On Sunday (04/07/13) we left at daybreak from St. Eustatius for St. Kitts with some regret to leave so soon. If you pass the East Side of St. Eustatius on the location of the “White Wall” and head for the Northeast coast of St. Kitts the distance is only about 7 miles between these two islands. After this you sail along the coast of St. Kitts to the capital Basseterre. St. Kitts is green with a dramatically steep central mountain range rising to 3,500 feet. Much of it is covered with rainforest, which is often covered with clouds. The land in-between the mountains and the sea is gently sloping and relatively flat. This area is very fertile and in the past covered with sugar cane fields. The ruins of the old plantations and sugar cane factories are still everywhere and can easily to be seen from the boat sailing along the coast. Together with the view of the mountains it is absolutely beautiful. One of the first towns you see is Sandy Town which is a very nice place with directly south on top of a hill the famous fortification of the Brimstone Hill Fortress which is now a National Park. The wind was from the south/east and with sailing along the coast that meant having the wind on the nose and having to use the engine again.

When we arrived in Basseterre we realized that the situation in the harbor was not much different than St. Eustatius which a lot of swells rolling in, definitely not a place we wanted to anchor. We called the marina to find out if a slip was available but did not get an answer. Finally a boat in the marina responded and told us that the office was closed on Sunday and we continued our trip to a very nice bay on the southeast side of St. Kitts called Whitehouse Bay. The nice thing about this bay is that next to it is a new development called Christophe Harbor and they put up a large tower with a very strong WiFi Hotspot and with our WaveWifi Antenna we have the best internet connection in the boat for free. We used the afternoon to do our administration and contacted many of our friends and family using Skype. After 3 nights and 4 days in a rolling boat this anchorage is ‘paradise’ giving us a chance to relax and a good night’s sleep. But we needed to check in with customs and immigration that meant we had to go back to Basseterre. The bay was still very rolling, but we got a slip in the Port Zante Marina. The only problem was that the slips only have very short finger piers, the pylons are placed too far apart to easily tie down Island Girl and we had very strong cross wind. When I was trying to get the boat safely into the slip, we got help from everywhere. Every worker in the marina started working the lines, two people jumped on board and did all the heavy work to get us safely in the slip. My only concern then was how to safely get the boat out of the slip.

The help we received in the marina was the first example of the kind and helpful people of St. Kitts. Wherever you go, whatever you do, people offer help and assistance. However, sometimes that does not work out the way you want it. We needed some diesel fuel and the marina has no fuel dock. A fuel truck can fill the tank of the boat on the other side of the marina but only for large quantities. Since we saw a gas station not far from the marina we decided to take our folding dolly and took two jerry cans. This gas station did not sell diesel, but many people knew other stations and gave us directions how to get there. Most did not sell diesel either and in many cases we came back to the station we visited before. Finally completely out of town we found one that sold diesel, but the tank was empty and they were waiting for the delivery truck. Then we got new directions and we finally found a gas station with diesel, we could walk back to the marina and made another trip the next day now without the detour. We had the same experience when we needed to find a filling station for our propane tank since at our next destination, the island of Guadalupe they do not sell propane. But we got this done and we are in good shape to continue our trip.

On Tuesday afternoon we took a public bus to Sandy Town to the access road to the Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park. All the other passengers were smiling when we stepped out of the bus and started to walk up the hill to the fort. The road was not very steep but it was a long gradual climb to the entrance of the park. But it was worth the effort. The fort is partially restored and embedded in a beautiful park with grass and a lot of flowers. The construction of the fort started in 1690 and some fierce battles took place before the fort was abandoned in 1852. The Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999.

At the fort we met Ken Gillstrom and his wife Carol from Toronto, Canada, who sail Voyageur, a 45 ft. self-built aluminum boat. Two evenings in a row we had a nice get together with them and one of their passengers with some drinks, snacks and we really enjoyed their stories about building of the boat with all the challenges and issues. Ken and Carol are on their way back north to continue their sail to England. In the marina we met a Dutchman sailing together with his friend from Estland who are on their way from Grenada to The Canary Islands. In Whitehouse bay we were anchored next to a Dutch sailboat called Mamira Fenna with Trijntje en Victor who have made a long trip and are on their way back to The Netherlands. This is one of the great things about cruising you meet so many other people with different backgrounds and different plans but share one thing and that is the love for sailing and traveling the world.

We took several other trips with the public bus and even made it all around the island coastal road. No bus is driving the route completely so you have to wait at a meeting location (‘bus stop’) of the east and west route on the north part of the island. While we were waiting for the connecting bus we had a conversation with some landscape workers who were very interested how you can find your way at sea. Dorothy recognized a tree with fruit also found in Indonesia: “Bread Fruit or in Indonesian Sukun”. These guys climbed in the tree, cut a couple of these fruits that we took with us. Dorothy prepared peeled, cut and fried them and they were delicious. During these trips we found that people in St. Kitts are not only nice to us the tourists but also to their fellow citizens. Bus drivers take a detour to drop off an old lady with a lot of shopping bags in front of her house. People shop for their elderly neighbors and the bus stops for the people who are waiting and the bags with groceries are handed to them through the window. We love St. Kitts, especially the people.

Leaving the marina was difficult with the cross wind, but Ken and Carol who left earlier in the morning showed me how to do this and with some help from the dock master it went very smoothly. We anchored and later picked up a mooring ball without a pendant in Whitehouse Bay and are again enjoying the best internet connection using the Christophe Harbor development hotspot. We used this bay to snorkel and hike and this morning we took a nice hike through the Christophe Harbor development to Sandy Bank Bay on the Atlantic side. Difficult weather this next coming week will determine our departure date but we will leave tomorrow for Nevis about 5 miles south of our current location.