Acklins & Crooked Island: Friendly Faces and Beautiful Places

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Acklins & Crooked Island

Bringing You to World Class Bonefishing, Amazing Deep Sea Fishing, and the Friendliest People!

On this map, you can see Acklins & Crooked Island, and Long Cay. The largest settlement on Acklins is Snug Corner. Crooked Island shows the location of two settlements, Colonial Hill and Landrail Point. Long Cay is the tiny little island you see to the left. And that small speck of land below is Castle Island. The atoll surrounds the sandy bank called, "The Bight of Acklins."

The Bight of Acklins is an area of shallow banks that provides some world class bone fishing flats for eager anglers. Even more impressive is the massive drop off at the edge of the banks to depths of over 1000 feet! It is accessible from Acklins, Crooked Island, and Long Cay. This satellite photo reveals the dramatic change in color that reflects the contrasts of the water’s depth.

The lighthouse off of Crooked Island was Jimmy Buffet’s inspiration for his novel, Salty Piece of Land. There is also a lighthouse off of Acklins, on Castle Island, that is one of our most favorite landfalls of all time. These photos show you why. The white beaches, the sapphire and emerald seas with the golden sunlight sparkling on them... it is truly magical.

The history of Acklins & Crooked Island, and Long Cay is the one shared by the entire Bahamas. Sparsely inhabited by indigenous people called the Lucayans, Columbus "discovered" the islands and claimed them for Spain, much later British Loyalists came here to build plantations and brought slaves of African descent with them. The plantations failed and many of the Loyalists left the Bahamas, but some stayed and so did the slaves as free people. Fishing and simple farming are the main industries here. Sponging was widespread on Acklins & Crooked at one time, but a fungus killed all the sponge colonies. The people here are so happy to have visitors. Everywhere we went, we were offered meals or rides (we were on foot). They opened their homes to us and introduced us to their families. Songs were sung, children danced, and Campari was imbibed. Campari?

Campari is an alcoholic apertif that has been produced in Italy for over 150 years. A type of bitters, Campari is made from a blend of bitter herbs, aromatic plants, and fruit. The exact ingredients are a well kept secret of the Campari family. Only one person in the world knows the complete formula! If you are in the out islands of Acklins and Crooked, you will be served Campari in the little rustic, roadside bars because one of the main ingredients comes from these islands. Cascarilla bark is harvested by the islanders and exported to Italy. This highly aromatic bark is detectable all over the islands once it is pointed out to you and you learn to recognize its sweet scent. I had never had Campari before we discovered it on Acklins of all places!

Bonefish, also known as the phantom or gray ghost, are one of the world’s premier game fish. Pound for pound, they are one of the fastest and strongest saltwater game fish. Acklins & Crooked Islands have expert guides to help you land one of these elusive fighters in the shallow water of the Bight.

Live aboard fishing and dive boats often visit these remote islands for their rich diversity of marine life. Gorgeous wall diving, coral formations, and large marine life like sharks and dolphins abound. Deep sea fishermen hook up with wahoo, marlin, dorado, and tuna in the deep blue surrounding the atoll.