Basseterre, St Kitts, Tuesday evening/Wednesday
Ocean Science's blog
Glenn Cooper
Thu 5 Jan 2017 02:29
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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Today the beat of the carnival drums has been replaced by the everyday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 |