Winter Voyages

Cruise Destinations for Vacationists seeking Eternal Summer

WINTER VOYAGES TO SUMMERLANDS: Fleets are in readiness to transport the winter vacationist from the frozen North to lands of eternal summer.

BERMUDA THE IRRESISTIBLE

Bermuda—the fairyland for rest or play is only two days away. This is enough, however, to produce a complete transformation in climate, environment, scenic beauty, and brings opportunities for sports and pleasurable recreations, which include golf on seven links, three of them eighteen-hole courses, tennis, bathing in surf or still water, sailing, driving, horse-racing, etc., makes one recall Mark Twain, who said: "Visitors on the way to Heaven, stop at Bermuda, thinking they have arrived." Every week during the coming mid-winter season four steamships will leave New York for Bermuda. Two sailings weekly will be made by Furness Bermuda Line Steamships and two by Royal Mail Steam Packet Company.

NASSAU'S WINTER PLAYGROUND

Opposite the Florida Coast, and less than two hundred miles distant from it, stretch the seven hundred islands of the Bahama Group. Nassau, on New Providence, is the capital, and tourist head- quarters. It is noted for its equable climate (temperature averages 72 degrees December to May), superb bathing beaches, picturesque golf courses, its palm-shaded tennis-courts, fishing, and polo. Weekly steamship service from New York is af- forded by Munson Line steamers, and between Miami and Nassau by the same line, two to three times each week.

NEARBY SPANISH AMERICA

Less than ninety miles intervene between Sand Key Light, just east of Key West, and the Morro Light, beacons marking either end of the ocean lane between the United States and Cuba. By airplane Havana is an hour away, and even by steamer only six hours.
Steaming into Havana Harbor the grim walls of Cabanas Fortress rise on the vessel's port side, while opposite, along the bayside, extends the Malecon Boulevard, with the landscaped Prado promenade joining it through the city at right-angles. Ashore there is mixture of medieval and modern. You may wander through "Old Havana," which still retains its atmosphere of ancient romance and, looking through one of its narrow streets, see the magnificent modern Presidential Palace.
After viewing historic buildings and scenes, modern theaters and shops in the city itself, one finds outside the Country Club, with its famous golf course, the palatial Yacht Club, the varied attractions of Marianao with its bathing-casino, beach, and race-track.
"Outside of Havana," says the Official Guide, published by the Cuban National Tourist Commission, "the visitor will enjoy the incomparable Cuban landscapes." In the province of Pinar del Rio, near Havana province, exist the valleys of Vinales and the Cerro and the Caves of Sumidero, which constitute three of the most beautiful scenes in the Tropic Zone. The Province of Matanzas is famed for the imposing Yumuri Valley and the Bellamar Caves, with their stalactites and stalagmites wrought in lovely and capricious forms. Cardenas has a beach of the whitest sand and the bluest sea known, being called the Play a Azul ("blue beach"). Next comes Santa Clara, city of ancient memories; Cienfuegos, called "the Pearl of the South," a large and progressive city;
Camaguey, also a treasure of olden times, with its traditions, its romantic history and its remains of Colonial architecture; Trinidad, full of antique lore; Sagua la Grande, and many others, all full of interest and each with its own distinctive appeal. . . . And, finally, Santiago, with its winding streets, archaic buildings, its peaks, and mountains bordering the city."
Regular steamship service between New York and Havana is provided by the United Fruit Company, the Ward Line, Panama-Pacific Line, Dollar Steamship Line. Service between New York and Antilla; is by the Munson Line. Key West is joined with Havana by the Peninsula Occidental Steamship Line.

IN TROPICAL JAMAICA

Southward of Cuba, stretching east and west 150 miles, is the British colony of Jamaica, captured from Spain in 1655. It is in and of the tropics, a "spice island," an island of palms, bananas, oranges, mangoes, bamboo, Bouganvilleas, depicting all the luxuriance and colorful glory to be found in this latitude. Kingston, capital, on the south shore is one of the foremost tourist ports of the world, while Port Antonio on the north shore is another tourist objective. Fascinating motor drives embracing the Blue Mountains, which rise to an altitude of more than 7,000 feet, are favorite experiences. Jamaica is a place of call for all West Indies Cruises. It is included in the regular service of the United Fruit Company.

