Exploring "Pablo Escobar's private island” plane wreckage off Norman's Cay in The Bahamas
On our first day at sea for our 5-day, private yachting trip through the Exumas island chain in The Bahamas, our trusted captain and guide took us to "Iguana Island" and the famous drug-running airplane wreckage off Norman's Cay. And what an exciting start to our voyage these adventures were!
We took our dinghy through the crystal-clear water and to the white-sand beach of Iguana Island, where we were immediately greeted by dozens of large iguanas who enthusiastically jumped and snatched grapes from the ends of our sticks. Not to be outdone, though, some friendly island birds began landing directly on our hands just to sip the sweet nectar from chunks of lemon and native tree fruits. We've never seen more chill wildlife outside of a domesticated environment!
Norman's Cay was once an integral part of the Medellín Cartel's operations, though the common claims that the island was once owned by drug lord Pablo Escobar are inaccurate—it was actually the headquarters for Carlos Lehder's drug-smuggling operation on behalf of the cartel from 1978 until around 1982. What is true, though, is that the plane wreckage lying in about 10 feet of pristine turquoise water just off shore is indeed related to the cartel operations (though according to Jack Reed, who was Carlos Lehder’s first pilot and present on Norman’s Cay during the crash, the pilot and his sole passenger were quickly retrieved–completely unharmed—by boat within minutes).
After a fantastic snorkeling session through the wreckage, we headed back to the yacht for some local coconut rum and a sunset burger cookout. What a way to wrap up our first day at sea!
Contents:
0:00 Intro
7:07 “Pablo Escobar’s” Private Island of Norman's Cay and the underwater airplane wreckage
12:14 Behind the scenes
Full Transcript:
After spending our first yacht overnight in the marina, we set sail from Nassau on a four hour open water voyage to the breathtaking Exumas. With four more days of adventure ahead, we dedicated day one to visiting the world famous Iguana Island and snorkeling through Pablo Escobar's underwater plane wreckage, where our captain hinted that we still might see a few remains of the drug running flight crew.
Sailing from Nassau, The Bahamas
So we said we were going to leave at 8:00 sharp, and Phil went to go get ice. It's 8:00. It's actually 8:01, so we left already and he's not back, so I guess we'll just see him in four days. I'm just kidding. We're coming to pick him up. He's right there.
Nothing wrong with being stranded in paradise though. You got the ice buddy?
Carried a whole bag of ice.
Just paying, and then we can hit the road. Wait, no.
Not the road.
We can hit the ocean. Hit the water.
Hit the water!
Sailing is not going too smoothly so far. So we tried to put the sail up and it kept getting caught. The line, the track wasn't in line, in the center. I think we got everything up and sailing eventually, the sails up I mean eventually, and then our dingy was getting hit with the water so roughly that we lost our gas tank. I just learned that we're taking the sails down now because we're turning around to go get the gas tank. We got to now, we've drifted way away from it. But now we have to turn around, find a little orange gas tank floating in the water and pick it up and start the whole thing over again.
Are you sailing? Yeah?
It's a lunch break. So it might have been a little touch and go at the beginning, but we finally made it across the four hour sailing journey from Nassau to the Exumas. This is the very, very tip of the Exumas where our first stop is going to be, I think it's called Iguana Island, or it's known as Iguana Island, and we're going to swim and have some beautiful snorkeling time, and I believe the iguanas going to watch us. But I know one person who's going to be psyched out of his mind out of it. Yeah, it's Colt.
I was going to guess that but mom read my mind. So she was cheating. I knew it was Colt.
Feeding Iguanas on Staniel Cay or “Iguana Island” in The Exumas, The Bahamas
We're getting on our little dingy and going up close to the island. Will we be snorkeling? I don't know. Again, I don't know what to expect.
Iguanas.
This is so cool! Look at all the lizards!
What are you doing over bud?
Looking for sea life.
I think it's pretty clear why they call it Iguana Island. Hundreds of iguanas, and we just happened to have bought grapes and they eat grapes. They love grapes. One almost got in the water to try and catch a grape, but otherwise they don't seem to like the water at all. Colt is the time of his life. The kids all love it, probably Colt especially, and now I can't find them. There he is.
Time to head to the next stop. Again, I don't know where we're going. Going to be surprised!
You can spend an entire week just right here with all of the different beaches and amazing things to hang out and see. The iguanas are cool. The water is beautiful. It's actually really warm, so you could just hang out in here. I could snorkel this little lagoon for a week. No doubt.
