We woke to find that the Wind Surf was not docked at Bassetterre on St. Kitts as originally planned. Evidently, the Jamaican Navy had taken our slip, so Captain Mark Boylin had to anchor in the harbor. Hey, this is the Caribbean. Expect changes in the schedule; they will occur from time to time. This was really no big deal. It just meant taking a quick tender ride to the pier.
St. Kitts and Nevis (our afternoon port) are a two-island federation and are only two miles apart. This is the smallest independent nation you can visit in the western hemisphere. To learn more about St. Kitts, visit the website for their department of tourism.
St. Kitts is quite small and it’s best to take a tour here or rent a taxi and have the driver give you the low down on the island. The local taxi drivers wait at the pier and will show you on a map the places they can take you. Negotiate a price before getting in the car/van. (The drivers are friendly but do give an aggressive sales pitch.)
There is a lot of construction going on in Basseterre and it looks like they're creating a modern duty free shopping mall right off the pier. Not many of the shops were open when we visited, but we're not too interested in shopping anyway!
Elise, the Wind Surf's hostess, suggested the following points of interest on the island:
Beaches: Frigate Bay, Friar's Bay, Banana Bay, Cockleshell Bay, Sand Bank Bay, and White House Bay (all with white sand). White House Bay is a good destination for snorkeling. (Don't forget to bring along your complimentary Windstar-provided snorkle gear!) The best beaches are on the island's southeastern coast.
Points of Interest:
Fort. Most of the islands we visited have at least one fort to explore. On St. Kitts, head to Brimstone Hill. It's about 30 minutes from Basseterre, entry is $8 U.S., and the hours are generally 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Berkeley Memorial Clock at the Circus. This spot is reminiscent of London's Piccadilly Circus.
Independence Square.
The Anglican Church.
Traditional British colonial houses.
Pelican Shopping Mall.
If you don't plan on going to the beach or shopping, it won't take you long to explore St. Kitts. Windstar offered one shore excursion here: a 3.5 hour scenic train ride (with part of the loop via bus). We didn't want to be confined for that long so we did our own thing.
Our main goal for this half-day port was to take some photos. However, the skies were a bit cloudy so we weren’t able to get too many “money” shots. When it began to rain, we headed back to the Wind Surf to get ready for our afternoon sail to nearby Nevis. Again, this is another small island, but the beaches are gorgeous. Some of our fellow passengers headed for the posh Four Seasons resort; others went to the beach for swimming and snorkeling. This is the place to see lots of animals, including monkeys, goats, rosters/chickens, etc.
For further details on Nevis, visit the website for their department of tourism.
Windstar offered tender service to Charlestown, as well as a few excursions. In hindsight, we should have signed up for the 3.5 hour kayaking adventure. That sounded really fun! There was also a biking tour and a trip to the plantation inns of Nevis.
Weather permitting, this is the place to spend time at the beach. We unfortunately had a cloudy, somewhat rainy day so we didn't visit as many places as we originally thought we might. When you go, check out Pinney's Beach, Oualie Beach, the Nisbet Plantation Inn, Montpelier Plantation, The Hermitage, Golden Rock Plantation, the rainforest, and the Botanical Gardens.
After an hour or so on Nevis, we headed back to the ship for a dip in the pool before dinner at The Restaurant. We dined toward the end of dinner service, but the room was still hopping! The meal here was one of the best we’ve had on any cruise ship. In fact, it was one of the best meals I’ve had at a restaurant…period! My starter was a roasted acorn squash timbale while Leonard had a Caesar salad. We both enjoyed French onion soup and then a perfect Maine lobster tail. (We’re from New England and have easy access to Maine lobster, but we both agreed this was the tastiest lobster we’ve had in ages.) For dessert, I went for a caramel pudding and Len couldn’t resist the cheese course. The meal was scrumptious!After dinner we strolled around the ship and then enjoyed a nightcap before retiring for the evening. Tomorrow we visit St. Martin!
Photos © Leonard Hospidor. Please do not use without permission.
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