Saturday Dec 4, Day 7
Today we arrived in Basseterre, St Kitts.
Once again we were blessed with beautiful weather. It was a warm 80 degrees first thing this morning already. I had a private tour lined up for 9:30 with another couple from our roll call. In talking to other friends of ours last night from our roll call, they asked about coming along. So it turned out we had 4 others join us which was great.
You may have noticed from my updates that I don’t do the ship tours. I prefer to do my own research ahead of time and find private tours that a) get you more involved in the local culture, b) are much smaller than ship tours and c) are way cheaper than ship tours!
We were loaded into an air conditioned van. I noticed right away the steering wheel was on the right side of the vehicle which meant that they drove on the opposite side of the road than we do. Our tour today was part of an island tour & panoramic view then spending a few hours at the beach.
We saw many interesting sites on the island and were taken to several different towns. We learned a lot of neat history and facts about St. Kitts as well. The island is only 28 miles long. Their main industry a long time ago was sugar cane mills and there were still old mills standing (they had a lot of slaves as well a long time ago). We saw a bastik factory (a certain type of cotton and how they use it to make many different things from pictures to clothing).
As we were driving along the coast, the driver pulled over and showed us some cow hides someone put out on the rocks to dry out, interesting to say the least.
He also warned us not to open the windows as it would smell really bad! Ha
We were taken up to an overlook with some amazing views of the island. One view showed us the narrowest part of the island where the Atlantic ocean was on one side and the Caribbean ocean on the other. On the opposite side of the mountain, we had a view of Frigate Bay which was just stunning!
After our tour, we were taken to Frigate Bay for a few hours. We were all ready to get in the water as it was getting really hot in the sun by this point. The water felt like bath water, it was that warm! There weren’t any major waves, just slight rolling ones which made it perfect for the kids to go out in it up to their necks. There were lots of fish swimming right around us. Some as tiny as minnows, then bigger ones that were around a foot and a half that looked like mini barracudas (but they weren’t, at least I don’t think so! Haha) I even saw a crab near my foot at one point. (the kids didn’t like that and stayed far away till it was gone!)
Our one friend is big into scuba diving and snorkeling so he went out to see what he could see out deeper, near some rocks. He saw huge lobsters, a sea turtle, eel, barracudas, and several different kinds of fish. He found a huge conch shell but when he brought it up, it fell apart. The kids also collected a lot of neat, unique types of shells here as well.
At point one, a small boat came right up to the beach and these guys unloaded 2 huge bags of freshly caught lobster and carried them right into the one restaurant on the beach. Can’t get much fresher than that!!!
Once we were taken back to the pier, we walked around a few shops there. One our last cruise, the kids started a collection of getting a key chain from each new country they go to. They found key chains that had names on them and said St Kitts. Didn’t they find Noah’s name and they each bought a keychain with his name on it. My sweet kiddos constantly thinking of Noah!
Tonight was our 2nd formal night, so the girls wanted their hair done. So I spent some time curling it and putting it up for them. We had a couple people from our roll call who said they had coupons for free photos that they weren’t going to use and wanted to give them to us to get family pictures. So tonight while dressed up, we decided to have the photographer take our picture. Of course, we wanted Noah to be a part of the picture so the kids brought along his lamb to be in it. The lamb sure was a conversation starter. In the elevator, someone asked Hannah if she “made” the lamb on board (like build a bear). She was so sweet, she said no, this was my little brother’s lamb when he was in the hospital but he passed away. Everyone in that crowded elevator didn’t know what to say. I admit, taking pictures of the kids dressed up tonight with the “Noah lamb”, made me tear up. I miss my little guy!!
After dinner, the kids wanted to get their nightly cup of hot chocolate so we walked down the promenade to get it. The kids were stopped by so many people telling them how adorable they looked.
J
In fact, several ladies asked if the girls had gone to the salon today to have their hair done and they said nope, our mom did it!
Oh, when I ended my update last night, I said I wasn’t sure if I was going to go take pictures of the 11pm pool buffet. Well, it was about 11 when I finally got the emails sent, so I figured I might as well go up and snap a few pictures. I couldn’t believe the huge spread of food they had set up! It was insane!!! They had one table of the most intricately carved watermelon you’ve ever seen! I snapped several pictures of the arrangements. Of course as I walked away, I took a bit of the fresh fruit for a snack. I really wasn’t hungry but the fruit has been my weakness this last week. I am living up the watermelon, pineapple, etc while I can because I know once I get home I won’t have any more fresh fruit. There was also a guy doing a massive ice carving demonstration.
Tomorrow we will be visiting Antigua.
Goodnight!
