St Kitts/Nevis!

This must have been our 4^th trip to St Kitts and for once the weather was absolutely beautiful!  Every time we’ve been to St Kitts, our trip to Nevis was cancelled.   St Kitts is known for their trade winds and so sometimes the waters can be quite choppy.  On this trip, we were able to set sail to Nevis, St Kitt’s sister island. 

Emerald Princess in St Kitts

We met our excursion group in the terminal and took a short walk around the dock area, through the shopping area, and over to another dock area where our catamaran was waiting for us.  Our catamaran, the Ire Lime, had a fun crew led by Captain Al. 

Captain Al

We sailed out to the open waters and dropped anchor somewhere on the edge of St Kitts’ island.  We donned our snorkel gear and jumped into the cool water.  We saw some beautiful coral and fish. 

Back on the catamaran we headed out into the Narrow Channel, a two mile wide water way that separates Nevis from St Kitts.  The crew provided us a buffet-style lunch of baked fish, curry chicken, rice and beans, and salad.  Instead of using paper plates, they used real plates and real silver ware.  That was first class!  The food was yummy!

Nevis is mountainous and much smaller than St Kitts.  We sailed past the Four Seasons resort and docked at Pinney’s Beach which is a 3 mile long beach.  The crew did a great job bringing their catamaran close to the beach so we could all climb out of the catamaran without too much trouble. 

The island of Nevis

Landing on the beach!

The sand was very fine and darker than the other beaches we’ve been to.  Hubby reminded me that St Kitts and Nevis are volcanic islands.  The sand must be mixed with coral as it wasn’t completely black. 

While many of fellow cruisers were plopping down on lounge chairs, Hubby and I decided to go exploring along the beach and headed towards the Four Seasons beach front. 

In front of the Four Seasons resort

This was a peaceful beach...can you hear the surf?

The black sand got a bit hot to walk on

Seagull coming in for a landing

The beach was beautiful and peaceful.  We enjoyed listening to the water and small waves crashing into the beach.  We saw a lot of shells on the beach.  That’s a first for us after we’ve travelled to so many islands and never saw shells just lying around in the sand.  We went to the water’s edge and saw more shells being tossed around.  This reminded me of some of our local beaches we’ve been (e.g. Ocean City, MD, Virginia Beach, and Duck, NC).

Look at all the shells on the black sand beach

We continued walking around and picked up small shells that we could take back home with us.  Hubby’s pocket was getting a bit heavy, but he didn’t seem to mind.  I had to take a break from our peaceful walk and find the ladies’ room.  As I was headed up the beach towards the Four Season’s I noticed the sand got quite a bit warmer.  I found a pretty tiled pathway and asked one of the FS staff ladies where the nearest restroom was located.  She was kind of enough to escort me through the villas into the main hotel area.  All I can say is the FS is quite luxurious and a beautiful hotel. 

I made my way back to the beach while my bare feet was burning from the hot black sand.  I caught up with Hubby and we turned around and headed back towards the catamaran which was now anchored a few hundred feet from the beach. 

As I waited for Hubby as he went to find a men’s room, I saw an elderly man standing on the beach.  I struck up a conversation with Sam asking him questions about Nevis.  He said they grow their own fruits and vegetables.  We talked about religion.  As Hubby and I were getting ready to leave, Sam gave me his business card and said to look him up if we ever come to visit Nevis.  He said he would take us on a tour of the island.  How could we not come back?

We met up with our fellow cruisers and waited for our catamaran to pick us up.  We were sad to leave this wonderful, peaceful, and beautiful island. 

Back on St Kitts, we wandered around the shopping pavilion area.  The area has grown since were last here and we noticed additional shops and restaurants.  This was truly a tourist trap area with a mixture of high-end and low-end shops.  We saw the St Kitts monkeys.  This was another tourist trap where the owners would try to get the monkey to land on you and you’d be inclined to take a picture and the monkey owner would expect some money in exchange. 

We headed back to the ship with a new fondness for St Kitts/Nevis.  We thoroughly enjoyed our excursion!

Dinner: 

Before I turned in for the evening, I made sure our snorkel and beach bags were packed for the next day’s excursion.  Suntan lotions were lined up and sitting next to our bags.  I checked my plastic container for tip money and copies of our passport. 

Good night everyone!