En route to St Kitts and Nevis we were visited by these stunning creatures.

We never tire of these wonderful animals, that clearly enjoy playing around the boat. The younger ones sometimes make great leaps into the air to land with a crash back into the water as if to say, “Look at me, look at me!” Wonderful.

Our stops now are to islands that we have not visited before as we make our way north to a suitable base for departure to the Azores. St Kitts, original and full name St Christopher, was named after Christopher Columbus who discovered it. As it is the skipper's name sake island we wanted to make a land fall here.

Unfortunately St. Kitts doesn't have a happy or honourable history as this is where the British and French allied to slaughter the Caribs who lived here and called the island Liamuiga (Fertile Island). These mighty powers, wanting this fertile island for themselves for valuable sugar, tobacco and cotton production, moved further afield and were joined by other European nations in colonising most of the rest of the Caribbean. The only islands now where there are quite small Carib settlements are Dominica and St Vincent but there are still pre-Columbian petroglyphs to be seen on St Kitts.

Of course, despicable slavery followed when indentured labour from Ireland and other places became scarce; many people in these northern islands still have traces of the Irish accent. One infamous slave trader was John Newton who, following an escape from death, had a life changing experience and went on to become a prolific hymn writer and mentor to William Wilberforce in his determination to fight slavery. John Newton's most famous hymn is 'Amazing Grace'. A pity some of his fellows didn't have the same experience!

Nevis another volcano, happily dormant

In 1787 Horatio Nelson married Frances Herbert Nisbet, a young widow of Nevis. Famous for its rich plantations and health spas fuelled by the island’s hot sulphur springs Nevis had its heyday in the 18th and 19th centuries; from the early 20th century the population has declined. We stopped briefly at Charlestown with its attractive colonial buildings but decided not to land as the anchorage was not good and oddly one has to clear in and out of the islands separately although they are one country.

St Kitts

We had the same problem of a very rolly anchorage in St Kitts when we dropped the hook to clear in but discovered there is a small (and expensive) marina right beside the town so we beetled over there to do battle with the mooring boxes which can be tricky in a strongish wind. Fortunately Gryphon II goes astern as accurately as it goes for'ard so it was okay and a lot easier than the same set up we experienced in Trinidad.

The most essential bit of equipment for visiting this marina is a pair of really efficient ear plugs as there is a bar adjacent with an extremely aggressive DJ pumping out the loudest sounds (difficult to call it music) until 03.00 am. This is the worst we have heard since an appalling experience in Porta Santo, Madeira six years ago. At this point we wondered if we would like St Kitts. We decided to leave the marina next day and everything changed for the better when we moved to White House Bay, a peaceful and calm anchorage a little further south where the swimming was good.

The island has a big airport allowing international jets to land and so has direct flights to the USA and UK. Consequently there is a big tourism sector added to the Cruise Ship terminal that in the high season has a new ship each day with another 2,000 people flooding in. To cope with this impact a whole new modern sector has been built adjacent to the terminal and to one side of the main town. This is a big development offering the cruise line tourist convenient and appropriate shopping whilst providing enterprising business outlets, from the most exclusive such as designer batik wear, gemstone jewellery etc. through to craft and local artisan ware, an opportunity to market their products to the daily customers. The town benefits but is not overwhelmed.

The Circus with its Victorian Thomas Berkeley Memorial Clock Tower.

We enjoyed a delicious meal here up on the veranda of a restaurant overlooking this centre where locals gather in the evening.

Alongside the tourist sector the town retains a lot of its colonial buildings some with a very dark history. Independence Square was once called Pall Mall and was the centre of the slave trade for the whole of the Caribbean. Here slaves were bought and sold like so many cattle. There are still barred cellar windows where slaves were kept.

By and large the people of the Caribbean are very friendly and hospitable but St Kitts excels. Walking down the street people call out from buses, “Are you okay, can you find your way?” They stop in the street to smile and greet and ask if you need help, cars give plenty of crossing space, traders laugh and joke whether you buy or not and send you off with a, “God bless you”. St Kitts and its people are good for the heart, they were some of the most welcoming that we have met and seem to cope well with both their history and the influx of foreigners on such an industrial scale. It is just as well as the sugar industry finally collapsed about 5 years ago.

The island grown produce is excellent. Traders in the market and on the street provide top quality tomatoes, cucumbers, bananas, gorgeous pineapples, mangoes, and other succulent fruits. We stocked up and added carrots with a smell as though they had just been lifted from the ground and a range of perfectly fresh vegetables. If we sound pleased we were because much so called fresh produce in these lesser Antilles is imported from the USA and has been well chilled before sale. Why?

Salt was also produced here in the past. Now the old salt lagoons have been opened to the sea for development as luxury marinas that can accommodate the largest superyachts. The US developers are going to include the usual essentials to life such as restaurants, golf course, shopping malls and holiday homes of every size and shape! Some superyacht berths are already open and should you wish to visit the first 3 nights are free - for yachts over 100 feet long! After that it works out at about $500 a night....chicken feed. You will be surrounded by a building site but with those free nights who cares.

Superyacht berths await at Ballast Bay.

The local residents seem unconcerned and still do some spectacular crash dives to catch their dinner.