Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Beach Hotel



Margaritaville Beach Hotel on Pensacola Beach

This summer we have a new addition on Pensacola Beach besides the occasional tarballs and oil blobs from the Gulf Oil Spill. It's Jimmy Buffett's new Margaritaville Beach Hotel. It opened in the beginning of July, probably not the best timing since the oil arrived on our beaches at the same time. But in spite of that, the opening was a success and attracted lots of locals and tourists.

My husband and I waited until the next week after the opening and then dropped by the hotel to take some pictures. It's pretty much like a big white sandcastle sitting amidst the sand dunes right on sugar-white sand Pensacola Beach. It has a nice tropical themed interior, a great pool and a panoramic view of the turquoise waters of the Gulf. So whether or not you're a Jimmy Buffett fan, it's a nice beach-front hotel for a relaxing vacation.

Jimmy has lots of fans here on the Gulf Coast, of course, since he was raised in this area. In fact, my husband lived across the street from Jimmy, in Mobile, when they were kids. They rode the school bus together, played baseball together and were altar boys together. These days we only see Jimmy with the rest of his fans, when he appears for a concert. Naturally, we've seen more of his concerts than we can count, including a couple really great ones in New Orleans in years past. We have our collection of Jimmy's music, which is just about the best beach music around, his and Bob Marley's. I think my favorite Jimmy song now is "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere"  with Alan Jackson.



Pool at the Margaritaville Beach Hotel

Tonight I was excited to add a big selection of Jimmy's MP3 clips to my blog site. Some of his new songs and lots of old favorites. So I hope you enjoy sampling his beach music while you're reading my blog. I also added some reggae MP3 clips: Bob Marley, UB40 and others. I'm having fun getting my blog site set up and running, and adding an assortment of music for all to enjoy.

As for Jimmy ... the people here on the Gulf Coast are still talking about the free concert he did on the beach in Gulf Shores last month. That was a really nice gesture considering all of us down here have been pretty stressed out with the oil. There was a huge turn-out. For those who missed the concert, it is being shown on one of the music channels.

Here on the Gulf Coast we've been counting the days since the Gulf Oil Spill started. We're now on  Day 129 and there's little sign of the oil on our beaches here on the Florida Panhandle. We didn't get the deluge of oil that washed onto the wetlands of Grand Isle, Louisiana. But for much of the summer we had enough oil to keep a lot of our tourists away. Now that summer is almost over, our beaches are looking pretty nice. Hopefully the tourists will come back and give our beaches another chance.

It's going to be a long road to recovery for much of the Gulf Coast. Lots of businesses had to temporarily shut down or close altogether. A lot of people here lost their jobs. The commercial fishermen got hit the worst. Though state waters have been reopened for fishing, it's just not the same. Unfortunately we're going to feel the effects for many years to come.

I hope you all don't forget about us down here. Now that the news has gone on to other stories, it doesn't mean the oil problem is all over. Just like New Orleans after Katrina, the Gulf Coast Oil Crisis will still continue. You can best help out our area by keeping our beaches as a tourist destination. Even if you don't care to swim in our waters just yet, our beaches are beautiful. Come walk along the edge of the surf, feel that sugar-white sand between your toes, sip a Margarita and watch our exquisite sunsets.