We sailed about 45 minutes to Governour's Beach which was wide and beautiful with nice
houses above it. We anchored with 3 other boats
and took the dinghy ashore. It was a pretty busy beach due to the fact that it was accessible to a road and parking lot. The waves were quite strong with an undertow. We left in time to be back in Port of Gustavia to anchor for the night.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
We left Gustavia about 0930 sailing to St. Kitts. the winds were light: 9-10 knots for most of the way so it was fairly slow going. St. Stacia looked like two islands until we got closer. We could see both it and St. Kitts from St. Barths though it was 30 miles away. The clouds were perched on top of the rain forest in St. Kitts. All along the coast of St. Kitts were small villages backed by the mountain forest. We could see the old sugar mill ruins all along the coast. As we proceeded down the coast to Barreterre the wind increased
20 kts. We arrived before sunset and anchored in the large bay near the Cruise Ship dock and Port Zante marina. A beautiful 90 ft. yacht named "Astor" was also anchored near us (picture with moonrise).
Monday, April 18, 2011
Charlie went ashore to check us into customs and then we wandered around the Cruise ship Plaza where there were many new shops and jewelry stores.....typical of cruise ship areas. It is a huge outdoor newly constructed mall. I watched some youth do the traditional dances in colorful costumes. We walked on into the old town and had lunch at an old establis
hed restaurant overlooking the "circus" with its town clock. We had a great lunch at Ballahoo and they had free wifi.
Tuesday.April 19, 2011
We went on a whole island tour with a great guide who loved the island's history. we stopped at the plantation /ruins of the only sugar mill which used water power instead of windmill power. Thomas Jefferson's father had been given this land grant by the King of England. He is buried there. They are doing archeology digs and restoration of thi
s site. At one time there was a sugar mill per each square mile of the island.
After that we went to another old plantation where they now have a Batik factory. The
gardens are beautiful, and we helped the local economy by making purchases. Then we went to the Brimstone Hill Fortress built in the 16-1700's by the British who wee besieged by the French.
I think it is the biggest fort I have ever been in.
We proceeded further around to where the Caribbean Sea meets the Atlantic and its big wave
The volcano here last erupted about 1400 years ago and there are still volcanic rocks along the
coast where the lava went into the sea. Then along the coast where the sugarcane all now grows wild. They stopped sugar production several years ago when it cost more to produce it than they got selling it.
There is a coastal area where they has been much development with condos and houses close to Basseterre and the airport but on the Atlantic coast. It is where the Marriott is. There are McMansions in this area. A schoolmate of our guide went into the concrete business just before the development boom and he has one of the huge houses in this area. If someone buys a house or condo for $350,000 or more, they get the house and citizenship for St. Kitts. It is an incentive program here. The south side of this island (which is about twice the size of St. Martin and 4x the size of St. Barths ) has some lovely beaches which are undeveloped. We plan to visit them in the next few days.
Hi Mom & Dad, looks like you had fun learning about St. Kitts history. We finally had some nice weather and enjoyed a bbq on our neighbors' deck. We're going to Diana's for Easter brunch. Happy Easter!
ReplyDelete