Caribbean Cruise Day 5 - St. Kitts

Wed. Jan 13 2016
   

Ship's Compass which detailed everything going on every day was delivered daily!

 I was up a bit early and managed to see this beautiful little island as we passed by en route to see St. Kitts.

Small Island north of St. Kitts.

Our ship docked at 10 AM which afforded us the luxury of eating while watching the docking procedure.Once on land and past the photo guys we were approached by a fellow trying to sell tickets on a tour around the island starting at 1 PM local time. It was only 20 bucks so we signed up right away while Mitchell and Melodie took awhile to decide whether it was worthwhile or not but in the end decided to come along with us.

Entrance to St. Kitts from wharf

Our tour bus

     We toured the island in a small bus, making a number of photo stops.







We went up a number of side streets and quickly realized that on this island there are a lot of poor people.
The roads were narrow with lots of hills and curves.
   







 Below is a short video taken while we were driving around the island.

Romney House
This former plantation was a most interesting stop as it showcased the stages this island's economy has gone thru over the years.

Old Foundry stack for sugar

Tobacco cotton and rum were all at various times big exports, with the climate and natural sugar cane playing a large role as evidenced by the many old foundry stacks around the island.


There was also some HUGE trees with Tarzan like vines hanging from them. The vegetation here is very lush and quite overrun in many places.

Tarzan Vines

At the Romney House there was also a demonstration of Batik, which is where they paint wax on canvas in many layers to produce striking paintings. We also had some drinks and optional moonshine from the driver at this stop.
 

Date Palm

 There was one very large tree on the property which reminded me of the Home Tree in the movie AVATAR.

Click on the video below for a video of Batik.....

When we got to the norther pat of the island we saw where the higher income families lived along with some nice condominiums that were for rent.
     Our next stop was high on a hill where there was also some very cheap beer for sale as well as a beautiful view of some beaches and ocean.

3 buck beer !!

Caribbean on left, Atlantic on Right

     The next stop was at a resort on the beach where Darlene and Melodie dipped their feet in the Caribbean Sea. On our way back to the ship, we asked the driver to make another pit stop at the top of the hill for more beer and some snacks for the trip back.
 By the time we got back to St. Kitts, it was apparent some of our Columbian passengers were pretty well bombed from the moonshine they had consumed on the trip.

Beautiful beaches

     We purchased some jewelry but declined on the booze as it was quite expensive. darlene had a really nice Pina Colada just before we boarded while some Caribbean music was being played on the dock.

Did I mention there was also another cruise ship






 (Celebrity Line) docked as well. It was smaller than ours and did not leave till after we had departed.

Supper in the Saphirre Dining Room, with Bernadette from the Philippines as our waitress. She was due to get 2 months off after a 7 month tour of duty!