PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. — The timing might be a bit off for tourists hoping to waste away in Margaritaville. But that doesn’t bother Jimmy Buffett.
The singer — whose tunes are as much a part of life in this town as fried grouper sandwiches, Land Shark beer and the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels — plans to open a 162-room Margaritaville Hotel in a week. As tar balls came ashore Saturday from an oil plume shooting out from the Gulf of Mexico, Buffett said he had no plans for a delay.
“This will pass,” he said as walked along the city’s beachfront and fishing pier with Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.
Buffet said the community will get through the crisis by pulling together. If his music is good for anything, it’s “helping people forget their troubles for a couple of hours,” he said.
