On Saturday morning, Jimmy Buffett joined Florida Governor Charlie Crist in Pensacola to tour the beaches that are beginning to feel the effects of the oil spill in the Gulf.

He took a walk Saturday along the beach with Fla. Gov. Charlie Crist and noted that his favorite memories of the area are of sunsets in the fall.

He says he wants people in the area to know that he’s there for them. He says if he’s good for anything, it’s “helping people forget their troubles for a couple of hours.”

He says the people of the Florida Panhandle will get through the crisis together.

TampaBay.com also has an article on today’s visit that gives an opening date for the Margaritaville Beach Hotel in Pensacola:

Appearing Saturday morning at Pensacola Beach with Buffett, Crist said keeping more oil off the shoreline is “the utopian objective.” He said he’ll continue to press for more oil-containment booms.

“We’re going to ask, and ask, and ask,” Crist said.

Buffett, whose Margaritaville hotel is due to open June 24 in Pensacola Beach, planned to accompany Crist on a helicopter flight over the beach to view the oil.

Buffett said he hoped people would still visit the beach. He suggested that visitors could “come down and help clean up the beach rather than just lie around and soak up the sun.”

(photo Paul Flemming)

Update – Tampa Bay Online has more:

“I thought I could lend a hand and tell people that the sky is not falling,” the singer-songwriter said this morning. “I’m always an optimist. Handle a crisis and go on.”

Buffett insisted that the uncertainty over how bad the Gulf of Mexico gusher will get in Florida won’t affect his first foray into the hotel business. His Margaritaville Beach Hotel is set to open July 1 on the site of a Holiday Inn wiped out by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

“We’re going to be open for business come hell or high water,” said Buffett, his words almost sounding like a song. “We go through hardships in life. People in the Panhandle are a tough people. We go clean it up and we get on with our lives.”

His appearance with the governor created quite the scene. People stopped him – Buffett, not Crist – for an autograph and to pose for pictures. Several thanked Buffett for what he’s doing on the Emerald Coast with his hotel.

“God bless him for being here,” Crist said.

Buffett said he planned to be in town for a job fair today at the hotel, where earlier 1,000 people showed up to apply for 40 positions. He joked about not knowing how many rooms the place has, saying he’s only been involved in the project for the past six weeks and hasn’t had time to count them all. He said he was trying to make sure the hotel had all the cool things, such as a Ping-Pong table.

“This was always my first Florida. Pensacola Beach is the first pretty water you see,” he said. “I thought we should have a place up here. It’s kind of my back yard.”

“This is an environmental disaster that nobody asked for,” Buffett said. “I’m not satisfied with the way that BP has handled anything. I am pissed off, but what are you going to do about it?”

More photos from today:

Chris Urso / Tampa Bay Online

George Skene / Orlando Sentinel

AP Photo / Michael Spooneybarger

AP Photo / Michael Spooneybarger

Brandon Kruse / The Palm Beach Post

Brandon Kruse / The Palm Beach Post

AP Photo / Michael Spooneybarger

While Jimmy Buffett was in Jamaica last Friday to christen the new Boscobel Aerodrome, he also hopped over to his Margaritaville in Ocho Rios to attend a welcome home party for Newton Marshall who recently completed the Iditarod dogsled race.

Jamaica’s dogsled musher, Newton Marshall, received a grand welcome Friday afternoon at Margaritaville’s Ocho Rios during a special welcome home party dubbed “Rootin’ for Newton”.

Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville is Marshall’s main sponsor and Buffet was on hand to congratulate and celebrate with the musher who became the first black man to complete the Iditarol.

Also celebrating with Marshall were entertainment, sports and culture minister Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange and Chukka Caribbean’s Danny Melvin who established the Jamaica Dogsled team and where Marshal is employed as a dog musher.

Business mogul Chris Blackwell, Margaritaville’s CEO Ian Dear and executive director Mike Shamry and St Ann Custos Radcliffe Walters and wife Norma also joined in the celebration.

Entertainment was provided by the selectors at the turn tables at Margaritaville and they included in their selection several of Buffett’s hit.

Marshall said he was pleased with the love and support he has received from Buffet and all his other sponsors and Chuckka Caribbean for establishing the Dogsled team and believing in him.

Marshall placed 47 in the 2010 Iditarod in Alaska and finished the race in 12 days, 4 hours, 27 minutes and 28 seconds.

Northern Light Media has more: “The Jamaican: Newton Marshall”

(Photo by Brian Webb)

The Jamaica Information Service has another article and a few photos from Jimmy’s flight into the Boscobel Aerodrome last Friday (see our original story from Saturday). Jimmy was the first international passenger to fly in and be processed by customs at the airport on the north coast of Jamaica:

Buffett exits the Pilatus PC-12 after landing at Boscobel

Jimmy shows off his welcome gift. With him is Youth, Sports and Culture Minister, Hon. Olivia Grange (left) and Chris Blackwell of Island Outposts

The Pilatus PC-12 that Buffett was flying is a 2010 model registered to Epps Air Service in Atlanta, GA. The aircraft was recently listed for sale but the listing has been removed. So is this another addition to Buffett’s fleet of airplanes that already includes a Falcon 900, Cessna Caravan, Grumman Goose, and Stearman? If Buffett did purchase the airplane, it will show up in registration records in the next couple months.

The PC-12 does make sense for Buffett. It fills a niche between his Falcon 900 trijet and Cessna Caravan single engine turboprop on amphibious floats. The PC-12 is also a single engine turboprop, but has a much larger cabin and can fly over 100 mph faster than the Caravan. It has excellent short field capability and would be much more efficient for shorter trips than the Falcon.

Jimmy Buffett traveled to Haiti last week, and on Wednesday performed for troops stationed at the U.S. Embassy as part of Joint Task Force Haiti:

(March 3, 2010) Musician Jimmy Buffet performs his song, “Cheeseburger in Paradise” for members of Joint Task Force Haiti at the U.S. Embassy as Lt. Cmdr. Jennifer Hornsby-Myers and Cmdr. Dana Hall, both from the U.S. Public Health Service sing along. (U.S. Navy photo by Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Spike Call/Released)

Here’s a photo of Jimmy Buffett and his daughter Savannah Jane with the Vince Lombardi Super Bowl trophy after the Saints won the Super Bowl last night in Miami:

On Friday night Jimmy Buffett performed at his Hawaiian restaurant Jimmy Buffett’s At The Beachcomber along with Jake Shimabukuro, Robert Greenidge, and Mac McAnally.

via @AlohaBruce

via @PaulKlink

Here are a couple photos of Jimmy Buffett rehearsing with The Roots for tonight’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon:

Be sure to watch Jimmy tonight on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 12:35 pm ET / 11:35 CT… or set your DVR!

Here are some photos from today’s performance and press conference where Dolphins Stadium was renamed Landshark Stadium:

View more photos in our Photo Gallery.

Jimmy Buffett recently traveled through the Caribbean, making surprise visits at his Cozumel and Grand Cayman Margaritaville Cafes where he played impromptu shows with Mac McAnally and Nadirah Shakoor.

Margaritaville.com has some photos up from the trip:

Cozumel Gallery
Grand Cayman Gallery

The second part of Jimmy’s diary about his recent trip to the Outer Banks is now up at Margaritaville.com, including more photos.

In it, Jimmy discusses a wrecked surfboard, a morning sightseeing flight over the coast, and much more. Read it now. And stay tuned for the final part in the series.