“A Salty Piece of Land” in honor of Jimmy Buffett

Crooked Island, The Bahamas

Many years ago, 2005 to be exact, my mom bought the book, “A Salty Piece of Land” for me as a gift. I hadn’t read any other Jimmy Buffett books, but this seemed right up my alley. There was a lighthouse and beach on the cover, totally disregarding the always sage advice to not judge a book by its cover, I knew I would enjoy it because, duh, the king of the beachbums had written it. I had yet to fall in love with the ocean and sailing, although I had always been somewhat smitten. I loved this adventure. As with many others, I knew Jimmy Buffett for his music and until now, hadn’t realized he was an author.

Now, in 2023, I was standing and admiring the lighthouse which he had written about so many years before. The cover of the book is deceptive. It actually shows the lighthouse at Hopetown, another Bahamian landmark. All this time I had thought the book was about that lighthouse. I recommended the book to a friend, our buddy boat First Mate, Jennifer and she pointed out it was actually the Bird Rock Lighthouse at Crooked Island. We all became enamored with this lighthouse and were so sad that it is in such disrepair. We have done a little searching and have yet to find an organization that is interested in updating it. It’s a beautiful structure.

Our second tie to Crooked Island was from the South Dakota blizzard in October 2013, Atlas. During that storm I read the book Plunge: Midlife with Snorkel by Mari Anderson and Fritz Damler. Mike read the book shortly after. During that rare October blizzard when we were without electricity for several days, our horses walked over fences into the ditch of the interstate and Mike had to pull a sled with hay to feed them that we both began to long for a simpler life.

All that to say, Crooked Island had been on our radar for years before we actually got there. Our first anchorage was on the east side of Long Cay, where we dinghied and walked the short distance to old and mostly abandoned Arthurs Town. We saw 2 people and 3 dogs, goats and salt ponds with hundreds of flamingos. There were maybe 5 homes that looked occupied, but no one there presently. There was a huge water desalination station. When the town was booming, there were reportedly 3,000 -4,000 people populating the tiny island. This was incredibly hard to believe. We did see evidence of the first jail in the Bahamas here, though. There were many signs geared towards tourists and a school that had been suddenly abandoned due to a storm in 2015. Notebooks, posters, class attendance records were scattered across the floor. The doors hung askew, and goats had obviously taken up residence when the weather becomes such to make them seek shelter. It was a sad sight.

When weather cleared and made the trip north to Crooked more pleasant, we dropped the hook off the western shore, near Landrail Point Settlement. There was so much here I wanted to see from the book Plunge. The friendly family that runs Gibson’s Restaraunt #2 (formerly Gibson’s Lunch Counter), the airport where the Venezuelan pilot unexpectantly landed, the first post office in the Bahamas and pub where Fritz would have impromptu gigs with fellow islanders. The beaches where Mari picked up many treasures that became a part of their house were also to be explored. Besides that, the fishing and snorkeling are reportedly outstanding! Acklins, Crooked and Long Cay are on the shipping route from Europe to Panama. This is why the post office was so far from the larger settlements in the Bahamas. These islands/cays would have seen heavy traffic when shipping was more prominent. From this anchorage is where we made our way out to Bird Rock Lighthouse.

The season was quickly coming to a point where we needed to either extend our visas or head out of the country. We always say we are going to make our way beyond The Bahamas but have yet to do so. This little island country that is so close to the States but seems worlds away has grabbed our hearts over the years. Each time we come we explore a new area and fall in love with the people and islands all over again.

Because of this, we had only a few days to explore. However, we now know we want to spend much more time here, just as we said about our beloved Cat Island. I think these will be places we head directly to in this next season. Then, if we decide to go further into the Carribean we are close enough to do that.

We have more pictures and details in our IG posts if interested. But, suffice it to say, Crooked Island has our hearts. Below are links to the books mentioned. Of course, if you’ve been with us long, you know that at least one of us (it’s me) is a fanatical reader. So, there have been other book recommendations along the way but, these 2 in particular are special for inciting our interest in this beloved island.

I’ll end here, with Jimmy’s own words:

“And if you do decide to wander, please leave a tiny bit of room in your heart for me. For if I live in your hearts, I really have not died”
― Jimmy Buffett, A Salty Piece of Land

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