26th February St Kitts - we had a wonderful tour of the island today and the
decision not to take the train turned out to be a good one. Our driver -
called Mackintosh picked us up in a great minibus at 0945 from a point only
100yds from the boat. There was one other couple with us and they turned out
to come from Basingstoke and were passengers on the cruise ship docked in
the commercial port which is about a mile away. The vessel was berthed there
because the wind was a little strong for it this morning and the cruise ship
berth at Port Zante is, unusually, at right angle to the wind which makes it
very difficult to manoeuvre the vessel onto the berth. The wharf at the
commercial port is head to wind and much easier to deal with. Mackintosh
turned out to be a real winner - his knowledge of the island was
encyclopaedic and we were able to stop pretty much wherever we wanted. The
tour lasted all day and we did not get back until after 1600. We stopped at
several old sugar cane plantations whose main residences had been converted
to other uses and the gardens at all these places were stunning and
obviously looked after with loving care. Most of the work on these
properties was originally carried out by slaves and with an endless supply
of labour at that point the properties had huge terraces gardens planted
with (now) mature trees and shrubs which thrive in the tropical climate.
Because of its small area (50 square miles) and height (over 4,000ft) the
Island creates its own micro climate and has a good rainfall. These small
tall islands are known as the Cloud Islands because there is almost always a
cloud around the summit of the island. Its and extinct volcano and the soil
on the lower slopes is very fertile. Originally the whole island was turned
over to sugar cane production and this did not stop until some five years
ago. Some of the land is being used for agriculture but the majority is
unused now. Sugar cane is very difficult to eradicate so it still grows wild
almost everywhere. There was some hilarity with our vehicle as Mackintosh
had just had a new alarm system fitted - it had a fault and would go of
periodically. As the day wore one we became quite used to it, though
Mackintosh was embarrassed by it. The island is incredibly pretty and in
comparison to others we have visited very tidy and well kept. All the houses
are clean and painted in a wide variety of pastel colours and have neatly
kept gardens. Its a huge contrast to Antigua where the locals are more
interested in their cars than their houses and gardens. We spent an hour or
so at Brimstone Hill Fortress which was designed and built by the British
Royal Engineers in 1690. It is huge with a radius of about 1,500 ft and
beautifully laid out. It is now a national park and in pristine condition
complete with most of its original cannon and fortifications. Its was a huge
pleasure to walk round it and no real surprise to find that Prince Charles
had been one of the main sponsors for its restoration.Sitting on top of an
isolated hill at something like 1,000 ft the views are stunning.
Continuing our tour to circumnavigate the island we came across our train
which was full of passengers from the cruise ship and had come off its
track. Naturally we stopped to take pictures and laugh at the poor tourists
stuck out in the sun. Even more amusing was that half a mile further along
the road hidden behind a bend in the road was a string of busses. They were
hidden in reserve in case the engineers could not get the train back on the
track and the passengers had to be evacuated back to the cruise ship - we
all thought this was hilarious. Next stop was a batik factory - again on an
old sugar plantation where Anita bought some cushion covers for the boat.
Again the setting and gardens were wonderful and the locals love to explain
what they are doing and how the do it.
We were back on the boat for 1700 and were joined by the head of customs and
the Port Zante Pilot for a beer. We then headed into Picadilly Circus for
dinner whilst they sat on the quay with a huge saucepan of fish stew. They
were still there on our return and sat around chatting until midnight. We
have now decided to stay here and extra day and head of to Antigua early on
Saturday morning. Helen tells us that Wild Thing is away form her berth at
present so we should be able to go straight in alongside on arrival, remove
the dinghy and davit braces at our leisure and get on our own berth on
Sunday.