Before I go into it, some facts about St. Kitts:
- Officially named St. Christopher and Nevis, commonly called St. Kitts and Nevis, the sister islands are two countries, one federation.
- Population of St. Kitts 36,000, Nevis 9,000
- St. Kitts is 65 square miles with the highest peak of Mt. Liamiuga at 3,972 feet.
- English is spoken but with a distinct accent and West Indian idioms
- Local currency is East Carribean Dollars (EC) with an exchange rate of $2.7 EC per $1 USD.
- Local people are very proud of their island and very knowledgeable about it and the world outside it.
- About 8 hotels/resorts are on the island plus a handful of plantation inns/villas. The Marriott (where we stayed) is by far the largest of the resorts by over 5 times.
- Shaped kind of like a baseball bat, the thinnest section of the island is about 3/4 miles wide and totally walkable between the Atlantic Ocean side and Carribean Sea side (we did it almost daily).
Day 1 - Saturday
We began our trip on Saturday, February 23. Just about when we were getting ready to board our 8:30 flight to Charlotte, they discovered mechanical issues. This did not make us happy because we had a connection for the ONLY US air flight into St. Kitts that day. They thought they'd have it fixed around 10:30, when we were scheduled to land in Charlotte. Nice. We tried not to panic as they said an agent would be rescheduling connections and calling us up by party. Not sure that we'd make it to St. Kitts that day, we just waited. Luckily, US Air came through and instead of rescheduling a full flight of connections, they got us another plane. It was coming in, had to be unloaded and cleaned and we'd be on our way. The plane turn around went surprisingly fast and we were on our way, completely delighted. Then comes the Charlotte approach. The captain comes on and tells us they are starting the descent into the area. This is 15 minutes after we were scheduled to start boarding. I watched out the window for the ground but it was super foggy but once I did see ground it was really close - we may make it! With 30 minutes before our scheduled take off, the first leg touched down. We got ready to run b/c the next leg would be International - would it be a completely separate terminal like in PHL??? Turned out we were in the same terminal, only a few gates down and got there as boarding began but we were those people running through the airport.
We arrived in beautiful St. Kitts on time and with luggage (wasn't sure it'd made the move with us being US Air and all...)! We took a taxi to the St. Kitts Marriott to check in. The resort is located in beautiful Frigate Bay and has about 500 rooms. We had room 13-305 in the Cockleshell house. It could have had a better view but you can't complain about a week in paradise for less than $300 due to Marriott Rewards Points!!
We had dinner at the buffet restaurant and got acquainted with the resort and bar.
Day 2 - Sunday
We began the day with a quick breakfast and lounging by the pool. We decided to get out and go to the Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park. We had taxi driver Patrick take us. It was about a 30 minute ride and he gave us a mini tour all the way there. The drive through the forest up the switchbacks was exciting. Then we saw the view from the top - it was incredible! St. Eustatious and Nevis were in view and my beloved island of Saba was almost in view. After taking in the view while enjoying a Carib, we headed back to the Marriott. Patrick waited patiently the whole time, St. Kitt's taxi drivers are awesome.
We made our first trek to the Carribean side for lunch Sunday afternoon. The afternoon sun and heat were relentless but the reward paid off - a delicious lunch and drinks at The Monkey Bar. Unfortunately there were no monkeys present. The signature drink, The BBC, was sooo good. It's Baileys, Banana Rum and Coconut rum in a frozen variety. Doesn't sound good but it was just perfect.
We finished off the night with a bunch of drinks while waiting for our dinner at La Cuchina, the Italian restaurant of the resort. Oh, and Duane hit the slot machines for about $125 too, so it was a good night!
Day 3 - Monday
We spent Monday lounging by the pool. In the afternoon we went for a long walk down the beach all the way to Half Moon Bay.
For dinner we went down to what would turn out to be our favorite place - Mr. X's Shiggity Shack. It's just as it sounds, a shack, but exploding with character and fun. I had the most delicious mahi mahi ever and Duane had the first of many delicious chicken burgers. Caribs and frozen drinks were way cheaper than the Marriott so they were plentiful! We probably spent less there than one of our meals from the night before, and it was SO much better! This was our kind of place. Also, I got a 2 pairs of natural seed earrings from the guy outside the bathrooms which are my new summer jewelry favorites! We walked home under the stars, it was a great night!
