How do you measure the success of a cruise? By how much it changes you? How long it lingers, fresh and vivid, in your everyday thoughts before hardening into memory?
For me, one of the most accurate measurements is the number of “perfect moments” a trip contains. Call them magical, wonderful, or any other word our limited vocabulary has to offer. You know them when you feel them. Short, intense minutes when time seems to slow, thoughts of the past and future fall away, and every part of you is consumed by the wonder of the present moment.
Perfect moments are shy and ephemeral things, not easily captured in words. But let me try. Let me describe five perfect moments from our recent “Off the Beaten Path” Greek Islands cruise aboard Wind Spirit (it is also offered on Wind Surf).
Arriving in Folegandros
My wife and I both run our own businesses. And it’s hard to get away even when we are “away.” Work is always there, lurking in the background.
Maybe it was the physical isolation of being on a ship. Perhaps the beauty of these lesser-known Greek islands. Or the total relaxation that comes from being looked after by an attentive and friendly crew. Whatever the reason, “away” took no time at all.
This is what it looked like.
My wife, Laura, and I are sitting in the sun, having breakfast on the open deck. The engine hum quiets and the anchor rattles down in the “V” of the bay, 200 yards from the shore of Folegandros, one of the smallest Cycladic islands (population: 700). On either side of the ship rise the island’s scrubby hills, dropping down to wild rocky cliffs. It looks deserted.
The only sign of life is a tight cluster of whitewashed buildings tumbling down to a small beach. Foliage-draped verandahs. Doorways framed in the classic Greek blue. Everything so crisp and bright that I half expect Donna, Meryl Streep’s character in “Mamma Mia!” to swing round one of those verandah posts, belting out “The Winner Takes It All.”
But it wasn’t just the scene. It was the smugness — yes, I admit it — of exploring a Greek island not many people have heard of, let alone visited. One of those last, few places in the world that require uncommon effort, time, determination, or a severe case of ochlophobia to reach.
Unless of course, you do it the easy way.
Eating breakfast on the open deck of Wind Spirit, eagerly anticipating the day ahead. Which, incidentally, lived up to the dramatic entrance. A six-hour local boat ride, hugging the rocky coast. Jumping into water as clear as Evian. Eating a picnic lunch made by the boat owner’s family. Followed by fresh ginger lemonade in the “Mamma Mia!” village, and a bus ride into a hilltop town, with clifftop views that defy any camera.
And that, perhaps, is the real measure of a cruise like this. Not the distance traveled or the sights seen, but the handful of moments that stay with you long after the suitcase is unpacked. Moments when time slowed down and you were left surrounded by the present…like a small white ship in the middle of a deep-blue sea.
An evening at Ephesus
It’s one thing to “see” an archeological site like Ephesus, one of the great ancient cities of the Mediterranean. But it’s another thing entirely to enjoy a delicious dinner in the glow of sunset, surrounded by its streets, houses, temples, columns, and 2,000-year-old stones.
Our perfect moment came at the end of our cruise’s second day. Wind Spirit was docked in Kusadasi, the bustling port town on the west coast of Turkey (incidentally, this is the only port of our cruise that’s not in Greece). That morning, we had toured Ephesus, hearing its stories brought to life by an excellent guide. Now it was late afternoon, and we were dressed up, ready to go back. The evening had been billed as one of the highlights of the cruise. Everyone was invited. Everyone was excited.
The buses arrive at Ephesus’ Upper Gate just as dusk is giving detail and dimension to the colonnade in front of the Odeon, a small amphitheater. 30 or so round tables, white-tableclothed and candlelit, are scattered among the columns. A quintet, brought in from Izmir, is playing Beethoven and Mozart. Uniformed waiters are serving the first course. My glass of Sultaniye (who knew the local Turkish wines could be so good?) is filled with sunlight. Behind me, down the hill, lies Curetes Street, the famous Library of Celsus, and the marble heart of the ancient city.
Alexander the Great. Mark Anthony. St Paul. the Virgin Mary. Now us. You get the idea.
Can a ship be a perfect moment?
I don’t think so. But it can provide the right setting for the magic to happen. That is, if you choose the one that reflects your personality, preferences, and pursuits.
Wind Spirit isn’t a young ship. She’s not a big ship. She doesn’t have climbing walls, waterparks, lap pools, midnight buffets, or art sales. She’s not boastful or brash. She doesn’t flaunt the latest fashions (plastic, chrome, stainless steel) or parade the latest tech. For me that’s not a drawback. It’s the absence of those features that makes her such a perfect choice.
