St Kitts

We reached the southern tip of St Kitts on Friday afternoon and cruised around it’s leeward coastline with views of the Brimstone Hill Fortress. Clodagh was at the helm and was attempting to break Rafiki’s speed record. To be fair, when not distracted (posing for photos..) Clo managed to get us up to 9+knots with a nice 20+knot breeze across the beam. The good speed allowed us to make our way up to the capital of Bassterre well before sun down. We entered the marina in hope of picking up a berth (no one was answering the radio calls in the marina office) but were in no luck. Damo, now at the helm, spun us around and headed out to the anchorage to find a spot to drop anchor. Basseterre harbour has a weedy bottom which makes anchoring tricky - but thankfully, third time lucky, Rafiki’s anchor dug in and set.

Clo definitely not posing...

Damo and I had decided to take a wee break from Rafiki and give Pete and Clo some time alone before we left the Caribbean. We checked in to the Marriott, dropped of our bags and headed to the hotel bar… When ordering our drinks we were shocked to see two friends, Emma and Alice had checked in to the same hotel for a bit of winter sun away from London! We had a few drinks and then headed out for dinner. The concierge suggested we try a restaurant at the end of the beach strip so we made our way down and were greeted by a strip of bars which were packed with American spring breakers! Everything about dinner was average except the price (Sadly, this turned out to be the theme for the week. Each restaurant we visited served mostly average food at ridiculous prices. It seems most places are aimed at wealthy yank tourists with money to spend?) After dinner we headed to the busiest of the beach bars and joined the Spring Breakers for some Rum and Ginger!!

The first day for Damo and I was spent lounging by the pool…the first day for Pete and Clo was spent moving Rafiki down the coast to a more secure anchorage! After a rough night and a bit of drift on the anchor Pete made the decision to move the yacht down to Frigate Bay for a more comfortable and secure stay! Frigate Bay was the home of the strip of beach bars we had visited the night before. A long but shallow beach of dark volcanic sand which unfortunately was a little dirty in places due to the late night parties in the beach bars. At the end of the beach however was a small hotel with it’s own beach bar which sold cheap booze and fish finger sandwiches! Once on the new anchor Pete and Clo spent their week relaxing on the beach and tidying up all the loose ends and jobs onboard Rafiki!

Our second day was far more productive - Damo and I hired a car and took a drive around the island with the girls. Our first stop was at the Brimstone Hill Fortress. An impressive and well preserved UNESCO heritage site! We drove up the very steep and winding entrance road and parked up. The Fort and it’s views were incredible. We wandered around the many canons on the gun deck and soaked up the view across the Caribbean Sea. The many exhibitions within the fort provided some interesting reading about the history of the place - for those that know them, be sure to ask Emma and Alice all about it - I’m sure they will be well informed… After completing the Fort tour we made our way around to the old Plantation house which has now been converted to a very nice boutique hotel. Sadly we had missed the Sunday brunch so we jumped back in to the car and headed North towards the hotel and another bar which had been recommended to us. We arrived at the Shipwreck bar which is on the Caribbean coast to find they had a live band playing and an amazing view of the sunset. We had some good Caribbean BBQ chicken, more Rum and sat back to enjoy the music and views.

The view from Brimstone Hill Fort

The following day we made use of the last few hours of the hire car and drove down to Cockleshell Bay at the very South of the island. It’s a small and secluded beach with just a couple of basic beach hut bars servicing it (both of which were closed..). We had a quick dip and soaked up some sun before heading in to Basseterre to grab some breakfast and drop off the car. We walked through the town and up to the town centre which is supposedly modelled on Piccadilly Circus (Tell me if you can see the similarity in the pic below…) and found a nice restaurant over-looking the circus. We sat and watched the world go by and enjoyed more local cuisine before heading back to spend the afternoon at the hotel.

Basseterre Circus (clearly modelled on Picadilly Circus...)

After yet more pool and beach lounging we set off to Nirvana Restaurant for dinner. It’s a 20minute drive from the hotel but turned out to be well worth the trip. It’s an Asian restaurant serving up a mix of Thai and Chinese food as well as some bloody brilliant cocktails. The staff were very friendly and keen to knock up and show off their signature dishes and drinks. We enjoyed each dish served and struggled to pick a favourite, the drinks were equally good and and suitably strong! We finished our post dinner drinks by their pool and then headed home with hope that we’d be able to return before we left the island!

By the end of our stay in the hotel we were reluctant to go back to the boat (we’d grown used to a large bed, a flushing toilet and air conditioning), but we squeezed in one more pool side lounging session before packing the bags and heading to the dinghy pontoon where Clodagh had agreed to pick us up. Once back on the boat we needed to move Rafiki back to Basseterre and in to a berth that we had booked in the Marina. We sorted ourselves, picked up the anchor and set off. Once checked in with the Marina office we set about readying the boat for our week passage across the Caribbean Sea to Colombia.

Clo sorted the provisioning and cooking of meals (we pre-cook and freeze meals to make it easier when on passage) and the boys stowed, packed, cleaned the boat, filled the water tanks and re-fuelled. Once the works were complete we decided to head back to the Shipwreck bar for more Rum and another beautiful sunset. On arrival we discovered that one of the local ex-pats was there celebrating and a party was underway! We joined in with the drinking and the girls joined in with the dancing. Pete was dragged up to the dance floor too after promising the Birthday girl a dance early on (Clo, quickly moved in after getting a little jealous…)! At the end of the night Pete and Clo jumped in a taxi and headed up to Nirvana and the rest of us settled for pizza and wine on the boat!!

Sunset at the Shipwreck Bar

The Island of Nevis seen from Shipwreck Bar

Our last day was spent completing the final prep items and sneaking in one last Roti before leaving the Caribbean… Although we were excited to be moving on to the next leg we were sad to be leaving the Caribbean after so long. We’d enjoyed the culture, tasty food (and hot sauces), the friendly people, great parties, beautiful beaches, rainforests, rivers, waterfalls and short day sails between islands! Our sights are now set on South America and the Panama Canal transit…after that its another month at sea as we cross the Pacific!!

Couch