Bahamas & Key West Cruise 2011

Key West & the Bahamas

A December cruise to Key West and Nassau — the turquoise beaches of the Bahamas, the towers and aquariums of Atlantis on Paradise Island, parasailing off Key West, the rugged coast, and sunset over the Gulf. Tap any photo to enlarge it, or open the map.

A December cruise dropped us into two very different corners of the same warm sea. In Nassau the day belonged to Atlantis on Paradise Island — the pink towers, the glass tunnels where sharks and rays slide by overhead, and the impossibly blue water beyond the resort.

Key West was the other note entirely: parasailing high over the harbor, the rugged edge of the island where the Gulf meets the Atlantic, and the town's famous end-of-day ritual of watching the sun drop straight into the water.

Between the ports were the long, easy hours a cruise does best — deck, horizon, and the Bahamas crossing, with the Gulf turning gold every evening.

This trip ran 3 days, December 11–13, 2011. Along the way we spent time at Nassau & Atlantis, Key West & the Cruise, and Beaches & the Bahamas Crossing. The gallery below tells it day by day, in 34 photographs.