Amazing Grace: Windjammer Barefoot Cruises' passenger-freighter offers a unique caribbean cruise

Cruise Travel, May-June, 2002 by Shirley Jordan

A soft, mechanical rumble penetrated the mild, tropical air. Leaning against the ship's rail, my husband Dean and I watched the crane's mighty arm rotate, sending a suspended load of foodstuffs swinging to and fro.

Crew-members in bright hard-hats--blue, red, yellow--reached high, stretching to grab the cargo straps. Cautiously they eased the suspended cases of beer across a narrow stretch of water that divided the two ships.

A deckhand's voice rang out, carrying the soft patois of the islands, "Careful, mon, this here's the brew!"

With 50 passengers onboard for this sailing, the Amazing Grace, the supply freighter of Windjammer Barefoot Cruises, was plying the waters of the Caribbean from Freeport, Grand Bahama, on the north to Trinidad on the south. Her primary mission, the captain informed us, was to resupply the company's five sailing vessels: Flying Cloud, Polynesia, Mandalay, Legacy, and Yankee Clipper. Without frequent visits by the Amazing Grace, these smaller ships lack sufficient storage space to carry their food, fuel, and spare parts.

From our viewpoint as passengers, an equally important goal was the sampling of every highlight along a captivating string of islands. And the Amazing Grace's 13-day itinerary promised plenty of time for this.

Dean and I had embarked at Freeport on a Saturday evening and checked into our spacious, richly paneled cabin. Dean's concern at finding bunk beds diminished when I agreed to take the upper, and our shared concern about "bath down the hall" was allayed when we found a large sink in our room and four combination shower/toilet restrooms but a few steps away from our door.

Clutching glasses of the traditional complimentary Windjammer fruit drink, the rum swizzle, we joined others to explore the ship before dinner. We found a well-stocked library and a pleasant meeting room with piano and VCR. There was plenty of deck space for relaxing and a congenial bar in the fantail.

The 92-passenger Amazing Grace, originally named the Pharos, was acquired by Windjammer in 1985. A British government vessel built to patrol the North Sea, she had delivered supplies to lonely lighthouse keepers on the rocky coasts of England and Scotland. Though a "workhorse" vessel, she was still elegant enough to host Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family, whose pictures are prominently displayed at the entrance to the dining saloon.

Our trip began with two days at sea, allowing us time to meet our shipmates. This was easily accomplished around the huge round tables in the open-seating dining saloon. We found the group largely made up of seniors, many of whom had previously sailed on Windjammer's tall-ship fleet of schooners and barquentines.

It was Tuesday morning when the Amazing Grace pulled in at Grand Turk, largest of the Bahamian chain known as the Turks & Caicos. As crew-members sprang into action to deliver cargo onto the dock, passengers had two popular choices--a launch ride to an idyllic beach or a stroll through a small town lined with crayon-colored buildings.

Dean and I had long wished to see the Amazing Grace in action as a supply ship. But we'd known nothing of her other role--delivering "private cargo," various items on assignment that the ship delivers to small islands along its route. A special cargo operations officer for these duties, with the unforgettable name of Merry Christmas, checks off each of these deliveries on her clipboard. When the need to reprovision a Windjammer ship arises, Charles Fredericks, a native of Dominica, takes over the supervisory role.

Our next stop was an overnight at Tortola, largest of the British Virgin Islands. Here we watched as two huge items of private cargo--a speedboat and a pickup truck--were skillfully off-loaded onto the dock.

Passengers debarked for a variety of island tours or a snorkel trip to a rock formation called the Indians. Some elected to wander into town for a cold one at the very British Pusser's Pub & Mercantile. A few planned to have dinner onshore.

The next morning at "story time," Windjammer's daily passenger briefing, Captain Casey Planafavor announced it was time to reprovision the first Windjammer sailing vessel of the trip. Just across the waters of Drake's Passage lay Cooper Island, and there the Flying Cloud awaited the Amazing Grace' s services.

Arriving at Cooper an hour later, Captain Casey, as he likes to be known, maneuvered the 257-foot Amazing Grace snugly up against the 208-foot Flying Cloud. Ropes flew from deck to deck, and soon the two vessels were securely lashed together.

Three crew-members wrestled a huge gasoline hose across the gap between the two ships, and a no-smoking announcement boomed over the loudspeaker. Other workers climbed into the hold to stack case after case of foodstuffs onto pallets. As soon as each load was secured, the crane's arm lifted it from the Amazing Grace's hold and deposited it onto the deck of the Flying Cloud. For more than an hour, gasoline flowed into the sailing vessel's storage tanks, while boxes of frozen meats, huge bags of fruit, crates of lettuce, and a generous supply of beer passed through the air from the supply ship's hold to the tall ship's deck.