Nevis to St Kitts
Lynn & Mike ..around the world
Mike Drinkrow & Lynn v/d Hoven
Sat 31 Jan 2009 13:38
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17:17.54N 62:43.71W St Kitts
We sailed up from Montserrat to Nevis on Wednesday,
hoping to catch fish as we passed Redonda, but sadly "nothing"! I was curious to
try a ciguatera test that a taxi driver taught us - you leave the fish out and
if it attracts flies and ants, it is safe to eat! Or alternatively he said,
"feed the fish to your chickens or pets,and if they live, you can safely eat the
fish" ..how gross is that!
In Nevis they have put down close to 100
mooring balls, which is very convenient but it feels a bit like you are in a
shopping centre parking lot. Pinney's beach in St Nevis, which is touted in
the guidebooks as one of the best in the Caribbean, is VERY disappointing by
Cape Town standards. Unprotected from the wind, steep sloping, dark sand
and lots of dead trees!
A funny small world story, made possible by the
amazing Facebook... I picked up a message from a friend in Miami (Tammy)
who ask me to keep a lookout for the cruise ship her husband was on, and as I
was reading the mail, I looked out the window, and there it was! Sadly we were
unable to make contact with him.
From Nevis we took a leisurely sail up to
Basse-terre, St Kitts, the capital of the country. (St Kitts and Nevis are one
state). Basse-terre has seen a lot of development in
recent years. The sugar business shut down completely and with only tourism
left, they made a big effort with lots of investment, to attract the cruise ship
market. As a result there is a very flashy cruise ship terminal/ duty-free
shopping centre, which in January attracted over 80 000 cruise ship passengers.
To put this in perspective, St Kitts has a total population of 32 000. The
ship that arrived this morning, Carnival Victory, is like a massive
black of flats! The town of Basse-Terre is very pretty - it has been well
maintained, with very attractive "gingerbread" buildings, and people that
are incredibly friendly and helpful. We anchored in what has to be the most
rolly anchorage we have ever experienced, poor Indigo has been rocking and
rolling like crazy, and we had a very bad night's sleep. Luckily we have another
lazy day ahead.
Mike and I are watching the England vs Windies A
test cricket here. Yesterday we watched a young guy from Trinidad (Simmons) make
272 runs - he may be the next star for the W.I. team! Today we are hoping for
some more excitement. England could play conservatively, save their
wickets and go for a draw, but we are hoping that as it is just a friendly
match they will give it a good go, and try to reach the 600 run
target.
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