For those who don’t already know, Wind Spirit is one of Windstar’s three Wind Class sailing ships: a small, refined, four-masted motor-sailing yacht with the feel of a private vessel. Among her subtle charms: an informal intimacy (just 74 guest cabins) yes, but also a timelessness and grace that are hard to find on modern vessels. A staff who, by day two, know your first name, how you like your mojito (light on the rum), where you like to sit (1:1 staff/guest ratio).
And let’s not forget the undeniable romance of being at sea on a beautiful ship. The glaring white of the paintwork. The honey varnish of the wooden trim. The weather- and mop-smoothed teak decking. The sudden calm when the engines are silenced, the sails billow and fill above your head, and the ship glides forward propelled by wind alone.
On embarkation day in the Port of Piraeus, near Athens, these charms are on full display. Wind Spirit is docked among towering behemoths: floating apartment buildings with 10+ decks and herds of passengers. From a distance, she looks wildly out of place, anachronistic, as if she had sailed out of the distant past before travelers became tourists and sea voyages became mere cruises.
Morning Walk
Can you replicate a perfect moment? It’s not easy. Dozens of random, ungovernable ingredients need to come together in just the right order, at just the right time. But sometimes…if you’re careful…and half asleep….
I like a morning routine and onboard Wind Spirit I quickly had mine sorted. Wake up early, around 7. Tiptoe out of the cabin (tired wife, unhappy life). Find the Yacht Club Café (just off the lounge) where Ridwen, its barista, is waiting, ready to make my flat white. Carry my coffee, carefully, one floor up to the open deck. Then walk the loop, anticipating the day, enjoying the ship quietly, slowly, and alone, before anyone else breaks that exquisite silence you can only find at sea.
Warm in the sunlight. Cool in the shade. The unfolding freshness of the waking day. Wooden deck under bare feet. Wind riffling the foam on the coffee. Island silhouettes overlapping in darkening shades of gray. And the sea, everywhere you look, blazer blue, as hypnotic in its movement as the flames of a fire.
The Culinary Moment
Windstar partners with the James Beard Foundation, the American culinary organisation behind the famous “Oscars of food.” So, I expected Wind Spirit’s food offerings to be good. And truly, every meal was, as food critics like to say, a triumph of creativity and flavor.
But my perfect culinary moment wasn’t dinner with my wife at Candles, the ship’s romantic, open deck restaurant. Nor was it at Amphora, the more formal main restaurant. It was the barbecue buffet.
No pomp, no pretense, no menus and wine lists. Just tables arranged on the open deck. Music playing. The sun going down, picking out the whitewashed houses along the shore of Naxos, a 10-minute tender ride away across a darkening sea. By Day 4, our small band of passengers had found an easy first-name familiarity and smaller circles of friends. After days of sun and sea, far from the 21st Century and its same-old routines and petty concerns, the real world had slipped out of sight below the horizon.
If you go
- Spend at least two full days in Athens. Aim for one (or more) before your cruise and one after (it feels wrong to simply just rush off). Use one day for the big-ticket sites (book tickets in advance) such as the Acropolis, the Parthenon, the Acropolis Museum, and the ancient heart of the city. Spend the other day exploring a neighborhood such as the bohemian Exarchia or the swanky Psyrri, away from the tourist center. For a bird’s-eye-view, and a little exercise, climb Mount Lycabettus at sunset.
- Anthology of Athens is a wonderful boutique hotel, right in the heart of the action, close to the Acropolis and on the edge of Plaka. Eat at the roof-top restaurant, with views over the Temple of Olympian Zeus and the Acropolis.
- Great book to pack: The Odyssey. Why? Because it’s the foundational text of Mediterranean travel. It’s a rollicking adventure. It makes the islands feel mythic, turning them into stories. It makes the sea feel alive.
- Every island has its own personality. Best scenic lunch: the small port on Samos. Best shopping: the old town on Naxos. Don’t miss the cheese and olive oil shop, Naxos Cheese Koufopoulos. Best view: the castle and church above Plaka on Milos (you earn it). Best shore excursions: one of the Ephesus tours and the full-day boat ride on Folegandros. Best after-dinner experience: the stargazing talk on Wind Spirit’s front deck.
