Adventures with David & Gail

Exactly the same, but different! - It was definitely time to leave Statia. The rolling anchorage just about did us in even being pointed into the swells with our cool anchoring. We had hiked the hike and seen the sites. The winds were good and we were ready. So, we weighed the anchor and slipped the mooring early on Saturday morning. The passage to Basseterre, St. Kitts was only 20 miles. You could see it just around the corner. The island was touching the clouds and it was another Saint. So, it was going to exactly the same, but different.

We took off to the south with a plan to tack around to see the White Wall. We had read about it and there was a trail on the volcano to see it, but we thought it would be better to view it from water level. The wall is a geological formation that was the ocean floor before the volcano pushed it up vertically along the southern slope of the cone. And as we approached you could see the difference in its structure versus the surrounding lava flow and scoria that came from the crater. It was very impressive and worth the detour. (See the photo gallery)

Then we headed south again on a close haul with good winds and seas to the north end of St. Christopher, or as it's known now, St. Kitts. The distance from land to land was only 7 miles and we made it in just over an hour. Then as we came under the lee of the island, all the winds and seas went calm as you would expect. But then the winds shifted from the west. Very unexpected. We could not keep sailing so we furled everything in and motored along the coast sightseeing as we went. We still had about 10 miles to go. Half way there the winds picked up again but of course directly on the nose! So we motored the last leg as well.

Basseterre is the capitol and a large city on the "low land" or "lee side" (which is the translation for Basseterre) with a larger deep water port and a protected marina. After checking the anchorage in the port, we opted for the marina! We were ready for a calm slip, electricity, and being able to walk to town! And the price turned out to be very reasonable. Immigration and customs was just outside the marina at the cruise ship dock and duty free shopping mall. Normally a bustling area in high season, the place was dead now in low season. While there might normally be 10-12 ships a week, now there was only one and it came on Fridays! Most of the shops were closed, so Gail did not get her shopping fix.

Not only that, everything was going to be closed on Sunday and Monday was going to be a holiday. So basically, we had two days where we could not get any services. We decided to make them maintenance and cleaning days. Changing oil and filters, repairing a broken bimini bracket, defrosting the freezer, and seeing what was wrong with the engine refrigerator compressor. We were going to do a good wash down on WD but two nights we got good drenching rains and she got a free bath!

We had wanted to do something different on St. Kitts and the Scenic Railroad tour seemed just the thing. The little railroad was originally built to go around the island and pick up sugar cane from all the plantations until the sugar production was stopped for lack of profits. The train company added viewing cars and set up the tour business. But with everything closed we could not get any information by email or phone. Just on a chance I asked a taxi driver if he knew the schedule. He didn't personally but knew a lady who worked for the train. And as expected, he found it only runs on Fridays in low season when the cruise ship is in town!

He offered his services and we decided to take the taxi driver up on his offer to give us a tour. A quick side note here. While in the marina we were slipped right by the entrance so people would come by and ask questions. A couple, Pierre and Jessy, from France sailing an older Jeanneau came by to ask about customs which I explained. We struck up a conversation, of course, decided to meet later on their boat for cocktails and then invited them to join us on the tour. So the next morning the four of us took off with Mr. Mack (Wycliffe McIntosh) to see the sites.

He explained a lot about the history of St.Kitts and showed us the famous estate of Thomas Jefferson's great, great grandfather which is well maintained and home of a batik shop and factory now. Then we went up the hill to the famous Brimstone Hill Fortress. St. Kitts like most of these islands have been fought over in the 1700's changing hands several times. But in 1783 as part of the Treaty of Versailles, they became under British rule and have been since.

It is a large island about the size of St. Thomas but with only 1/3 the people. The tour took us around the island through the many villages that grew up around the different plantations including the village where Mr. Mack was born. The overall island has a gentle sloping landscape from its volcano which provided rich soil for sugar cane. But they stopped sugar production many years ago and the north end of the island is now covered in wild sugar cane that no one wants.

When we got to the southern end of the island, it was like we were on a different island. The southern end of the island is in a growth spurt. With the airport and resort hotels located here, there are several developments for large homes and luxury condos.

Another interesting story are the monkeys and the mongoose (mongeese?). Story goes that either the slavers or the French soldiers brought 3 green, vervet monkeys to the island in the 1600's. They propagated and now there are more monkeys in the island than people. You see them everywhere and typically there is a monkey man at the cruise ship dock or the other attractions wanting to take your picture holding one. We luckily missed this treat. The mongoose were brought to the island to get rid of the snakes. Today there are no snakes on St. Kitts but there are mongoose everywhere. I guess be careful want you ask for!

Our friends, Pierre and Jessy, left the next morning but we met another couple and their friend from a charter catamaran in the marina. They were just in and asked me about a place to eat and we struck up a conversation (sound familiar).

Orin and Sherry are from San Diego as is their friend, Chaz. But Chaz's wife gets sea sick and did not come on the trip. We met with them later in the evening and actually set them up with an island tour with Mr. Mack for the next day as we took off for another anchorage south.

All in all, St. Kitts was not our most exciting stop. The town was okay but not kept up. With everything closed it was not very exciting and since you have to dive with a dive shop, we didn't want to spend the money for that. So, we came and saw. It was exactly the same, but different.