Royal Caribbean Day 3: St. Kitts

Basseterre, St. Kitts

Date: 23 April 2018
Port: Port Zante, Basseterre, St. Kitts
Time on Island: 8am-4:30pm
Distance between St. Maarten and St. Kitts: 88.15 km or 47.60 nautical miles (54.77 miles)

Our next port was St. Kitts and Nevis, capital and port city, Basseterre. I honestly didn’t know much about St. Kitts, so I was quite excited for this port. Darren had pre-booked another half day tour excursion of the island that would take us around majority of the island with several stops.

One reason we decided for tours, was for the history aspect. I love learning and having a tour guide who has in-depth knowledge of a place makes experience the islands that much better.

One of the things I was most excited about with St. Kitts, was getting to see foliage again after eight long months because of the hurricanes. St. Kitts was an island that was not directly affected from Irma or Maria.

Caribelle Batik

We started our tour through the streets of Basseterre, before driving along the south side coast through small villages, heading towards Romney Manor. This beautiful manor on the hillside of the volcano is home to the site of Caribelle Batik fabric. Caribelle Batik is a local shop known for its fine batik products and handmade dyed fabrics, which are made from accent Indonesian methods. The grounds of Romney Manor and the colors of the fabric were stunning.

Brimstone Hill Fortress

From Romney Manor, we headed towards Brimstone Hill Fortress, a UNSECO heritage site. Upon arrival, it started completely down pouring, so we had to wait it out before we were able to climb to the top where the fortress lies. It was a blessing in disguise because we were able to watch a video about the history of the fort to stay out of the rain.

When we finally made it to the top of the hill, the views of St. Kitts were breathtaking. The fortress, which was also beautiful, had views of the hills, the volcano, the sea and small villages. Darren and I spent a good half hour wandering around the fort and looking out onto the beautiful island!

We ended our fortress visit with two locally bottled beers from Carib called Stag and Skol. They are both lagers and new beers for me! I also found out that the Carib Brewery and distillation facility, located on St. Kitts was once called “St. Kitts Brewing Limited.” It bottles Guinness Stout, Mackeson Stout, Royal Extra Stout, Vita Malt, Ting grapefruit and Smirnoff Ice (and many others). It was a neat fact to learn about how these tiny islands have such a manufacturing business within the alcohol/beer community.

Pitstops Around St. Kitts

We made several pitstops as we continued the drive around St. Kitts. The first pitstop was an area along the coastline, where lava met the sea. The last official eruption for Mount Liamuiga was over 1,800 years ago. Reports of possible eruption dates back to the 1840s, so basically the rock formations are the island. Something I later found out, is that Mount Liamuiga is one of the tallest peaks in the Caribbean, standing tall at 3,792 feet above sea level.This is where Darren and I randomly ran into Richard and Karen, and honestly the four of us could not STOP laughing!

The second pitstop was a view point looking onto the conversion of the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. This was my first experience witnessing a collision of two bodies of water, and it’s quite fascinating how Mother Nature works.

We continued to drive along the beautiful coastal road with some of the most gorgeous scenic views. This aspect of the tour brought so much happiness back into my heart.

It reminded me so much of the St. Thomas I knew pre-hurricane. Everything was so green and luscious and looked healthy. Nothing was destroyed. It is still hard to picture St. Thomas pre-hurricane, but this island reminded me about the beauty of the Caribbean.

Our last location gave us a clear view of the differences between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean sea. It also gave us a good picture of the hilliness and mountainousness of St. Kitts. Plus, you can see Nevis, their sister island, in the distance.

We didn’t stay long at this overlook as there was still a little ways to get back to port, and honestly it wasn’t enough. I could have starred at this overlook for hours. It’s the perfect picture. The mountains, the sea, the ocean, the beach, and the sky!

Back on Board

Once back on port, Darren and I wandered the port shops before ultimately returning to the boat. We were lucky today as we had some time before dinner with Karen and Richard. They invited us to join them for dinner at 6:30, so Darren went to the gym and I headed to the hot tub! I didn’t stay too long because I needed to get ready, but it was nice to spend a little time in the hot tub.

Neither Darren nor myself could resist spending more time with Karen and Richard! We have so much fun when the four of us are together. We created a little cruise family and it was perfect.

After dinner, it was off to another game show, except this time, I was dared (at least I think I was) to join into the fun. The game show was “Finish the Lyrics,” which mean that it was going to involve singing. If there is ONE thing you should know about my family is that we’re not the best singers and I’m not really a music listener. So, if you put the puzzle together, I didn’t last long and was out after ONE song!