Our departure from the little island of Nevis on Ken’s birthday began on a most inconvenient note. During the previous night, the twists and turns of the mooring ball had incorporated its underwater line with our own mooring line, resulting in an enormous underwater dreadlock. (King Neptune must have been a Rastafarian.) After hanging over the bow pulpit for 15 minutes in an unsuccessful attempt to “unlock the dreads”, Ken got in the water and pulled the mess apart by hand.
A pleasant 10-mile downwind sail put us in the roll-y anchorage outside Port Zante Marina in Basseterre, the capital of St. Kitt’s. We hadn’t been in a marina yet this year, so two days later, when a berth became available, we treated ourselves and moved inside.
Some years after its discovery by Columbus, the first English colonists arrived in St. Kitt’s in 1624, followed a few months later by the French. The two groups joined forces to massacre the 2000 local Carib inhabitants, after which they fell out with each other over possession of the island. Although influences of both nations remain, today St. Kitt’s and its sister island of Nevis are a fully independent nation.
Lush and green, St. Kitt’s has a dramatically steep, cloud-shrouded central mountain range, its slopes covered by tropical rainforest, which descends to fertile agricultural lands. The dormant volcano of mighty Mt. Liamuiga towers over it all.
During colonial times, sugar was the cash crop, and as plantations sprang up on the island, the horrors of slavery came to St. Kitt’s. Those days of slavery are blessedly gone, as is the heyday of the sugar trade, and tourism is the new moneymaker, with cruise ships arriving daily. But the visual beauty of the plantations lives on, with many having been converted to upscale restaurants and small luxury hotels.
A railway for transport of the sugar cane once ran right around the island. An abbreviated portion now runs about two-thirds of the way, and a bus route completes the final third of the circuit, with the whole tour making up the St. Kittt’s Scenic Railway. We bought tickets for this “must-see” luxury ride, which proved to be the highlight of our time in St.Kitts.
The driver of our modern air-conditioned mini-bus kept up an interesting commentary on sites and sights as we drove up the west coast of the island, where we transferred to the train. The railway itself traverses the northern and eastern coastlines, crosses tall bridges over steep canyons, and winds through small farms and colorful villages, where we and the children in the schoolyards waved at each other. From the covered, open-air upper level deck, we had spectacular views of the sea, the cliffs, ruins of some old cane mills, and the towering volcanic core of Mt. Liamuiga.
Beverages (with or without rum!) were complimentary, and at several intervals, a trio of local women appeared to serenade us “a capella” in perfect 3-part harmony. A constant on the ride was our hilarious tour guide, who treated us to a colorful narrative on the island and its history. The rainforest here has been overrun by little vervet monkeys, who now allegedly outnumber the humans on the island. Introduced years ago by the French, who brought them here as pets, they’ve now become the scourge of the farmers, munching their way through the crops. Our tour guide, tongue-in-cheek, remarked that one suggestion to deal with the problem was to market the monkeys to the local restaurants. “Try it, you’ll like it!”, she teased; “Tastes like chicken!”. She also pointed out that they’d make the perfect St. Kitt’s souvenir to take home to friends, and she encouraged each passenger to take six monkeys when they left. “Duty-free!”, she added.
We spent almost three weeks in St. Kitt’s, awaiting the return from New Zealand of our repaired AIS – automatic vessel identification system - now working perfectly again – and a weather window. We strolled the streets of Basseterre, where handsome old colonial-era buildings sport decoratively-painted shutters.
From the historic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, two tall stone towers look down on the shady park of Independence Square.
The Cathedral’s interior is lovely, with elaborate stained glass and a soaring vaulted ceiling.
We certainly didn’t have to venture far for entertainment. At the port, sidewalk vendors grill up juicy BBQ chicken, and icy-cold local Carib beer can be bought for one dollar US. Local ladies sell frosty, spicy, sweet-hot, home-made ginger beer from coolers, still half-frozen in the bottles. The marina itself offers plenty to look at , with fishing boats, local tour boats, the Port Pilot, and the occasional yacht, all coming and going. It became our habit to sit in the cockpit over morning coffee and watch the cruise ships arrive; toward sunset, we’d observe their departure over our evening glass of wine. And all day long, a dozen brown pelicans (the national bird of St. Kitt’s) would dive headlong, kamikaze-style, into the marina water to try and score a meal.
The smile on this pretty girl’s face typifies the Kittitian spirit. The locals here are some of the most cheerful, easy-going, helpful people we’ve met in our travels. Entering a room or passing on the street, everyone says a smiling hello, and when we’ve asked for directions, we’ve not just received information, but have sometimes actually been led to our destination. The gentleman in the Tourism Office, on hearing that we have no phone, voluntarily made multiple phone calls for us.
Adult beverages flow freely in St. Kitt’s, but the only evidence of intoxication we’ve seen is confined to the cruise ship crowd. Among locals, a little nip during the day is just part of island life. A young Coastie who wandered over to chat with a tour boat crew was given a rum punch, and the marina security guard occasionally quenches his thirst with a beer as he walks the docks.
The Kittitians’ persistant good humor may not actually be related to the laid-back approach to a nip here and there, but we applaud the smiles, the joie de vivre, and also the nips. Cheers!
Life‘s good! KandK
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email: SandDollar_N4KS@yahoo.com
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