Kathryn’s Voyage Blog

Publish Date: Sunday, December 21, 2008
Location: Normans Cay, Exumas, Bahamas
Coordinates: 24° 36.21′ N 76° 49.24′ W

We had planned to skip Normans Cay because of one of our cruising books, said there was ” an evil feel to the whole place,” due to a brief dark moment in it’s history when it had been the base of the Colombian drug runner Carlos Leder in the late 1970’s early 1980’s. However, our friend Eric at Highborne Cay said it was worth a stop because of a great little restaurant formerly known as MacDuff’s, now called Norman Cay Beach Club. A good local restaurant is a perfect reason to stop someplace in my book.

Since I decided to make peace with the wind, it finally decided to calm down, and we enjoyed a short but beautiful day of cruising to Normans Cay. Due to calm winds and a wide open sandy anchorage, anchoring was a pleasure, and we found ourselves in an idyllic spot with the sun just beginning to set. We dropped the dingy in the water and took off to find MacDuff’s.

We were expecting a run down beach shack, with good hamburgers. What we found was a rustic but

charming restaurant with a beautiful bar, inviting decor, and an atmosphere that exuded warmth. We were greeted by Stefan the owner, with a great smile and a quick sense of humor. We were all instantly glad we had come. We shared the bar with a local family (Steve, Wanna and Connor (9)) and an experienced cruising couple (Harold and Angie). The conversation was non-stop and the food delicious! Yes, the burgers are good, but don’t stop there. The ceviche was fresh and spicy, and rumor has it they make the best cracked conch in the islands. They were out of conch when we were there, so we’ll need to go back to confirm that claim. 🙂

We had so much fun at dinner we decided to stay another day, and go exploring. Wanna, Steve and Connor (one of just a handful of families that live on the island) had invited us to come see them, and the home they built on this slice of a paradise. This gave us our first opportunity to try and fit our three folding bikes and ourselves into our dingy. All went smoothly and we were off cruising down the only road on the island (the word road is a bit generous). After an exciting 4 mile ride we arrived on their doorstep. They built most of their beautiful home themselves, and you could see Dave’s wheels spinning hatching the next plan after Three @ Sea. Connor gave Ayla a tour of the beach and his tree house, while Steve and Wanna filled us in on island history and their journey to this spot. They could not have been more generous with their time, and even invited us to join them for their annual Christmas Eve bonfire. Unfortunately we will be gone by this year’s bonfire, but maybe another year.

It was late afternoon and time to head back to the boat while we still had some daylight to breakdown our bikes and get them aboard. After the bikes were secure, we decided to visit Stefan again for dinner. This time we met two families from Nassau, one of whom owns a house on the island. After

hearing about our adventure, they surprised us by treating us to dinner. The father’s comment to Dave was priceless, “you don’t look crazy.” These families were kind, full of smiles and sincere enthusiasm for our journey— we were genuinely touched by their gift of dinner.

We found Normans Cay and Stefan’s place to be full of magic and we were lucky to have found them both, thanks to Eric!