Basseterre, St Kitts, Tuesday evening/Wednesday

Ocean Science's blog
Glenn Cooper
Thu 5 Jan 2017 02:29
 
The marina here is more of a small fishing port than a marina.  Only a
handful of pleasure yachts, most are fishing or diving vessels.  Outside the
marina are two cruise ships, each the size of Dolphin Square.  We are
conveniently parked alongside the quay, which is a hop skip and jump to the shore,
rather than setting up the passerelle.  This would involve moving the
naughty tender. 
 
Here is a report from Josh on what we found on arrival at St Kitts:
 
"Yesterday morning we set sail from the glitz, glamour and botox of St Barths and arrived into St. Kitts. After surviving a perilous mooring we have discovered an island alive with dancing and awash with rum.
 
As we arrived we could hear a cacophony of up-tempo reggae, big bass and bongo drums. It turned out that yesterday was the last day of the island's Christmas carnival. Named "last lap" it seemed as though many revellers were on their "last legs" after days of solid partying.
 
We headed straight into the town where crowds of people lined the streets watching a procession of DIY floats strapped with speakers and towed by tractors. As with other carnivals some people also followed behind or abreast of the floats belonging to their favourite troop.
 
After working our way through the dense crowd we spotted a bar with a balcony overlooking the parade. From here we had a great vantage point to observe what could only be described as pandemonium.
 
Scantily clad young ladies adorned the floats twerking and shaking their tassels at salivating revellers below. MCs geed up the crowd with their elegant prose, fireworks (launched from their hands) and flamethrowers (using aerosol cans). Behind the floats local young men formed mosh pits reminiscent of the swells of sea.
 
All ages, shapes and sizes joined in. Dozens of kids ran up and down the streets practicing the dances of their elders. Maybe next year they might be allowed to join in the main procession with the big boys.
 
Today the beat of the carnival drums has been replaced by the everyday rhythm of Caribbean life. Locals walk gingerly through the town, nursing their hangovers and reminiscing about this year's antics."
 
Today, Wednesday, was a boat-free day.  After bacon and scrambled eggs on board it was off to Spice Mill beach for a dip-ette and a great lunch, for most of us grilled mahi-mahi.  The sister island of Nevis is only a couple of miles away, across a strait called The Narrows.  Seriously high volcanic mountain, with cloud covering the top, apparently an almost constant feature.  Then after lunch we got an open topped jitney style bus to Frigate Bay where we met up with Glennbo’s pal who we had entertained on board the previous evening.  A lovely laid-back Caribbean afternoon in a beach bar interestingly called Boozy’s.  I cannot imagine why.   For some of us snooze and swim and hanging out, for others it was watching live coverage of Spurs v Chelsea, 2-0 to Tottingham.  Then another cab back to OS for roast beef in the oven with roasted peppers and celery (sorry about all this emphasis on food but us sailing types can get a bit obsessed – the beef was great, I had intentions of using the leftovers for sandwiches tomorrow on the water but there were no leftovers so I will have to revisit that one) .  We met some people from Finland who found the climate here easier to bear than the  –17C of their home town
 
St Kitts is easy to love.  The terrain is beautiful.  Very hilly, and at the far end where we were at lunchtime the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea are separated by a narrow strip of land.  The people are open and friendly and the pace in the town has a buzz of busy-ness.  St Barth is largely European, a nice place but a transplant from home; St Kitts feels African, a totally different ambience.   I would like to come back to the island of St Kitts.
 
One exception was the attempt to nick my rucksack.  The other 5 were in the water and I was wandering a distance away, when a man lifted my rucksack and sped off.  Gabriel and Josh earned  parental brownie points by chasing the man and grabbing the rucksack off him.  The Big G Medal for Gallantry.   It contained unimportant things like my credit cards, driving licence, money and my current reading material (Kidnapped by RLS)
 
With best wishes to all our readers.  It is an early start for us tomorrow