More on Bahamas & A Great Read

​More on Bahamas and A Great Read
 
            I'm writing this in February 2019 and thinking about our friends in the Midwest and Northeast as they cope with record-breaking low temperatures.
            I've recently started walking our dog, Lady Diana, at the wonderful dog park on Hilton Head Island. Lady is getting along well with most of the other dogs and I am meeting some very interesting people— all of whom are obvious dog lovers. Of course, our conversations get around to my writings and I've distributed a number of my books to my new friends.
            One of the people I've met is a psycho therapist named Rob. When I mentioned that I was a writer he told me about some friends of his who he met in his practice. These friends, Peg and Art Crimmins, pioneered private yacht chartering in the Bahama Islands in the 1950s and Peg wrote the book “Traveler.”
            Rob assisted the Crimmins in publishing the book and gave me a copy. I became enchanted with this book. Published in 1997 the book shows Victor Lloyd as the author but Rob told me that Peg Crimmins actually wrote it. I surmised this when I read it—a super writer and story-teller.
            Being a sailor myself and interested in boats and cruising I was especially interested in Peg and Art's story. Having also chartered many different sailboats in North America and recently visiting Ann and Buell Miller at their lovely house on Long Island in the Bahamas, a book about cruising in this beautiful area was particularly fascinating to me.
            The Crimmins were one of the first couples to offer cruises on their boat named TRAVELER. Inspired by the late Irving Johnson, who was based in England and made his living by taking on paid-passengers and sailing all over the world. Art admired this independent-minded sailor and decided to do a similar thing in the Bahamas. I once heard Skipper Johnson speak at Tabor Academy— the school that inspired my life-long interest in sailing and cruising,
            Capt. Art Crimmins and his first mate Peg, became inveterate skippers with unique personalities and their book is a most interesting read of many well-known personalities who sailed with them. people like folksinger Burl Ives, Hollywood stars Elizabeth Taylor and her husband, Mike Todd, and a host of others, many well-known skippers on their own boats who enjoyed visiting the Bahamas and cruising with the Crimmins.
            Peg’s detail descriptions of cruising in and around many of the Bahama Islands, including Long Island which Pat and I visited, reminded me of this fascinating area. The book talks about the 1950s when Nassau and the Bahamas really started their growth. When I read her book, I wondered why my sailing friends—who called themselves “The Salty Four,” had not chosen this area for our annual cruise.
            One of the many subjects Peg wrote about was the marvelous swimming in this area—and Pat and I really enjoyed swimming with Ann and Buell there. Peg ends her story with some words by her husband, Art, skipper and philosopher par excellent:
 
            “Life is a voyage, a vast learning experience, a give-and-take. Respect, and responsibility, doing the best you can with what you've got and can become.
 
            As you become older, take time off every now and again, away from the demands of business and routine. Take time to share, and to enjoy...
 
            It's the friendships you develop that accounts for everything . . .”