One Federation, Two Islands, Three Hotels, and a Thousand New Memories

Each return trip gives me a new perspective on the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis ... and reveals aspects of the islands that I may have overlooked or simply not had time to process during previous trips. St. Kitts is changing at a much more rapid pace than Nevis, and I was never more aware of this fact than the period between May 9th to May 30th. I was very fortunate this time to spend a full three weeks in the Federation, and frankly, I could have easily stayed another three weeks.

My friends in Canada still don't get it. Their loss, but they can't say that I don't offer to share. A friend from Toronto did join me during the first two weeks. Nancy and "Steve-eh??" where also on island at the same time and provided a nice balance .. as well as lots of laughs ... to the dynamics between two platonic, middle-aged, over-worked, opposite-sex travel companions!

It was "Vincent's" (not his real name, but this seems to be his adopted Kittitian name as nobody seemed to be able to remember his given name, other than the first letter is also a "V." After a while, he just stopped correcting them, and went with the flow ... but I digress) ... it was his first time to SKB-NEV. He didn't get it either at first, which is ironic, since he is also of West Indian extraction, though from an island much further south and decidedly more British in its legacy. Then something magical happened ... the "roun'-de-island-tour."

We went on an island tour a week after arriving in St. Kitts. Up until then, Vincent had been introduced to Basseterre, settled into Frigate Bay at Timothy Beach Resort, and travelled the SE Peninsula to Cockleshell Beach and South Friars a couple times. Oh, and of course, eaten at many lovely places ranging from high-end to beach-shack ... and he was often heard exclaiming, "yep, haven't had a bad meal yet! So, where are we eating next?!" And his introduction to the Peninsula highway has the makings of made-for-tv sit-com, but I think I shall skip that portion of my tale for now, and focus instead on this one very special day after a long week of bizarre weather.

Our arrival was odd, in that visually, the island did not live up to the hype for Vince. He had never seen pictures of St. Kitts that didn't involve lush green vistas and blue skies. Upon de-planing and eventually driving to Frigate Bay and the next day, across the peninsula, all we saw were parched brown hills ... everywhere. Even the palm-trees looked dry and brown. Of course, we had been warned that the island had been experiencing a two-month long drought, but who would expect it to look like it was ripe for some serious brush-fires, when smack in the middle of the island resides a massive rain-forest? Of course, I have seen the island in all kinds of phases and stages, so was only concerned about what this drought meant in terms of water shortages, grazing for the animals (cattle and monkeys and goats, oh my!) ... well, the ecological balance in general.

And then, it began to rain ... and rain ... and rain ... about 4 days and nights worth. And it was COLD !! Especially at night! Good sleeping weather, I must admit. So, many days were spent just lounging around and avoiding the drive to the nicer beaches of the SE end ... resting, eating, drinking ... did I mention that it always seemed to clear up enough that we were able to meet friends at various bars and restos around the strip or futher afield?
So we set the first Saturday as our tour date. Vincent was originally going to book a taxi tour with a nice lady who took us grocery shopping the first Monday, but then our good friend, Ms M ... now, this is a different Ms M than the young lady mentioned in previous stories - this gal is one half of the two-sister partnership (just like the Federation herself) who recently took over Stone Walls. This era's Ms M graciously offered to book a day off work to tour us around the island. Now, I have been around the island many times, and never enjoyed it so much as when the drive is informal, laissez-faire, and involves narrative provided by someone who has grown up on the island. So, I jumed at the offer. Not because the taxi-tour operator would do a bad job, but because we could set our own agenda and continue to modify as we went along without fear that the clock was ticking.

