When a rather large motor-yacht, which played extremely loud music, anchored close to us in what had been a very quiet and unspoiled Whitehouse Bay in St Kitts, we decided it was time for us to move on.  The wind had picked up so we ended up rolling out just the genoa and then reefing it for the short (7 n. mile) passage on a beam reach between the islands ….. and still we managed to do 7-8 knots!

Nevis, although under the same government as St Kitts, is less populated, does not (yet) have the capability to dock large cruise ships and only has one large resort hotel, The Four Seasons.  It does, however, have quite a few rather nice privately run hotels in former plantations.  So, it feels a little more laid back with very welcoming and friendly people and the British influence is a little more apparent.  The buildings in Charlestown, the only town of significance on the island, mostly date back to the colonial era, many with stone block ground floors where commercial activities took place and a living space above constructed out of wood and having plenty of ventilation.

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There is a lot of interesting history here. The settlers of Jamestown, VA stopped here en route to the Chesapeake. John Smith of Pocahontas fame also stopped here. Horacio Nelson was married here to a Nevisian widow, Fanny Nisbet. The island was one of the main dropping off points for slaves shipped over from Africa.  There are numerous abandoned/ruins of sugar refineries, but unfortunately not much rum apparently. Fort Charles was where the British defeated an attacking French army, which led to British expansion in the area and the demise of French aspirations to control the Caribbean. Alexander Hamilton, one of the US founding fathers and early President, was born here.

Today we explored the island on a scooter, which was a great way to do it because the roads are relatively quiet and it was easy to make frequent stops to take in what we were seeing.  Along the way, we stopped at several of the 25 Heritage Trail sites, which often had fascinating accounts of the history associated with each site.  For example, the Cottle Church which was the first church in the Caribbean built for all people, regardless of color, to worship together.  The account of the relatively benevolent plantation owner who had it built was in sharp contrast to his father-in-law’s who rightly ended up being tried for his cruelty.

We can definitely recommend planning a visit to the Golden Rock Estate where we enjoyed a delicious lunch in the setting of a former plantation that cleverly incorporated some of the old buildings with new stone structures in a very artistic way and was surrounded by wonderfully landscaped tropical gardens.  An uphill hike into the rainforest afterwards helped walk off some of the excesses.img_1123

Tomorrow we hope to head for Montserrat, which will be about a 6-hour passage close-hauled.  However, the wind is forecast to strengthen tomorrow so we may change our minds and delay departure for a day or two…