White House Bay, St Kitts

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Sat 24 Mar 2012 00:44

17:15.09N 62:39.53W

 

Thursday & Friday 22nd &23rd March

Finally decided that we would concentrate on the wind not Nevis, so Rob set off to Customs and I went in search of bread (nasty sweet plastic stuff here) and dessert figs (that is bananas to you).   I discovered that the supermarket we had dismissed as a Cash and Carry opposite the Bus station was the best stocked shop of all and even found some brown rolls and brown sliced stuff, which is an improvement on the other sliced white.   We have been carrying a loaf of bread we bought in Antigua in desperation which had survived 30 days unchanged and it had been opened!   Sadly despite having a market area, we were subsequently told that it is sometimes open on a Saturday, but there are various fruit and veg stalls scattered around the main street along the coast road.   I found that there were hardly any vendors today, presumably because there were no cruise ships in today and so the town is deserted.   So no dessert figs but some good tomatoes, ie. not the chilled to within an inch of their lives tasteless ones from a supermarket, so a partial win.

Rob returned looking very pleased with himself.   He has made it his mission this year to charm the customs and immigration officials, particularly the female ones who seem to be a whole lot fiercer and more miserable.   Today he had surpassed himself in begging a special clearance for Saturday.   Usually you are given 24 hours grace to leave the country at most of the islands out here and St Kitts is no exception, but today is Thursday and we want to leave on Saturday.   Amazingly the two women involved in the two different offices (and experience has shown that the two offices are always totally independent and do not talk to each other) independently agreed to give Rob special dispensation, the correct stamps on paperwork and even a letter to explain the discrepancy in dates if we are stopped by a coastguard.   Unbelievable!   And on top of this both the women serenaded Rob with gospel songs whilst completing the forms etc!

So after a rain shower had gone through we prepared to leave.   To my horror as I got ready to undo our bow lines looped around the poles, I discovered a golden cockroach scuttling around on the foredeck.   My squeamishness is completely abandoned when faced with one of these damn things, and I successfully squished it between finger and thumb – you can’t be too sure with a roach.   But we are now left wondering if any others have managed to get on the boat.   I suppose this is the trouble of being in a fairly rundown marina with fishing boats.  We were also backed up close to a hedge of oleanders and the enormous rubbish skip up wind had been emptied in the last 24 hours disturbing its inhabitants I expect.

We motored the few miles to White House Bay (no white house) which is wonderfully sheltered if less picturesque than hoped for.   There were a couple of anchored but abandoned yachts so we had the whole bay to ourselves.   We watched spectacular rain falling on Basseterre and through the gap between St Kitts and Nevis, but we seemed to be immune here.   Meanwhile I gave the boat a good wash down with saltwater to try and convince myself there were no stowaways on board.   We hadn’t opted to use the fresh water in Part Zante as it was US$15 a shot!

The snorkelling definitely lives up to the hype.   Very clear water with loads of large fat starfish and lots of sand dollars littering the sandy bottom.   I have been looking for these everywhere and we presume they are what are left over from former starfish?   There were also lots of fish to see along the cliff edge, as well as our first sighting of black coral.   I also spotted a Lion fish in rather to shallow water for my comfort, and a stingray.

After a lovely flat quiet night we found there were three cruise ships over in town, so we expected that someone would be making use of the stack of flat canoes in the car park behind the beach close to us.   Sure enough, eventually a busload of large, pink people arrived and were put through their paces.   We are rather sure that one of the guys organising the event is a bit too fond of his own voice – 20 minutes at least for the briefing whilst stood in the sun (well on the second occasion in the teeming rain), when already wet isn’t what teacher ordered.   First they had a snorkel in the shallows and then set off downwind in the canoes to a beach about 2 miles away.   The canoes were then towed back in a great long line for the next lot of punters.

We did some more snorkelling and I swam to the other side of the beach to a rock that seemed to be attracting the attention of the occasional car park user.   When I arrived – and it’s quite a swim from the boat – I was a bit nervous to find another Lion fish in full aggressive display so headed towards the rock to find a huge Barracuda watching me.   He was about 4’ long hanging above the side of the rock in about 1½ ‘of water.   I immediately became more neurotic, worried about my watch flashing in the sunlight which might attract further investigation and set off straight back to the boat, without bothering to explore further!

The weather is very uncharacteristic for the Caribbean.   We have absolutely no swell or waves at all, quite a few showers going through, and where we are anchored, wind from practically any direction.   The weather forecasts are even less encouraging than yesterday, but we now have to leave for the BVIs tomorrow as we are signed out – and anyway the wind if anything gets worse (5 knots) for the rest of the week.

Rob pointed out that I haven’t mentioned any background on this island which was the first British colony in the Caribbean founded in 1623.   They then combined with the French strangely, long enough to massacre the 2000 Carib indians living here at a site now known as Bloody Point.   Normal service recommenced with Franco-British battles including the siege of Brimstone Hill Fort, where the French breached the wall (quite an achievement if you take a look at the site in our photos, www.rhbell.com especially the panoramic ones) but failed to win the war.   Surprisingly the sugarcane plantations continued right up until 2005 when EU subsidies were withdrawn from this struggling industry leaving a situation, as Lonely Planet puts it “many of the former cane-field workers now work as security guards, protecting against those former workers who’ve yet to find jobs”.   In the light of this situation we realised that we should probably be using our security bars in the hatches at night, particularly as we are alone in a bay but it didn’t occur to us until today.   We are definitely guilty of enjoying the societies out here and getting lulled into a false sense of security, without taking the proper precautions.   So that will be rectified tonight!

The African Green Vervet Monkeys that run wild across the island were originally introduced as pets for the Plantation owners, but they have gone wild and have rather overrun the island. Fine for the limited tourist appeal, but loathed by all the islanders as the monkeys clear all fruit and vegetables and general vegetation at will – and most folks are desperate enough here as it is.

Rather surprised to find we have access to the internet, although quite weak, here in White House Bay. There is nothing here at all and so the signal almost certainly must come from the other side of the island which if nothing else is testimony to the power of the WirieAP wifi aerial we have.

Many congratulations to Rob’s Godson Tom Butt whose wife Charlie gave birth to a healthy son ‘Oliver Santiago’ today. And congratulations also to our son Ewan who has got himself a star job down in London.