The question is what do you search for on Crooked Island? If you are looking for high class hotels, casino's, night life, cinemas, shopping you are definitely on the wrong spot.
Crooked Island is for those people who love nature and all that comes with it. You will enter one of the most remote areas of the Bahamas and if you like this kind of holiday, you will certainly enjoy it. I have to warn you. Crooked Island can be very addicting. If you come once, you will probably come again.
So what can you see, find and do on Crooked Island? Here is a short list.
Children learn to snorkel in front of Pittstown Point Landings reef. You can swim to the reef and there is no current. Only underwater beauty.
Crooked's most impressive site is a small, coral-encrusted, sand-edged cay a mile offshore from Pittstown Point. It is pinned by a stately 115- foot tall lighthouse dating from 1876, erected to guide ships through the treacherous Cooked Island Passage. The rusting and partially decayed lighthouse, also known as the Crooked Island Passage Light, today struggles against the elements. The old Fresnel lens was long ago replaced by a modern battery operated lantern. The cay is a prime nesting colony for snowy white terns and tropic birds, which caterwaul a welcome to visitors. Sometimes fabulous shells can be found. The cay is a five minute boat ride from Pittstown Point. The sad thing about this island is that in the past it had lots of trees. After a hurricane all were blown away and they never recovered.
The overgrown ruins of a British fort stand atop this shoreline bluff, just east of Pittstown Point. There's a quarry where the stone for Bird Rock Lighthouse was extracted. And Evans Cotman built his octagonal home beside the shore here. You can hike or drive a 4wd vehicle to the bluff. Follow the track that leads from Landrail Point to Pittstown Point. At the Y fork take the sandy trail to the right. At present the road is blocked with a gate and a sign that says: PRIVATE PROPERTY. The best way to get there is by boat, anchor at the beach and walk up the stairs. Once your up.... ENJOY the view. On once side (north) you will overlook the ocean and on the south side you will see half of Crooked islands inland. It's amazing.
These caves are 100 yards inland from the shore near Gordon's Bluff, 2 miles east of Pittstown point. A small entrance opens to vast vaulted chambers linked by high tunnels. They're easily explored, and the walking is level. Some of the walls are festooned with mosses, and there are stalactites in the depths. Land crabs find the cool retreats accommodating, and bats squint down from their rooftop perches. The bats slumber by day inside the bell shaped hollows that pit the ceiling. Take mosquito repellent. Clouds of ravenous insects lick their proboscises at your approach, especially after heavy rains. When I was in there in the summer there was not 1 mosquito but more than 1000 bats. The creatures are so lovely and tiny. They make funny noise and they do not bother you at all. If you follow the path from the beach make sure you have a machette to cut away the branches with the thorns. They really hurt if they enter your skin. Also put some good shoes on and bring a flash light.
This amoeba-shaped lagoon, stretching from Landrail Point north to Pittstown Point, is separated from the sea by a narrow tombolo (sandpit beach), along whose shore several foreigners have built or bought their homes. ( like me ) In years past the pool produced salt for export. Today stilt-legged waders pick in the shallows. Ducks paddle atop the glistening surface. Ospreys police the scene with sharp eyes. In the summer sometimes flamingos sometimes flock from Long Cay, arriving about sunset and returning to long Cay shortly after dawn. Marine Farms, a salt farm on an island in the midst of the pond, has a long history. It began life as a cotton plantation and amazingly a Spanish or British fort that is said to have managed a fire fight with US warships in the War of 1812. Cannon can still be seen lying amid the ruins and salt pans.
This mansion, about a mile south of Landrail Point, was once the centre piece of a 19th century plantation. The ruins are today embraced by towering jumby trees, blooming sage brushes, periwinkle vines, and scrub. It's a 30 minute hike along an overgrown track.
After a storm or a cold front and the wind blows to the shores you always can find things on the beach. Besides the Conch you can find all kinds of gorgeous shells. If you wade over the flats or go by boat you will find hundreds of starfish. My children love to stroll along the beaches and they find lots of stuff to build a new shelter or ropes to play with. A lot of people even have a metal detector to find their treasures. Who knows, maybe you find one of the lost pirate treasures hidden in the sand. What ever you do, as long as you enjoy doing it, who cares.
These aptly named beauties stretch from south from Landrail Point for 7 miles to French Welch at the south-western tip of Crooked. The waters off Bathing Beach, as shallow and limpid as a spa pool, are know as the 'World's Largest Swimming Pool.' Snorkeling is divine, with fabulous coral heads just below the water. Alas, sharks are often present. The local guides can take you out on a picnick. You fish your own lunch or spear a lobster and grill them under a casuarina tree. This comes very close to paradise.
You are lucky to see them in the summer. They come to French Welch to mate. These smart annimals swim with your boat and ride on the waves and if they feel like it, they JUMP. Please do not enter the water and try not to touch them. Remember it is a wild annimal Enjoy the view and do not feed them.