We finally left St Martin/Sint Maarten and arrived in St. Kitts, May 16, 2009. We spent the first two nights hanging on the hook at an anchorage called White House Bay. One morning John was looking through the binoculars at what he thought were dogs and they turned out to be wild monkeys on shore. - WOW!!!
We heard from another boater that the marina in St. Kitts, Port Zante, was charging .50 per foot for overnight dockage and decided that we could afford that so we went into our first marina since we had left Florida a year ago. Port Zante is gearing up for the cruise ship trade and right outside they have new little shops just like the ones we saw in St. Thomas and Sint Maarten. As we came into the marina we were met at the dock by the customs officer decked out splendily in his uniform, etc., etc. He told us where he would be when we got the boat tied up to clear into customs and immigration. The marina itself didn’t have much to offer. They had WiFi, electricity, water and a fuel dock that had no fuel. When we came in no one was on the dock to help us except the boater ahead of us on the wall where we were suppose to tie off. After tying off we went to the guard shack to find out where we signed in, etc. We had no papers to fill out and he just said how long are we staying. He said to check back with them when we got ready to leave. I don’t know how they can opperate like that but oh well it was their marina not mine. When we went to the Customs and Immigration office it was in a brand new building that had beautiful murals painted on the walls. So much talent in whoever painted them. It must be an island thing because we see them almost everywhere we go. Customs and Immigration was really cheap here – Customs $12 US and Immigration $3 US. Their currency here is Eastern Carribean or (EC) dollar as it is called and has a fixed bank rate of 2.67 to one US dollar.
St. Kitts was the first British colony in the West Indies and also one of the first French colonies. In 1626 they joined forces to massacre the Carib Indians at what is known as Bloody Point. Despite a brief interlude and another to fight the Spanish they fought each other for another 200 years and the Colonial “ownership” didn’t get fully settled until the Treaty of Versailles, which awarded St. Kitts and Nevis to the British.
Basseterre the capital hosts a green clock tower in the center of town and is known locally as the Circus (people like to say that it was named after Piccadilly Circus in London). When we walked around town John spotted a Kentucky Fried Chicken and made a bee-line for it. He can’t go by one unless he stops. After lunch we found the place where the buses were all parked and hopped on one that took us to the bottom where the road to Brimstone Hill Fortress started. This road winds around the mountains and is a two mile hike up and thank goodness we had a nice breeze most places. The Fort is suppose to be one of the largest in the Carribean. When we got to the shack to buy our tickets to get in, you could rent a recorder ($5 US) that wherever you were, you pushed a button and it would tell you the history of that place. At the top they had a little resturant where you could purchase food and drink. After touring the fort we walked two miles back down the mountain and so many cars went past us but nobody stopped to give us a lift. Oh well it sure was easier going down than up and think of all the calories we were burning. At the bottom we caught a bus back to town and checked out the ferry price and schedule to Nevis the sister island tomorrow. Not far from the ferry dock we spotted a hugh indoor fruit and vegetable market and the largest we have seen so far. So many choices and it was hard to decide what to buy. Most of the fruits and vegetables were from Dominica which we will visit in the near future.
The next morning early we caught the ferry to Nevis which the round trip cost us $40 US and took about 30 minutes. It sure is not the $1 ferries we used in Puerto Rico but what the heck it’s only money. When we got there we had lunch of some sort of fish patty which wasn’t too bad but just a little greasy. Knowledge we picked up from the other islands and the Cruising Guide Books, we hopped one of their cheap buses and went as far as we could go one way and came back to town and hopped another bus for the other direction. It is a cheap way to see the island. Next time we will take a tour if we can find some other boaters to share the cost. The whole island had beautiful flowers and lots of beautiful homes. We took the 1330 ferry back to St. Kitts and proceded to the Customs Office to check out to leave the following morning. After checking out at customs we went to the guard shack to see where we check out of the marina and he just asked us the length of the boat and how much to give him. Naturally John didn’t have the correct change and they didn’t have any, so John proceded back to the bank again.
We left the marina at first light the next morning (actually it was still dark out) and were helped again by the boater ahead of us with our dock lines. We were headed for Montserrat but made a detour to Pinney Beach, Nevis, becaise the boat we have been traveling with once again had engine problems. We picked up a buoy in the anchorage because you couldn’t anchor there and the best part was they were free. It made for a safe night sleep not having to worry if you were going to drag or not.
Stay tuned for more adventures from John & Carol aboard the S/V Sweet Caroline.