Voyage to Nevis, Part 5

Montpelier is a beautiful, restored plantation with a few upgrades the original inhabitants probably had not enjoyed—like a swimming pool and lovely restaurant. We had a delicious lunch there.

The old sugar mill windmill, with a wee baby to the right.

Les, Anthea and WW in the swank settings of Montpelier.

My lunch (S) was the lobster salad, Anthea's (E)

was a shrimp Caesar salad.

WW (W) had the club sandwich and Les (N)

had the Angus burger.

Back in the car, we continued around the island, doing a complete counter-clockwise circuit. We made one more stop, at the famous Sunshine Beach Bar on Pinney Beach, where Les was very keen to try the Killer Bee drink for which the place is famous. When asked the recipe, our server replied that it is a secret.

At the Sunshine Beach Bar, feeling totally laid back after our day. 

OK, I’m a big fat cynic. I have been to several Caribbean bars with special drinks whose recipe is “secret”. All contain: rum, freshly grated nutmeg, Angostura bitters, fruit juices. Some contain coconut milk or coconut water. So, the “secret” is whether you put in guava juice or passion fruit (my best guess for the Killer Bee) or something else exotic together with the standard orange and whatever juices. And whether you use coconut in any form. Intense secrecy prevails. Over fruit juices....

I don’t much like fruit drinks, so I asked for dark rum with a twist of lime. Our server said she would bring me something very special. When it arrived, it looked like a kind of pale dark rum. I took a sip. It was unlike any rum I’d ever had—I wasn’t sure I was very keen on it.

“My, how interesting! What is it?”

With great pride, our server announced it to be her favourite: Red Label.

“You mean like Johnny Walker? I didn’t know they made a rum.”

I was absolutely assured that it was JW Red Label rum. I have to say, it was rather peaty and not totally great with lime.

Les and Anthea enjoying a Killer Bee and a cranberry juice.

My empty glass of Red Label rum is by the water bottle,

with the discarded lime by it.

Once we’d done our duty to secret potions, we finished our round-the-island drive back at Charlestown and returned to Django for a dinner of Les’s magnificent lasagne.

I should add that, sometime between dawn and dusk, we decided we'd need an extra day. Anthea called Annie back in Antigua and suggested that a stand-in rum bo'sun or two might be useful for Monday (supposed to be our first night). This was agreed to, meaning we didn't have to leave the next morning.

Yay.