Last Days in St Kitts
Stream
Darrell Jackson and Sarah Barnes
Thu 2 Jan 2014 13:32
After a rolley night we went ashore quite early to an almost completely deserted Basseterre where the only people we saw were the locals in all their finery coming out of church. They really do make a big effort to dress up for this obviously important occasion for them. Because Sarah had paid attention during our tour of the island the day before, she knew where to go to find the bus station for our next trip. This was on the sea front and much to our delight "our" bus was in and just about to leave when we arrived. Don't think Tyne Valley Coaches or Snaiths when we talk about buses. Think more of de-regulation in a developing country where you know it's a bus because it has a green number plate and is usually, but not always, a mini bus of indeterminate age with assorted body repairs, usually to the corners, and a seemingly obligatory "nick name" in bright letters across the bonnet. The driver is also the conductor and the bus will leave when it is more or less full ( much easier than it may seem with the size of some of the local ladies!). Fares are incredibly good value and are paid to the driver when you get on, whilst he is driving, via another passenger or when you get off. There are no tickets. We paid just over $EC10 (£2.50 roughly) for the three of us for a 20 minute high speed journey. Stops are anywhere by request and most of the passengers spent their time texting.
Our destination was the fort on Brimstone Hill, a volcanic intrusion, in the NW of the island. This UNESCO site is the biggest and best preserved Georgian fortification in the Eastern Caribbean. A hot and steamy ascent along the approach road took us past a lime kiln that provided the mortar to bind the lava blocks of which the fort was built. We also passed a sentry box with a lady inside whose job seemed to be to tell people to simply carry on up the road. Entry for islanders 6 dollars. Visitors 27. It took the British over 100 years to build and included elaborate means of water collection and storage. Another visitor asked if we were the people she'd seen walking up the road. This we confirmed. "You can't be Kittitians, then. No Kittitians would ever walk!" Restoration of the fort now means that it can host weddings, funerals, bar mitzvahs....... Sarah was being plagued by a little boy seeking attention but she soon had him reading the exhibition information with her.
The return bus journey was as cheap as before but twice as fast. The town was all but dead and only Dominos offered grub and wi fi, after which we had another rolley night that the captain managed to sleep through soundly, unlike the other crew members who felt it was time to up anchor and head for St Eustatia.
Monday December 30th
A quick dingy ride to Zante for Darrell to sign us out with the port authority. Two people taking down the same information and putting on the computer, at least in the same room this time. Interest was aroused by Sarah not having changed her name when marrying Darrell, something that is not allowed on St Kitts. All completed in half an hour, leaving time for a quick souvenir buying spree, a museum visit to gen up on the varied history of the island and drinks at Ballahoo, thus avoiding another monsoon downpour. Then back to the boat to sail away.
However, departure on Stream was not the normal smooth process. Lack of sleep is Sarah's excuse! She was in charge of upping anchor, but got the control wires caught in the windlass. When freeing it she let out lots more chain, which she then had to wind in by hand (70m is a lot of heavy chain!) as Darrell manoeuvred the boat to free the chain from around the keel Sarah stubbornly wound the winch and with Adam's help managed to get all the anchor in. Hopefully the electric controls can be mended as none of the crew want to repeat that exercise in a hurry. Strangely, Darrell was still smiling at the end of it and was calm, apparently worse things happen at sea. (He was just pleased he had managed to stop us running aground with so much chain out!)
A great sail up the coast of St Kitts was enjoyed as we looked at the landscape that we had explored previously. Good winds all the way so we managed 7-8 knots with just the genoa. Darrell also managed to get soaked down one side in a viscious squall that appeared from nowhere. Unfortunately, we were too late for customs when we arrived in St Eustatius, or Statia as she is locally known, so we had to stay on board. To the relief of both Sarah and Adam the sea was calm and the air a balmy 26 degrees. So all the crew slept well that night. Although, Sarah managed another accident, just as she was going to bed, she reached up to open a hatch and stood stargazing, forgetting to move her hand. The hatch came crashing down onto her finger. After she had severely chastised herself for being a twit, amazingly no swear words were uttered, she showed Darrell her very swollen and bruised finger to receive the usual response: a pat on the shoulder and a tissue!
It was a relief for Sarah, and probably Darrell, that the day was over and after a good nights sleep the accident proneness had reduced significantly.