the long and winding road...

Basseterre, St Kitts
Oh no!!! Our final port!! How did the days go by so quickly??

St Kitts was another new port for us. It was also the port that I’d done the least research on. I’d decided early in my planning that by our 7th port day we’d likely be sunburned and/or exhausted. This required an easy day. I did a quick search and found a tour guide named Thenford Grey who seemed to be the absolute clear choice. I booked him and gave it no additional thought thinking we’d just get on the van and go where he took us. It was also a late port day as we weren’t arriving until noon.

It was a bit of a relief really to just wake up on our own (well on G’s own anyway) and not have to rush, rush, rush. We decided to go to the dining room for breakfast instead of eat at the buffet as we’d done on all earlier days. As usual the service was painfully slow and the food barely passable. Bobby and I joked that we got most of the things we’d ordered and some of it was even edible :-) Not really that funny after 8-9 days but hey, what can you do?

I can tell you that Mr Grey’s reputation was well deserved. He is a real gentleman and his experience and knowledge were quite helpful. As soon as we –along with 6 others from our ship-- got on his little bus he explained that we would be doing the tour in a different order from usual and visit the fort (Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park) first. Apparently there was a party planned for that afternoon and the fort was closing early. We ended up being the first group up to the fort and had plenty of time to explore with no one else around. After a bit a few small groups joined us. I learned later from some of my fellow passengers that the NCL groups skipped the fort telling everyone it was closed for the day. And, many people who chose other guides actually drove up to the fort later in the day and were turned away because by that time it had closed. In this instance my small amount of planning turned out to be good enough.

The fort itself was pretty neat. As always G was fascinated by the canons. She likes to sit on them, lay on them, and pretend she’s shooting something. Then she’ll get down, do some twirly ballet type moves and then run off to find another canon. It’s really quite amusing to watch. She sometimes draws a small crowd with her antics.

Next stop was Romney Manor and Clarabelle Batik. There’s a pretty garden there, lots of awesome photo spots and truly beautiful batiks. Bobby didn’t know where we were when we arrived but he knew something was up because I told him to make sure he had his wallet and the credit card :-) The items, mostly clothing, are pricey compared to most things you can buy in the Caribbean but so pretty. I was able to limit myself to one dress and matching hair tie for G and a beach cover-up for myself.

Next stop was the beach. By then it was pretty late in the day but still very warm. There are some wild mongoose (mongeese??) there. They feed them fruit and people watch them. Someone told me that they’re illegal to keep as pets in the states. Not sure about that one. I guess earlier there’d been green monkeys too but we missed them. Oh well. G played in the waves some and we got a bite to eat while watching her turn into a shadow in the sunset. So beautiful.

We didn’t have to be back on the ship until 6:30 but we left the beach early… some kind of bug started biting at us and it was time to go. We had dinner at the buffet. Again, pretty bad. Sorry to keep harping on it but geez louise. As tired as G was she still begged to go to kids club.

All ready for our day in St Kitts. The formal name of the island is St Christopher's.

Up at the top of Brimstone Hill. Gorgeous!

I love this pic of Bobby and G ((hearts))

G walks into the fort with complete confidence

The grounds of Romney Manor are beautiful

Right behind us is the narrowest part of the island. I believe our guide said its only about 300 yds across. In the distance is St Kitts' sister island, Nevis. Atlantic Ocean on the left, Caribbean Sea on the right.