island from its owners to hold the Fyre Festival¹. The owners cancelled the arrangement, and planning moved to Great Exuma at short notice¹. The Netflix series Narcos showed the island in one episode¹. The fictional island of Cayo Perico, in the Grand Theft Auto Online Cayo Perico Heist update, is based on Norman’s Cay¹.

Nearby stops

Read next about the marina at Highbourne Cay, then Staniel Cay and Allens Cay.