From St Kitts & Nevis

02/21/10

Most of today’s islands, St Kitts and Nevis, were closed as it is Sunday. We took a ship excursion on a 45 minute ferry ride from St Kitts to the neighboring island of Nevis. Alexander Hamilton was born on Nevis and his birth home is still there, though it was rebuilt after Hurricane Hugo.

The tour then went to a privately owned Botanical Garden, easily the best we have ever seen. Many, many palms, orchids and other tropical plants and birds in a well designed five acre plot. Our guide is a gardener there and has worked at the garden since he was a child. He showed us ‘lipstick palms’, ‘fingernail polish’ plants and ‘old man’s beard palms’. Fountains and streams and statues are around every corner. The place was amazing. We are posting three pictures from the garden.

Close to sailing time, there was a brush fire near town. There have been fires on many of the islands, set by farmers to burn debris from the fields. This is the dry season and sometimes the wind causes the fires to go wild. There was a lot of smoke and ash around the ship, we were asked to keep the balcony doors closed to keep the smoke from coming inside. Hopefully, the fire was stopped before it got to the town! There is a picture of the fire taken as we sailed away.

Tomorrow we will be on St Thomas, the famous shopping island of the Caribbean. Jewelry stores are the big deal and we are thinking of taking a ferry to St John’s Island.

John & Colleen