St Kitts & Nevis (Plus St Eustatius) part 1

I am a huge fan of exploring the Caribbean and I have visited a few of the more well known islands, and a few of the ‘undiscovered’ gems and I was looking forward to this trip because it fell somewhere between the two. I started out on the flight with a lovely group of fellow tour operators as we had been invited to stay at the stylish Golden Rock Inn on Nevis. You may have seen this property in a glamourous coffee table book or the pages of a glossy magazine or brochure. The plantation style and the magnificent gardens not to mention the Mt Nevis backdrop lends itself to featuring in these sort of publications. I hope the photos you see here can do it some justice. We had also been invited so as to see and experience Nevis itself too which is a part of the ‘federation’ with St Kitts. It’s a 2.5 mile, quick speedboat ride to Nevis from St Kitts (or a swim if you are crazy enough to take on the well-known channel swim). We (fortunately) didn’t have time to do the swim, so when we arrived to St Kitts airport it’s a short drive over and around the hills of the beautiful and almost untouched southern peninsular of the island to the appropriately named Reggae beach for the hop over to Nevis with the stunning view of Mt Nevis becoming ever more impressive the closer you get. Nevis is a small island so it’s a quick transfer from whichever jetty or pier you arrive to. We were at Golden Rock Inn so quickly and with a warm welcome we felt at ease in the surroundings of their large cottage style rooms set amongst its inviting magical gardens, so we unpacked and went to dinner to try their outstanding restaurant famed for its Lobster sandwich among other delights. Early the next morning I went for a run to activate my travel weary muscles but mostly to get some more views of Mt Nevis. I wasn’t disappointed as the early morning cloud that envelopes the top of the mountain lifted nicely in time for me to get some photos on the way. It is thought the island’s name is actually derived after this cloud as Columbus's description of the clouds atop Nevis peak as las nieves, or “the snows,” when he sighted the island in 1493. After a huge filling breakfast, much needed after running back up the hill to the hotel, we were given a close up look at the spectacular gardens of Golden Rock Inn, in the company of the head gardener Keith who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the gardens after his over 30 years tending to them! As you can imagine Keith is just the right man for this job with such experience to show you the best of the colourful sights and uplifting scents of the garden but also he is a warm and caring character making this part of the trip a real highlight even for those with minimal gardening experience and knowledge. After lunch we were off to explore the waters of the Caribbean sea with the entertaining crew of the catamaran topping up our drinks, preparing our snorkels and keeping the music playing, making a memorable afternoon snorkelling and relaxing even though the cloud had enveloped the view of Mt Nevis again. The next day was spent exploring the delights of Nevis on land as we visited some historical plantations to learn about the history of the island including the darker times of slavery but also the brighter times of slavery’s abolition and through to the present day where the old plantations are used for hotels, or educational sites or reclaimed by forest among other things. We indulged in a visit to Bananas, a lovely restaurant with a trendy boutique all with a very cool vibe and a tropical setting along with more history at the oldest church on the island and a visit to the fruit orchards to sample delicious mango smoothies! We managed a quick pass through the main town, Charlestown and then on to an obligatory visit to Sunshine’s bar to meet the man himself ‘Sunshine’ another of the characters of the island, to sample the infamous killer bee concoction, and the scary looking but rather nice tasting, stinger shot and soak in the Caribbean atmosphere. One last activity very early the next morning as the rest of the group had a flight to catch home in the afternoon was the slightly daunting task of climbing Mt Nevis. We were a bit less daunted since our successful recent hike to the boiling lake in Dominica but this was a new adventure and none of us had climbed it before other than our guide who looked a bit dubious of our ability to make it to the top! We made a good start covering the lower ground in good time and seeing some local sights including Butt Butt road which has a humorous story you can ask me about some time. The walk progressed nicely through the lower forest with some huge Banyans and their spectacular root systems to see along the way, you then reach a point where the trail becomes a lot more vertical and you need to climb using all four limbs, hauling yourself up for most of the rest of the way. The forest is lovely scenery and you get a view out over the island at certain points along the way, when we got to the top the view was unfortunately mired by the cloud but it meant we could concentrate on our packed breakfast at the top and prepare for the trip back down. We took our time to pick our way safely down the vertical path and through a local village where the weekend was getting started with some very loud music and a party vibe and made it back in good time to soak up the feeling of the achievement and the congratulations from the rest of the group who had stayed behind. After the reward of another sumptuous lunch unfortunately our time in Nevis was coming to an end but I was on to the next adventure in St Kitts. I still can’t quite believe I was there, it was truly a dream come true to visit Nevis. Do look out for the next instalment of the this trip in part 2