“Pablo Escobar’s” private island of Norman's Cay and the underwater airplane wreckage
We're going to the sunken plane next. I think that's like a drug plane from Pablo Escobar. I think he owned that island. It's Norman's Cay, I believe, and I think that's also where Fyre Festival was. We're going to see a concert! The Kardashians are going to be there and Justin Bieber's wife, before she was his wife.
Awesome view!
Get your gear on!
Sounds like it's time to get our gear on.
We are about to jump in. We've got, most of us have our gear on. You should know I am the only one who doesn't have any snorkel gear. I don't even-
Baby can I borrow your snorkel gear, please? Thank you.
I don't even get to eat with the rest of the family. I just have whatever's left over. I'm sure, I mean mother's day's coming up, right?
Sure. Maybe a nice coffee mug.
Put a word in for me.
Number one best mom.
All right. We're at Norman Cay. We're about to jump in and see a sunken plane and a dead pilot in the cockpit.
Pablo Escobar. Fyre Festival. Legit.
So you were just holding the rope open and then it went through, right? Fast? You know what that's called?
Rope burn.
Rope burn. Yeah, and all it does is create a heat, which basically makes it the same thing as any other kind of burn, right? So you burn yeah absolutely. Grab a chunk of ice. Just hold it in your hand on there. Grip it. Everywhere you would've gripped the rope.
Let me see, is it getting blistery more?
Yeah.
I'm going to get water.
All right. You ready to see a sunken plane?
Yup!
First time I was that close to a plane wreck since my first solo when I was 15. You can see my injury here, down here. Yeah, way bigger. Yeah. So, actually I got off a little bit better than the pilot who's down there. I think we probably saw him, yeah?
I saw a bunch of coral that looked like the shape of a femur and maybe an arm bone, so I think that mystery's solved. There's no captain down there. I think he's long gone. Plus I'm injured too.
Me too guys.
Hold on. Let me get the macro lens for this. One sec.
You're not even bleeding.
It's an old injury.
We don't care unless there's blood, but Colt actually is injured though. Also, now we have to figure out where we're going next.
Sailing to Shroud Cay, The Bahamas
Next we're going Shroud Cay. Where we're going to do the washing machine first thing in the morning.
Shroud's Cay to anchor and then-
Overnight.
Overnight.
And probably grill some burgers, maybe.
Grilling burgers on the boat tonight. We're having dinner on board.
Ricardo Coconut Rum.
Definitely the drink of our vacation. Hey babe, Alex has a question for you.
Check this out, I was wondering, right? You guys got all these fancy cameras and photographic gear, why didn't you bring a drone?
We did. We dropped it in the ocean.
You brought a drone?
That cuts deep.
What?
We dropped it in the ocean.
That cuts deep.
We are out here enjoying this beautiful, beautiful day and Phil's getting some drone footage, and I think he just landed the drone in the ocean.
I have a vague memory of ordering these special insurance option when I bought the drone, where if you crash it, they pay for it. Can't wait to get the new one.
So it's gone.
We are settled in, we're at Shroud's Cay. We are going to cook up some burgers and brats. We're going to have dinner. We're going to stay the night here and then first thing in the morning we are doing, washing machine? I don't know what that is, but stay tuned and, oh I'm so sorry! I hit my son in the head and he's injured. He's needs ice. Stay tuned because we have three more days on this boat.
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Here fishy.
Just going to catch that big one. We should put it on the hook, and let Colt, no?
Go before you drop it like I did eight times.
All right, here it comes.
Okay, now why do we do that?
Because it is organic, it is natural, and biodegradable because of the nature and the organic-ness of it. And-
It's very cool. This is the first time we've seen this in person, but actually in front of us we're heading toward a super yacht. I'm not sure which one it is, but if we got close enough we might recognize it, it's that big. In fact, it's so big that it's utilizing this new trend in yacht stuff, super yacht stuff, which is having a yacht support vessel. And that means, I think a lot of yacht owners, super yacht owners, are getting sick of having a yacht where they have to have helicopter landing pads on there and they have to have storage for all of their tenders. So their smaller boats, their speed boats, their jet skis, all of the other toys that you have available. And so they create a second yacht that's called the yacht support vessel. It's ugly as hell, but that's where they keep all of those things.
So people, guests and the owners can just helicopter right in. They chopper in, they land on the yacht support vessel, and then they can just be transported right over to the main yacht. And that means that you can have a smaller yacht, which is always preferable. And that one is for nothing other than like the living, the fanciness and everything else related to leisure and utility is going to be on the yacht support vehicle, so that's what we see right in front of us. That two always travel in tandem and they are right there together. It's really cool.
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