To celebrate the birthday of my lovely bride, the Belle of Ballast Point, in May of 1998 we flew from Tampa down to Caracas, Venezuela to meet the Windjammer sailing vessel Fantome. Once on board we set sail with the traditional playing of Amazing Grace on the ship's speakers.
This was the start of a relocation cruise that took us from Bonnaire, to Aruba, then on to Port Antonio, Jamaica before we disembarked in Georgetown, Grand Cayman. The Fantome continued her journey to Belize and the Bay Islands of Honduras for a fateful summer season.
Our friend Sandy and the Belle of Ballast Point as we head off on a shore adventure.
Captain March (front row, second from the left) and his crew.
The 282-foot, four-masted schooner S/V Fantome, with 31 crewmen aboard (non-essential crew were put ashore in Belize), disappeared off the coast of Honduras on October 27. Its last assumed position was overrun by Hurricane Mitch, the fifth-fiercest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded.
My mother has been all over the world on various vacations. Back in the 80's she had taken a Windjammer Barefoot Cruise on the S/V Fantome. She loved it so much, took 2 more voyages with the company. To this day, she still talks about those cruises. I look through her pictures and would always say to myself, that I would love to go on one with my husband someday. Someday will never come. My mother and I were saddened to hear that the company no longer exists and even more heavy-hearted to hear of the Fantome and her crew members devastating demise. R.I.P. this beautiful ship and her crew.
Seeing that video made both of us rather teary-eyed. The Fantome was a noble sailing vessel and her crew made our voyage memorable.
We can still hear Crispen at the dinner table asking if we wanted some of the ass-pair-RAG-us. All of us looked at each other in a state of confusion until we realized what was being offered was asparagus.
My mother has been all over the world on various vacations. Back in the 80's she had taken a Windjammer Barefoot Cruise on the S/V Fantome. She loved it so much, took 2 more voyages with the company. To this day, she still talks about those cruises. I look through her pictures and would always say to myself, that I would love to go on one with my husband someday. Someday will never come. My mother and I were saddened to hear that the company no longer exists and even more heavy-hearted to hear of the Fantome and her crew members devastating demise. R.I.P. this beautiful ship and her crew.
ReplyDeleteDear Monz,
ReplyDeleteSeeing that video made both of us rather teary-eyed. The Fantome was a noble sailing vessel and her crew made our voyage memorable.
We can still hear Crispen at the dinner table asking if we wanted some of the ass-pair-RAG-us. All of us looked at each other in a state of confusion until we realized what was being offered was asparagus.
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