The tour proved to be the most memorable experience for both of us. For me because it evoked memories of my very first tour around the island, 21 years ago when Frigate Bay was almost as quiet and pristine as the north end,; and for Vincent, because he was finally able to put Frigate Bay into a context both historically and geographically. It didn't hurt that the island was greening up, either, as it didn't feel so much like we were visiting Arizona-in-the-Sea.
Ms M proved to be quite a treasure trove of information, and provided non-stop information, a few detours through tiny villages and some very funny anectdotes. I think she should start a side-line - Stone Walls -catered, off the beaten track, non-hiking tours! We basically ate and drank our way around the island. First stop was Stone Walls for a full English Breaksfast. We then prodeeded out of town, passing the cemetary, Ross U, hospital, etc., stopped at a road-side stand for refreshments, photo-ops, and some souvenir shopping. Onwards toward Brimstone Hill Fortress - it was my first time back on Brimstone Hill in a very long time and I was really impressed with the amount of restoration that has been done and continues to be done. I could have spent the whole day there.

After about two hours we continued along the road, and found that we were hungry. Since it was a Saturday, we were easily able to stop at a road-side stand, just before Sandy Point to pick up some BBQ chicken and ribs. We took our carefully foil-wrapped meals up the road, where we detoured toward the beach at Sandy Point ... and stopped for some liquid refreshments at a little bar that faces the beach, called Sollee's. What a great find for us. There was a game of backgammon going on, which Vince joined for a few minutes, and after some terrific conversation with a group of local Sandy-Pointers, over some icy-cold Caribs, we continued on our way. This is a great stop after Brimstone, as you can look back over the road that hugs the shoreline toward the hill upon which the fortress is perched - it provides an excellent view "backwards" with a good perspective of what that vantage point must have meant strategically during the days of tall-ships, battles-at-sea, and the birth of various Western nations.

Then we continued toward Rawlins Plantation Inn. Total change of gears from Sollee's. We sat upon the veranda, high on a hill, and ordered some very expensive drinks - I had a PIMs - very refreshing, with gin, mint, cucumber and a bunch of other stuff - kind of like a long island ice tea, but with fresh herbs and cucumber. Yummmm. The view from Rawlins is post-card perfect, with St. Eustatius rising out of the sea across from us.

We were told that Kate Spencer's art studio was closed, so we eventually continued on our way. We made our way to Dieppe Bay, where we stopped in at the Golden Lemon. Wow, I still love this place - situated on a flat rugged coastline of very black volcanic sand and rock, surrounded by the shade of hundreds of palm trees, on the exact spot where the Atlantic Ocean meets Caribbean Sea. Lots of beautiful nooks and crannies, both indoors and outdoors, ecclectic decor and interesting architecture for phot-ops, but I was so in-the-moment, that I completely forgot about my camera. The place was peaceful and earily quiet, with very, very few guests in-house. I ordered a Lime Squash ... booze-free and very refreshing - did I mention that by Saturday it had stopped raining and was getting very hot?

We eventually left the Golden Lemon - OK, Ms M had to actually drag me away from there, as Vincent wanted to see the Black Rocks. We reached them at some point after the concession stands had closed and the cruise ship tourists had long since gone. So, we had the spot to ourselves and enjoyed the majestic view. We also wandered over to Ottley's Plantation for a while and strolled the grounds. A discussion ensued as to which property each of us would buy should any of us win a lottery in the near future. For me, hands-down, it would simply have to be Golden Lemon.

By now we meandered our way back to Frigate Bay driving through various towns and villages. Arriving back in Frigate Bay, you would think that the tour would end thus, right? Nope! The three of us invited ourselves over to the house that our friends were renting, perched high atop a hill in Frigate Bay. The perfect ending to a perfect day - after a few drinks, some good beer and wine, we eventually were treated to a beautiful sunset, dusk and start of a star-lit evening, as the waves of the Atlantic could be seen crashing on the beaches in front of the Marriott and Half-Moon Bay from one side of the home, while the more peaceful Caribbean Sea beckoned on the other. Around another corner we could see the lights of Basseterre off in the distance ... and from still another vantage-point, Mt. Liamuiga loomed in the background. And the sky was full of countless stars! Hmm, maybe one of us could buy this house too?! All this before setting off for a late dinner.
I think I even saw some fireflies that night. I was tempted to run inside and find a glass jar to trap some, but then I remembered my age and just thanked god, jah, allah and all the stars in the heavens, that I had been blessed enough to experience such a magical day!