Today we arrived in Basseterre, St Kitts.
Once again we were blessed with beautiful weather. It was a warm 80 degrees first thing this morning already. I had a private tour lined up for 9:30 with another couple from our roll call. In talking to other friends of ours last night from our roll call, they asked about coming along. So it turned out we had 4 others join us which was great.
You may have noticed from my updates that I don’t do the ship tours. I prefer to do my own research ahead of time and find private tours that a) get you more involved in the local culture, b) are much smaller than ship tours and c) are way cheaper than ship tours!
We were loaded into an air conditioned van. I noticed right away the steering wheel was on the right side of the vehicle which meant that they drove on the opposite side of the road than we do. Our tour today was part of an island tour & panoramic view then spending a few hours at the beach.
We saw many interesting sites on the island and were taken to several different towns. We learned a lot of neat history and facts about St. Kitts as well. The island is only 28 miles long. Their main industry a long time ago was sugar cane mills and there were still old mills standing (they had a lot of slaves as well a long time ago). We saw a bastik factory (a certain type of cotton and how they use it to make many different things from pictures to clothing).
As we were driving along the coast, the driver pulled over and showed us some cow hides someone put out on the rocks to dry out, interesting to say the least.
He also warned us not to open the windows as it would smell really bad! Ha
We were taken up to an overlook with some amazing views of the island. One view showed us the narrowest part of the island where the Atlantic ocean was on one side and the Caribbean ocean on the other. On the opposite side of the mountain, we had a view of Frigate Bay which was just stunning!
After our tour, we were taken to Frigate Bay for a few hours. We were all ready to get in the water as it was getting really hot in the sun by this point. The water felt like bath water, it was that warm! There weren’t any major waves, just slight rolling ones which made it perfect for the kids to go out in it up to their necks. There were lots of fish swimming right around us. Some as tiny as minnows, then bigger ones that were around a foot and a half that looked like mini barracudas (but they weren’t, at least I don’t think so! Haha) I even saw a crab near my foot at one point. (the kids didn’t like that and stayed far away till it was gone!)
Our one friend is big into scuba diving and snorkeling so he went out to see what he could see out deeper, near some rocks. He saw huge lobsters, a sea turtle, eel, barracudas, and several different kinds of fish. He found a huge conch shell but when he brought it up, it fell apart. The kids also collected a lot of neat, unique types of shells here as well.
At point one, a small boat came right up to the beach and these guys unloaded 2 huge bags of freshly caught lobster and carried them right into the one restaurant on the beach. Can’t get much fresher than that!!!
Once we were taken back to the pier, we walked around a few shops there. One our last cruise, the kids started a collection of getting a key chain from each new country they go to. They found key chains that had names on them and said St Kitts. Didn’t they find Noah’s name and they each bought a keychain with his name on it. My sweet kiddos constantly thinking of Noah!
Tonight was our 2nd formal night, so the girls wanted their hair done. So I spent some time curling it and putting it up for them. We had a couple people from our roll call who said they had coupons for free photos that they weren’t going to use and wanted to give them to us to get family pictures. So tonight while dressed up, we decided to have the photographer take our picture. Of course, we wanted Noah to be a part of the picture so the kids brought along his lamb to be in it. The lamb sure was a conversation starter. In the elevator, someone asked Hannah if she “made” the lamb on board (like build a bear). She was so sweet, she said no, this was my little brother’s lamb when he was in the hospital but he passed away. Everyone in that crowded elevator didn’t know what to say. I admit, taking pictures of the kids dressed up tonight with the “Noah lamb”, made me tear up. I miss my little guy!!
After dinner, the kids wanted to get their nightly cup of hot chocolate so we walked down the promenade to get it. The kids were stopped by so many people telling them how adorable they looked.
J
In fact, several ladies asked if the girls had gone to the salon today to have their hair done and they said nope, our mom did it!
Oh, when I ended my update last night, I said I wasn’t sure if I was going to go take pictures of the 11pm pool buffet. Well, it was about 11 when I finally got the emails sent, so I figured I might as well go up and snap a few pictures. I couldn’t believe the huge spread of food they had set up! It was insane!!! They had one table of the most intricately carved watermelon you’ve ever seen! I snapped several pictures of the arrangements. Of course as I walked away, I took a bit of the fresh fruit for a snack. I really wasn’t hungry but the fruit has been my weakness this last week. I am living up the watermelon, pineapple, etc while I can because I know once I get home I won’t have any more fresh fruit. There was also a guy doing a massive ice carving demonstration.
Tomorrow we will be visiting Antigua.
Goodnight!
Just so you know I'm freezing today!!! And you look beautiful!!
ReplyDelete