Day 4 - Tuesday
We took an all day Catamaran cruise to Nevis on Tuesday. We were a little worried when we saw the rain clouds over Nevis and the Carribean and all the people they were going to try to fit on this boat but it all worked out. The rain passed quickly, as it always did, and the scenery was gorgeous. The crew was quite unique, almost pirate like but they were great. The bar was open as soon as we set sail and the rum punch was pretty good!
We stopped in a small bay for snorkeling. One of the crew guys said that we were snorkeling in a place called "Shittay Bay" which sounded more like shitty than shit-tay, but whatever. Once I got in one of the first things I saw was a bunch of squid! I'd never seen them in real life and was thrilled, they were so cool to follow. The bay had a ton of Spiny sea urchins and the visibility was pretty good. I did a lot of diving to the bottom and had a great time. Duane stayed on the surface and watched but also enjoyed it. Before reboarding I followed the squid family around and watched them change colors. It was mesmerizing to watch them, I even got pretty close to touching one of the more curious fellows and got another more timid guy to show his spots as he would do when cornered. No inking though.
We continued sailing towards Nevis. The wind got really wicked as we approached the open water between the islands. There's no land East of this until Africa after all! Nevis looked beautiful, just one peak hidden behind a huge white cloud and blue sky surrounding. We pulled right up to the beach and got off to have lunch at Sunshine's Bar. Like always there were guys selling necklaces and a few other trinkets. We ended up buying a bracelet from the guy with a monkey b/c I took pics of the little guy - he had a pretty good gimmick going with that monkey! The bar was covered in college flags, one of which was Penn State. Duane was horrified to see it was next to an Ohio State flag! We ate a good lunch then took a walk down the beautiful beach. Next to Sunshine's was the Four Seasons Resort. Complete with personal cabanas, infinity pools and everything else luxurious, it looked like a pretty nice resort.
The catamaran picked us up at 2:30 (we weren't sure where exactly it went during lunch but it sailed off as soon as we got off) and we were on our way back to St. Kitts. The ride back was even more windy, the catamaran sailed almost the whole way back at a 45 degree angle to the direction we were headed. We took advantage of the open bar on the way home (hey, drinks were super expensive at the Marriott!) so went home to take a nap. We ended up sleeping longer than expected so at dinner at the Shiggety Shack around 9:30!
Day 5 - Wednesday
We spent Wednesday mostly lounging by the pool. In the afternoon we went down to the capital city of St. Kitts to check things out. Basseterre is a typical little Carribbean "city" but has some nice historic areas like Independence Square and the Circus, modeled after Piccadilly Circus in London.
For dinner we had reservations at a restaurant more fancy than we had been to in the past. We got a dolled up and headed to Serendipity. Set up on a hillside overlooking Basseterre, its a beautiful location. We had a nice table on the deck and good food. I had Mahi Mahi, Duane had Tuna steak and we shared a chocolate mousse dessert.
Our taxi driver, Ian was awesome. He brought us to the restaurant and told us to have them call when we were eating dessert. He didn't take any money when he dropped us off, just trusted us to call him! He was really well spoken on American politics and is an Obama supporter. He explained how it is important for him to follow the American economy and politics because it essentially effects his way of life, the more money Americans have to travel to the Caribbean, the more he can make. Sugar production was the original industry on the island. The sugar cane still covers much of the island. When production of sugar became less and less profitable, they changed their focus to tourism. The island now depends on tourists. When Ian picked us up he told us how he was saving to open a restaurant with a similar view as Serendipity but more casual. He showed us the spot and told us all about his plan. I really won't be surprised if he really does start a place in the next few years. He's an excellent customer service guy and making a pretty good buck driving a taxi. Ian's business card states his address - one of the government housing projects. We saw some of these projects, they are quaint little cabins and go for about $350 EC or $125 USD per month. I'm not sure about other expenses, but Ian's made about $40 USD just off of our one trip so he better be saving a ton of money. I'm just saying!
On the way home Ian took us up on the hill we looked at from the Marriott every day. There is the most gorgeous overlook of Frigate Bay from that hill. Little did we know we'd be back to the spot on Day 7 and that behind us was another gorgeous view of the thinnest section of the island and the Atlantic and Caribbean all in one view.
To be continued...
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