Exploring St. Kitt's

Entering Basseterre.

It was Saturday, November 14. We waited for our fearless leader to complete the clearing in rituals. Upon his return, he announce that he had got us a taxi driver, one Junie, for an island tour the next day. The EC had been supposed to fly out from Antigua on Monday but, when we learned their connecting flight was from St. Kitt's, WW suggested they skip the island hop. This arrangement was made, giving us a little more time in St. Kitt's as we didn't have to do the 9-hour bash back to Antigua.

We set off to look around Basseterre -- a pretty bustling city. WW wanted rags for polishing the boat, so that gave us a mission. In the end we were quite successful.

Lunch at the Circus Grill in Basseterre, St. Kitt's.

After a beer and a very tasty lunch at the Circus Grill, on the edge The Circus (the touristic centre of town, formerly called Piccadilly Circus), the EC headed off to walk to Frigate Bay. The captain and first mate returned to Django where major cleaning took place. WW attacked the exterior while I coped with the interior. The water turned gray from the ash still lurking about on and below deck.

We dined that evening at Stone Walls restaurant which had once been owned by a friend of Enn's, now in Abu Dhabi, for all love. It was a very nice meal eaten to a chorus of frogs and crickets lurking in the luxuriant greenery lining the walls (which are, indeed, stone).

Dinner at Stone Walls.

At 10 a.m. on Sunday, we gathered to meet our taxi. It was not Junie, however, but his nephew Junior who would be our driver and guide. He gave us a very good tour.

He drove us by a grand hotel. "This was the best hotel on St. Kitt's," he said. "The government took it over and now they've shut it down."

He drove us by a golf course. "This was the best golf course on St. Kitt's," he said. "The government took it over and now they've shut it down."

He drove us through weed-entangled fields of sugar cane. "We used to have a big sugar cane industry," he said. "The government took it over and now they've shut it down."

Not surprisingly, Junior is hoping for a change of government after next year's elections.

We visited Bloody Point, where the last leader of the Caribs had betrayed her people for a promise of land. She herself was, of course, slaughtered. Ha ha to you, silly woman. Then we carried on along the coast to Romney Manor, now home to Caribelle Batik. On the way, we were acosted by small children bearing monkeys. WW and one of them did a bit of bonding.

WW and friend.

Once at the manor, we walked through its lovely gardens, saw a demonstration of the art of batik, and WW purchased my official birthday present...in two parts, dress and shorts!

Dana and Junior by a sago palm in the Romney Manor gardens.

Batik demonstration at Caribelle Batik, Romney Manor, St. Kitt's.

From there we headed to Brimstone Hill Fortress, a truly outstanding piece of reconstruction and preservation. I could have wandered it for far longer, but we were all becoming faint with hunger.

View from a speeding taxi up to Brimstone Hill Fort.

Brimstone Hill Fort.

Looking down on part of the Brimstone Hill fortifications.

We lunched at the Rawlins Plantation, a real treat. Beautifully maintained with a superb Caribbean buffet spread. We were well fortified for the remainder of our tour.

Superb lunch at Rawlins Plantation.

So far we had done only the south side of the main island. The north side had less to offer, so Junior kindly recapped everything we'd seen. We stopped at Black Rocks, a bit of coastline of massive and dramatic chunks of volcanic rock.

Black Rocks, St. Kitt's.

And so back to Basseterre. We did not go to the southeast peninsula, it being late and we being tired. It is supposed to be lovely with spectacular beaches.

We returned to Django and the mosquitoes, drank our RPs, ate provisions soup with bakes and began to adjust to the imminent loss of our fabulous EC.