Windjammer cruise romantic voyage for honeymooners
Photos and text by Kathy Hagood

Mike Gold and Donna Parsons donned comfortable cruise wear before marrying on Miami Beach last summer and setting sail to the Bahamas on the S.V. Legacy as the sun slowly set behind them.

The active, physically fit couple chose a Windjammer Barefoot Cruises tall-ship vacation as their honeymoon for multiple reasons.

First, the 294-foot Legacy offered them the chance to sunbathe on deck with gorgeous sails billowing above and to swim off the side in jewel-toned Bahamian waters.

In addition they were able to visit relatively small islands, including Bimini, renown for diving and deep-sea fishing, and Gun Cay, a deserted island perfect for swimming, sunbathing and snorkeling. Legacy’s summer itinerary also includes stops in ever-popular Nassau and Freeport.

“I’m an avid diver and attracted to the atypical diving opportunities Windjammer offers,” Gold says, noting that he deeply appreciates that Windjammer ferries divers out to reefs and wrecks not swarming with large diving charter groups.

He and his bride aren’t much on gambling, which is offered on the mega ships but not Windjammer, and like the informality of a help-raise-the-sails-if-you-like barefoot cruise.

“Windjammer isn’t for everyone but it suited us perfectly,” Parsons says.

Accommodations are clean and well organized but smaller and a bit more worn than on fancier large cruise ships. Doors don’t lock except for on the inside so it’s best not to bring valuables. Those considerations didn’t bother Gold and Parsons.

Parsons liked traveling with a small group of people and having the chance to get to know many of them.

“The larger ships are great but I’m really sociable. On Windjammer you even get to hang out with the captain and the chef,” Parsons says.

Free rum swizzles served at the ship’s happy hour drew many of the ship’s 200 passengers together after the day’s activities. Nightly entertainment, such as a costume party and fire-eating limbo dancing show brought guests together as well.

Because meals are served on deck or in the ship’s one dining room with huge communal tables, passengers can’t help but come in contact with all their shipmates during the voyage.

While larger ships offer a multitude of food choices, from snack bars to buffet lines to fine dining, Windjammer’s fare is hearty and plentiful but basic. Still dieters should beware the delicious desserts.

The ship’s chef, “Strokey” Liburb, originally from Nevis, makes a dangerously rich bananas foster, heavy on the rum and banana liqueur. His flamboyant showmanship in concocting and igniting the mixture, adds to guests’ enjoyment.

One of the highlights of the ship’s stop in Nassau was an onboard demonstration of the preparation of conch salad. Fresh conch was pulled from newly harvested shells, cut up and cured with citrus juices. The tasty conch was then tossed with fresh vegetables and served to passengers.

The stop in Nassau also offered opportunities like snorkeling, diving, shopping and a tour of the historic downtown. Many Legacy passengers chose to take a taxi over to the nearby Atlantis resort featuring world-class aquarium attraction and a Vegas-style casino filled with the glass artistry of Chihuly.

Visitors to Atlantis can view of its aquariums for free, but the $30 admission to The Dig, a maze of underground chambers featuring dozens of huge aquariums filled with a plethora of marine life and the “ruins of Atlantis,” is well worth the price.

Shore excursions in Freeport included a dolphin encounter, horseback riding on the beach and a kayak nature tour at Lucayan National Park.

The six-hour kayak tour not only offered 90 minutes of kayaking down an inland creek through a pine forest and mangrove swamp, but also a picnic, tour of the Lucayan caves, and plenty of time to swim at Golden Rock beach. Lucayan National Park tour participants learned about Bahamian ecosystems and the flora and fauna they support from gumbo-limbo trees to the buffy fruit fly bat.

Gold, Parsons and other Legacy passengers agreed that the most beautiful waters on the Windjammer trip were seen surrounding the small group of islands and cays known as Bimini. The sea’s bands of greens, blues and turquoises take on a glowing quality there.

It’s no wonder Author Earnest Hemingway spent several years on Bimini writing “To Have and Have Not,” and the area inspired “Islands in the Stream,” which was published after his death. Hemingway fans typically visit the Compleat Angler Hotel, one of Hemingway’s hangouts. The hotel has a small museum dedicated to the author.

Gold and Parsons were tanner and their hair wind blown by the end of their eight-day honeymoon.

“The Windjammer trip was the perfect way to start our new life together,” Parsons says.