St. Kitts
We tied up at the quayside in Basseterre, the pastel colored capital of the island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis at 7AM. Our outing began at 8:30 with a scenic drive along the old coast road. We passed an acacia tree filled with so many nesting egrets that it appeared laden with snow. The egrets have learned to nest in the thorny acacia to escape the predations of the many wild mongooses, which live on St. Kitts. The mongoose was introduced years ago to control the rat population and while they have done that successfully they have ravaged many bird populations. The island is also famous for its Vervet monkeys, which outnumber the inhabitants. We drove through the charming capital of Basseterre and went around the “Circus,” named after Piccadilly Circus. On our way to Brimstone Hill and Fort George we passed by a famous Anglican church where Thomas Warner, the first British governor who arrived in 1622, is buried, as is the great-grandfather of Thomas Jefferson. The neighboring island of Nevis was also the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the Treasury. The plantation aristocracy was wealthy and mobile and traveled to North American and England for schooling and politics.
We drove to the top of Brimstone Hill some 750 feet above the beautiful Caribbean and could see the neighboring Dutch islands of St. Eustacius and Saba just a few miles away. The British fort, known as Fort George -- begun during the reign of George III -- which crowns Brimstone Hill in a UNESCO World heritage site and is well worth a visit. Canons and other munitions were first placed atop the hill in 1690 by the British to recapture Fort Charles from the occupying French troops. The tug of war between the French and the English was over the valuable sugar resources in the island. The fort saw only one battle and that took place when eight thousand French troops attacked the island and held the one thousand men in the fort hostage for one month. Although they were greatly out numbered they fought gallantly, and on their surrender on the 12th of February 1782, the French forces showed their respect by allowing the British march away with the honors of war. The fort was given its present look between 1789 and 1805. It was finally abandoned in 1854 and its restoration began in 1965.
We next visited the ruins of an old sugar-processing mill with an aqueduct, cane crushing and boiling house still intact. We then stopped at Romney manor, an old sugar plantation which today features a beautiful botanical garden and is the site of Caribelle Batik. We were show how batik is made and many of us bought the beautiful colorful garments. We shopped again in Basseterre before boarding the Sea Cloud II for lunch at 1.
At 3 Tom O’Brien asked the captain to schedule a swim stop from the ship. It seemed most took advantage of this refreshing mid-afternoon dip in 100 fathoms of water followed as we came back on board by glasses of champagne! Waffles on the Lido Deck at 4 produced a contented and rested community. We furled all the sails and sailed away from this magical place. Tom Heffernan and Berit Solstad gave the recap. The day was filled with the rich cultural history of this most important island.
We tied up at the quayside in Basseterre, the pastel colored capital of the island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis at 7AM. Our outing began at 8:30 with a scenic drive along the old coast road. We passed an acacia tree filled with so many nesting egrets that it appeared laden with snow. The egrets have learned to nest in the thorny acacia to escape the predations of the many wild mongooses, which live on St. Kitts. The mongoose was introduced years ago to control the rat population and while they have done that successfully they have ravaged many bird populations. The island is also famous for its Vervet monkeys, which outnumber the inhabitants. We drove through the charming capital of Basseterre and went around the “Circus,” named after Piccadilly Circus. On our way to Brimstone Hill and Fort George we passed by a famous Anglican church where Thomas Warner, the first British governor who arrived in 1622, is buried, as is the great-grandfather of Thomas Jefferson. The neighboring island of Nevis was also the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the Treasury. The plantation aristocracy was wealthy and mobile and traveled to North American and England for schooling and politics.
We drove to the top of Brimstone Hill some 750 feet above the beautiful Caribbean and could see the neighboring Dutch islands of St. Eustacius and Saba just a few miles away. The British fort, known as Fort George -- begun during the reign of George III -- which crowns Brimstone Hill in a UNESCO World heritage site and is well worth a visit. Canons and other munitions were first placed atop the hill in 1690 by the British to recapture Fort Charles from the occupying French troops. The tug of war between the French and the English was over the valuable sugar resources in the island. The fort saw only one battle and that took place when eight thousand French troops attacked the island and held the one thousand men in the fort hostage for one month. Although they were greatly out numbered they fought gallantly, and on their surrender on the 12th of February 1782, the French forces showed their respect by allowing the British march away with the honors of war. The fort was given its present look between 1789 and 1805. It was finally abandoned in 1854 and its restoration began in 1965.
We next visited the ruins of an old sugar-processing mill with an aqueduct, cane crushing and boiling house still intact. We then stopped at Romney manor, an old sugar plantation which today features a beautiful botanical garden and is the site of Caribelle Batik. We were show how batik is made and many of us bought the beautiful colorful garments. We shopped again in Basseterre before boarding the Sea Cloud II for lunch at 1.
At 3 Tom O’Brien asked the captain to schedule a swim stop from the ship. It seemed most took advantage of this refreshing mid-afternoon dip in 100 fathoms of water followed as we came back on board by glasses of champagne! Waffles on the Lido Deck at 4 produced a contented and rested community. We furled all the sails and sailed away from this magical place. Tom Heffernan and Berit Solstad gave the recap. The day was filled with the rich cultural history of this most important island.
