Back at the Dock
19 May 2006 | St Kitts
St Kitts is green and covered in rain forest. Its mountain range is often covered with passing clouds and the land is very fertile with sugar cane being its main crop. Christopher Columbus came upon the island in 1493 and named it after his patron saint, St Christopher. For more than a century the British and French fought over St Kitts, after first battling the Carib Indians. The British finally got St Kitts in 1783 under the Treaty of Versailles and it remained a British Colony until 1983 when full independence was established.
We pulled into the capital, Basseterre on a Friday afternoon and it was in sharp contrast to the sleepy city of Oranjestad in Statia. Basseterre is a big, bustling city. Lots of street vendors selling fresh coconut , fruits, clothing, bootleg CD's and DVD's,
most anything you may want! Lots of young men just hanging out drinking beer and chatting, music on most every corner- a very busy town! Most men have the long dreadlocks or hair piled high atop their heads. Daniel and John were busy taking all of these sights in! We walked to immigrations to clear in then over to The Circus for a cold drink. The Circus is modeled after Picadilly in London.
The anchorage off of the town is also open to the easterly swells so we choose to go into the brand new marina, Port Zante. Cost was only .50 us cents/foot with water and electric included. Great! We gave Eira a good cleaning, filled up our tanks, did some hand wash and the boys could watch as many movies as they liked! John said it beautifully, "Life is good, we have all of the water and electriciy that we want. What else do we need?" Spoken like a true "cruiser!" I have to add that the bathrooms were by far the cleanest bathrooms I have ever been in! The boys took 2 showers a day! Ahh, the simple things in life please us so!