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Published: February 14th 2006
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Bird Rock Beach Hotel
Bright colours grreted us on our first morning on St. Kitts. Nine hours flying, that’s the first long haul flight we have done, though it’s better than 36 hours on a bus between Leeds and Kraków, Poland. It doesn’t help when a couple decide to bring their baby for a Caribbean holiday - not much fun for the baby, and sure as hell not much fun for fellow passengers.
Intrigued by a cheapy deal on the net, we headed out down to the Caribbean once we found that there was a lot of potential for exploring around , a chance to do some snorkelling in a warm sea, and our first venture into tropical climes.
Sitting on our patio, sheltering from the strong Caribbean sun (at 17 degrees North of the Equator, it’s bloody strong for a northerner like me) a shower suddenly passed; under the bright rays of sun, we look through the raindrops over the sea, having coffee and brioche on the terrace - not a bad start.
We were beginning our stay at a very friendly Caribbean island, and we were all our to sample the taste, the sounds, and yes, the smells of St Kitts & Nevis - the smallest state in the western hemisphere.
Bird Rock Beach
a small but very pleaseant swimming area, with views over to Nevis. Arrival: 28 January, Saturday Arriving from London Gatwick, already a long way from home, we got out of the plane to a warm damp gusty wind, heavily overcast skies and occasional drizzle. It was rapidly getting dark but with the surrounding hills enveloped in mist if felt like being on Ribblehead with extra global warming (yes, I will plant the trees to offset the flight’s emissions!)*. We got ferried to our hotel on a minibus through the sugar cane fields and within minutes we were there. That’s the problem of arriving during the dark, you see nowt.
{ * 2 trees each }
That evening the hotel announced that free rum cocktails were on offer, as well as a buffet for $30 (US). Well, we thought the free cocktails sort of evened out the price. The food was good, but we had a shock with the bill - further charges were slapped on for service (at a buffet?), government tax, and for coming from Yorkshire (well, I made the last one up, but it felt like it). This gave us a bit of a fright, as if all prices were like that, our budget would
Oil Drum Lane - the road into Basseterre
Oil Tubs - to rival those of Hull Docks. It generally niffed of petrol round here. go out of the window. It would take all the economising skills of a Yorkshireman and a Pole to get through without having nasty bills to come home to: our work situation in the UK is highly uncertain, so we did not want to blow everything on taxis and eating out.
29 Sunday As you might expect we had an easy day, swimming about and discovering the local bakery. That was great, - decent prices: smart bread and pastries and Caribbean Cornish pasties (veg. versions available) and the bloke there told us about a good bike shop in town - transport!
30 Monday Today we walked down from Bird Rock to the main town and capital of St. Kitts, Basseterre. We were starting to find out how friendly people are over here, most folk say hello as you walk by.
We found that the main way involved a walk along Oil Drum Lane, better known as Bay Road. Though the traffic was light, there is a high preponderance of 4 wheel drives (SUVs) and maybe the humidity contributed to the highly polluted feel to the air. We soon got around the town centre,
Anglican Church, Basseterre
It's a bit odd seeing this bit of small town England amongst the tropical plants. and despite the tourist office’s best efforts, managed to find the bike shop in town. We hired bikes for a week, to get us around a bit easier - the walk to the Bird Rock is a bit arduous. We also learned that buses did serve the island, just the north where people lived, rather than the touristy parts and unpopulated parts of the southern half of the island.
31 Tuesday Our bikes we delivered at about 9 am, and we decided to head for the undeveloped south east peninsular. We headed off around 10, but already the temperatures were too hot. The first hill to Frigate Bay was ok, but the second was a toughy, at 29C in full sun. Once over the hill we began to zoom down, and then found that brakes were a necessary component of our progress if we wished to remain in contact with the road, as it was badly potholed. Despite being built in the last few years by the US Army (or Taiwan others claim) the road is a bit crap. For starters, the deep 100 ft cutting just past the summit was through loose rock material, and there was
a fine display of assorted debris of varying volume scattered on the road surface. Then the potholes near the bend were a bit dicy, but hey, at least it was some useful traffic calming. We turned off to South Friar’s Bay and after finding a most unsuitable spot (grazed knee from underwater reef and broken glass under the palm trees), we moved to a most suitable spot.
“The Shipwreck Bar” is a brilliant place to spend some time. The swimming is excellent, it felt like being in a tropical aquarium with all the fish swimming around, and the bar itself served excellent food. The rum cocktails were pretty good too. With a lovely sea to swim in, we weren’t in a hurry to rush back over the hill.
More Caribbean capers to follow…
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Rosa
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sUNsHINE
Ohhh what a paradise.... Gently cooked on both sides, poles must be a delightful afternoon snack.