THE TOMB OF COLUMBUS

We are now in the seas over which discoverers groped their way and pirates roamed. Columbus set foot in Cuba on his first westward voyage in 1492. His remains rest on the Island of Santo Domingo, lying east of Jamaica. Other isles and lands are reminiscent of Balboa, De Soto, Ponce de Leon, Pizarro, Morgan, Drake, Kidd.

UNITED STATES WEST INDIES

East of Santo Domingo are Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands, possessions of the United States. In Porto Rico as in no other American possession can the old and the new be seen in such vivid contrast. Juan Ponce de Leon established the first settlement at Ponce in 1508, and for four centuries Porto Rico remained under Spanish occupation. The visitor of to-day may wander among the dungeons, fortresses, ancient homes, and churches of the island, and motor over the Spanish military roads through tropical mountain scenery, of which Columbus, its first discoverer, wrote with enthusiasm. Side by side with the evidences of civilization centuries old exists the typical American activity of to-day. Porto Rico's main ports include San Juan, with its ancient Casa Blanca erected by Ponce de Leon; Ponce, its plazas palm-shaded, its shops attractive; Mayaguez on a broad harbor with miles of ocean beach. Inclusive tours are provided by the New York Porto Rico Steamship Line.
From the Virgins, of which Charlotte Amilie is the chief port, there extend almost to the South American coast the Lesser Antilles of varied ownership and tourist attractions. They include St. Kitts and Antigua (British), Guadeloupe (French), Dominica (British), Martinique (French), St. Lucia (British), Barbados (British), Grenada (British), and Trinidad (British).

THROUGH CARIBBEAN LANDS

On the northern coast of South America are several points of tourist interest including the English city Georgetown, the capital of British Guiana; Caracas, Venezuela; the Colombian ports of Santa Marta, Barranquilla (ocean port, Puerto Colombia) and Cartagena, treasure city of the Spaniards.
Southwestward lies Panama, where every tourist pauses to view "America's greatest engineering feat."
"The Canal Zone is 'Spotless Town,'" says Joseph H. Appel in his new book entitled "A World Cruise Log." (Harpers). "Uncle Sam has done a great job—one of the greatest in the world. Not only in digging the Canal, but in cleaning up the zone; in getting rid of mosquitoes, malaria, and yellow fever; in making the territory habitable, even comfortable; in bringing beauty to what was formerly almost a pest-ridden district. And not only Panama within the Canal Zone, but old Panama and Balboa (governed by the natives) are now clean, healthy and much modernized."
Then follow the Central American countries, each containing varied attractions. First of these divisions is Costa Rica. Travelers disembark at Port Limon for a rail trip up the Reventazon Valley through wondrous tropical scenery to San Jose, the capital, 4,000 feet above sea-level, in a climate of perpetual spring.
Northward lies Honduras with Puerto Barrios, point of departure to the wonder ruins of prehistoric and Maya races, dating, it is believed, to 1,000 B. C.
In a charming lake region stands Guatemala City, capital of this country, 5,000 feet above sea-level, reached from Puerto Barrios.
British Honduras comes next in the series of Central American countries, Belize, its port, being one of the world's great mahogany-exporting places.
Colombia, Canal Zone, and Central American ports are included in the service of the United Fruit Fleet from New York or New Orleans. Canal Zone ports are reached from New York by Panama Mail Steamship Company; Dollar Steamship Line; Grace Line; Panama Pacific Line; Pacific Steam Navigation Company.
The Virgin Islands and British and French West Indies are reached by steamers of Furness Withy & Co., Ltd., which company also operates the Trinidad Line to Grenada, Trinidad, and Demerara.

Article from "The Literary Digest" December 18, 1926