Crooked Island and Acklins

Crooked Island and Acklins face each other across the Bight of Acklins, a huge shallow lagoon, and between them they hold a few hundred people on a land area larger than several better-known islands. A barrier reef runs about forty kilometres along Crooked Island's north shore, and the flats inside the bight are among the least fished bonefish grounds in the Caribbean. Bird Rock lighthouse stands on a rock off the northern tip, built in 1876 and now abandoned to the ospreys. Columbus is thought to have passed here in 1492 and to have noted the scent of the island from offshore, which gave rise to a long-standing local claim about the smell of cascarilla bark.

Highlights

• Bird Rock lighthouse - an 1876 tower on a rock off the northern tip.
• The barrier reef - forty kilometres along the north shore.
• The bonefish flats - inside the Bight of Acklins, barely fished.
• Cascarilla bark - harvested here and exported for use in liqueurs.

When to go

December to May is the dry season. Bonefishing is good year-round. Flights from Nassau run only a few days a week and are frequently rescheduled, so build slack into any trip.

Practical notes

This is genuinely remote: a handful of guesthouses, almost no restaurants, one or two shops with limited stock, and flights a few times a week that get cancelled. Bring what you need including cash, as card facilities are minimal. The two islands are connected only by a small ferry that runs on demand. Anyone not fishing or diving will run out of things to do quickly.

Nearby

Long Island is a short flight north; Mayaguana is further southeast.