Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
It is a beautiful calm day for our four hour cruise from Antigua to Nevis. We are going to seriously fish all the way to Nevis. We have four rods out trolling behind the boat and we are cruising at ten knots. We have many coloured skirted lures out. Our favourite colour after our tuna catch the other day, is red and white. We intend to cross several seamounts where the depth changes from 500 to 50 metres.
Paul sights some birds feeding. Bingo! One big hook up then another. These are big fish leaping out of the water and we see they are Mahi Mahi, ( Dolphin fish). After a great fight MB and Brad get their fish aboard. They are about 25 and 15 kilos respectively. They are a male and a female, beautiful gold and bright blue / green colours. We now have enough delicious eating fish to fill our freezer.
As we cross another seamount JB catches a Yellowfin Tuna, we have fresh sashimi for dinner.
We arrive at Charlestown about 5 pm, which is too late to clear customs. Charlestown is the capital of Nevis, and we anchor in Gallows Bay.
Nevis and St. Kitts were colonised by the British in the 17 th century. They were the first Islands to be occupied by them and they became the base for Caribbean expansion. Nevis was given its name by Columbus. It means 'Snow'. It is a coin shaped Island with a large mountain which is always covered in cloud. This reminded him of a snow covered mountain.
The islands prospered during the 17 th and 18 th centuries with Tobacco, Cotton and Sugar. Today however, they rely on tourism. They obtained their independence in 1958 and continue to be part of the British Commonwealth.
Saturday. We go with Paul to clear customs. We have a walk around town, it is the most un-interesting of the Caribbean towns which we have seen. It only took about 45 minuets to see the whole town. It has the usual good fruit and vegetable market with dozens of street stalls. The town felt poor and shabby, although the people are friendly as usual.
We arrange to play golf at the four seasons golf course. We can see the course from the boat, with several fairways winding up and down the mountain slope. JB, MB and Brad started playing around 11am, there is not another group on the course. It was as spectacular as it looked, with some very exciting elevated holes. It is in very good condition. MB wins the comp. again.
Back on board we take off for St. Kitts to anchor in Ballast Bay, which is at the southern end of the long thin Island. We enjoy a snorkel and chase some fish.
Sunday. We have arranged to be picked up and be driven to the capital 'Basseterre' to go to mass at the large stone church 'The immaculate conception'.
Basseterre is much grander than Charlestown but as its Sunday and everything is closed it is fairly depressing. The population of St. Kitts is double that of Nevis, that is : 40,000 to 20,000.
We try to buy some water at the supermarket but could only acquire two bottles, fizzy drinks are more popular and their is a coca cola factory here.
Our driver Simos, takes us on a short Cook's tour up the coast as far as the Brimstone Hill fortress, which was closed. On the way we pass Bloody Point, where a combined British and French military force killed 2000 local Caribs in one day. The rest of the Carib natives left these islands for other islands, however they were still treated badly by the colonials. We visit Old Town, the village that was the first to be established in the whole of the Caribbean. Simos shows us some very old houses which are just old shacks, many of which looked like they should be condemned, but are still lived in. We are equally unimpressed with St. Kitts as we were Nevis. As the weather is perfect we take BP to the east coast where we find a small short surf. MB and Paul enjoy it and catch a few waves. We then have a snorkel with the Nelsen's before heading to Major's Bay at the south end of the Island.We enjoy a final round of Canasta, Buxton's versus the Nelsen's, with a very exciting finish going to the Buxton's.
Monday we are heading off to St. Barts. The sea is calm but the weather has turned dark grey and it is raining. It is a five hour cruise which is always relaxing, especially after our morning Yoga and swim.
JB and Mick
- comments
suzanne Very interesting info....