17:08.963N 062:37.894W

Whisper
Noel Dilly
Sun 24 Mar 2013 14:56
"Nevis - 21st March"

We took a long dinghy ride down to Charlestown so that we could 'Clear In' to Nevis & St Kitts.  There was quite a strong wind blowing but Rustle did a good job at keeping us dry, there is no doubt that if we had been in the Avon we would have been soaked.  The formalities over and our fees paid we were free to explore.  We needed bread and a Nevis & St Kitts courtesy ensign which we have been unable to find so far on our travels.  We popped into the Tourist Information for some leaflets and a map of the island.  The quietly spoken young man was exceptionally helpful and even told us where we would be able to buy a flag. As we left the building a Taxi driver stopped to talk to us.  His nick name is 'Teach' as he used to be the local Primary School teacher.  We had read about him in our Guide Book and have now booked an island tour with him tomorrow.  We continued our search for a flag, which took us on quite a long walk out of town to an 'out of town' superstore, which sold everything, including a flag on a stick, which we purchased. 

Charlestown is the only town on the island, it has two museums, one is the Museum of Nevis History and the other is the Nelson Museum created in honour of Lord Nelson who was posted to Nevis and married a Nevisian beauty named Fanny Nisbet, under a silk cotton tree on the Montpelier Estate.  The town is picturesque, with its renovated waterfront, the buildings are of stone and wood and painted in bright colours. The country town was buzzing with activity, the only sight spoiling it was the abundance of plastic bottle litter which seemed to be in every drainage ditch and unoccupied land. 

We returned to Whisper and prepared our flag in a more suitable way for our needs.  It is now hemmed all round, the stick removed, a rope threaded with a toggle stitched in the top and sufficient rope at the bottom, so that it so that it can be flown as a courtesy ensign from Whisper's rigging. 

The day had rushed by and there was just enough time before the sun set to visit one of the beach bars.  Seemingly they all looked closed and the beach deserted.  There are many mooring bouys in the bay, but surprisingly very few yachts and certainly no dinghies on the beach.  As we approached it all looked quiet but we could smell something good cooking.  We decided to chance going up the beach in the dinghy, hoping that the swell would not turn us over, as we hit the sand I jumped out painter in hand and steadied the boat for Noel to get out too as we heaved Rustle up the beach the best we could, a tall Rastafarian with a drink in his hand, suddenly appeared from nowhere and helped us haul Rustle up the steep beach, so that she was completely on dry sand.  William then introduced himself, shook our hands and marched on up the beach telling us to follow him, straight into a bar where the owners were enjoying a drink with friends.  He told them that we had arrived by dinghy and the three of us were invited to join Calypsonian The Mighty Chevy and his wife Amelia.  It was interesting talking to them as Chevy lived and performed in the UK for some 18 years where he met West Indian Amelia who was born and bred in Yorkshire, loves shopping in England but is quite at home on Nevis.  Their friend's husband Sam also of Nevisian descent was born and bred in England too and is planning to settle in Nevis in the near future.  They were all amazed to learn that we had sailed all the way from the UK.  We left before it got dark and William kindly came down the beach to help us launch Rustle.  He had shoes and socks on, so once down at the waters edge we were on our own.  It was comforting that he was there to watch just in case we got into difficulty.  The amusing side to this saga is, that we had actually intended to visit the neighbouring bar called Sunshine's before William steered us into Calypso Bar, no wonder he had a vodka & orange in his hand and a second as we left! Great fun!