Every time I decide to work on this post (and hopefully therefore finish it!), my fingers are at a loss of what to type.  Not sure if it’s because, to be completely honest, I’m getting a little sick of writing about the tours we took on our southern caribbean cruise, or the fact that I have other places I’m eager to share, and just want to get the rest of ports over and done with.  I’ll do my best, we’ll see how this turns out.  If I wind up writing random strings of words or, even worse, rambling on about nothing, I apologize now.   I decided (right this instant actually) that minor details will not be included in this post, but instead show the key highlights of our time on St. Kitts.  Instead of wasting everyone’s time with horrible writing, pictures will suffice 🙂  Ok, maybe I’ll throw a few words in every now and then.

The boat pulled up into Basseterre, our 4th port and 4th country of our weeklong cruise, St. Kitts.  We didn’t take a “taxi driver tour” of the island, but I highly recommend it.  Unlike other Caribbean islands, St. Kitts is one place you can get off the boat and hire a taxi.  At a very fair price I might add, for an island tour of your desired length, which you can completely customize yourself.

Being so small (about 65 square miles in total), we were able to cover most of the island on our short few hours there.  Along the way, we saw colorful houses lined up on unspoiled island with beautiful views of the sea.  Imagine waking up every morning and having that view- to die for.

We explored Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park, an outstanding and well-preserved example of 17th- and 18th- century military architecture.  The fortress, designed by the British and built by African slave labour, provides the best panorama in the Caribbean, with the ability to see Nevis, Montserrat, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Martin, and St. Barts.  Recently named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, it is the largest fortress ever built in the Eastern Caribbean.  If history is your thing (or you just want to see pictures of me playing around the fortress), you may find details about my experience at Brimstone Hill Fortress quite interesting.

The tour also brought us to the historic Romney Manor, once owned by the great great great grandfather of Thomas Jefferson.  Not only do beautiful and lucious flowers grow in the garden, but you can find Caribelle Batik here as well, the Caribbean’s most sought after product.  Here, you can watch colorful, tie-dyed clothes and other batik products (wall hangings, pillows, pot holders, placemats, etc) being hand made by the very talented locals.    Aren’t they just gorgeous?  Plus if you show that you are a tourist, you don’t have to pay the 17% tax!  Winners in my book right there!

THIS VIEW. Right There.

Towards the end of our tour, we were greeted with the view from Frigate Bay, where the atlantic ocean meets the caribbean sea, on the Southeast Peninsula of St. Kitts.  Words simply cannot describe, so I wont even take a stab at it.  Enjoy the pictures.

And Finally It was Beach Time.  We headed to Cockleshell Beach, lined with palm trees along the blue-green Caribbean water.  The water was thankfully quite warm, with hard surf-pounded sand which was easy to walk on.  The view of Nevis is breathtaking.  We unfortunately did not bring our snorkel gear, but I saw others holding onto the rocks at the end of beach.  After doing some research, I now learned that you can see colorful starfish, spiny sea urchins, among plenty of species of colorful fish.  Now I know for next time.  However, laying out was all that my body could possibly handle at the moment.  And with the water being so warm and uncrowded, I’m glad we didn’t miss any well-needed beach time.