November 30, 2010
Monday 11/15: St. Kitts, in port 8am-5pm
I had pre-arranged a full island tour of St. Kitts through Pereria Tours ($30 for ~4 hours), so after an early breakfast, I got off the ship and headed into town. Liz Pereria was a delight to work with, and she was extremely helpful in setting up my perfect day in St. Kitts. She always responded to my emails promptly, and answered all of my questions. Liz was waiting for me right at the port, and introduced me to the other two ladies who were sharing the tour. Then we walked over to meet our tourguide/driver Seamoss, and we hopped in the air-conditioned van and set off on our excursion. It was really nice for us that only 3 people signed up for this tour, as there was plenty of space in the 15-seat van, and we could tweak the itinerary more to our liking.
First we drove through town a little bit, and then drove up to the Romey Manor Caribelle Batik. We watched a brief demonstration of how to make a batik:
and then had some time to shop in the store, and explore the botanical gardens on site.
Then we drove through a rain forest and headed back out to the main road to head to Brimstone Fortress. Our original itinerary involved a stop at Brimstone and time to walk around the fort, but our driver offered us the option to simply drive up to the top of the mountain right outside the fort entrance, take some photos from the outside, and then drive back down without getting out of the car or paying the $8 entrance fee. We picked this option so we would have more time for an extra stop at the end of our tour, and as we were driving back down the mountain, I noticed a man with a video-recorder taping us. I asked Seamoss if this was for security, and he asked if we REALLY wanted to know what it was for. When we said yes, he turned on the radio and every single radio station was talking about the robbery that happened to the Celebrity Mercury passengers the day before! I won’t go into the details of the event, as there are plenty of posts about it already on cruise critic. Up until this moment, I had no idea what had happened, and I was very thankful that Summit docked that day, and not one day earlier! I did feel very safe on St. Kitts, possibly because they strongly stepped up security the day after the incident. I didn’t realize it at the time, but Seamoss said he had locked the van doors on the way up to the fort (just in case!)
Anyway, the next stop Seamoss took us to is a place where you can see the Atlantic Ocean meet the Caribbean Ocean. This was not planned as part of our tour, but I was so happy he brought us here as I found it so interesting. I had always assumed the place where two oceans meet was as seamless as driving across state lines, where you might not even notice the change, but I was very wrong! The currents from the two oceans flow towards each other, and meet to form a small wave crest in the middle of the water. It was beautiful and mesmerizing to watch! Definitely something I would recommend seeing if you are ever in St. Kitts.
The white crest of waves out in the middle of the water is where the two oceans meet:
Next, we drove passed a black sand beach made from the volcanic ash:
and then we headed over to the Black Rocks (also formed from the volcano)
Our last stop was added into the tour by request. I had heard that the view from Timothy Hill was beautiful and worth seeing, so I asked Seamoss to take us there. In one direction, you can see the resort area in St. Kitts, including a 900-room Mariott and several golf clubs:
In the other direction, you can see all the way to Nevis, with the Atlantic Ocean on the left and Caribbean on the right. Notice how different the currents are between the two oceans!:
The tour ended at around 1:30pm back at the pier, where I boarded the ship and ate lunch from the pasta bar.
Then I went back off the ship to do some shopping near the port. The port area is newly-developed (and growing more every day based on all the construction projects I saw), and there are tons of souvenir shops and jewelry stores. I went back on the ship around 4:30 and headed to the sushi buffet for a snack, before getting ready for the evening.
Tonight’s show was comedian Jim McDonald. While some of his jokes bordered on grotesque, I thought most of the show was funny. He used a slide show presentation at the end which was hysterical! It was also nice to have one night off from singing and dancing haha
Then off to dinner, which was delicious as always!
Escargot off the every night menu. This was my first time trying escargot, and after one bite I was hooked! I literally ordered it every night for the rest of the cruise (but I only took a photo on the first night). The best part was dipping the fresh bread in the garlicy butter:
Lobster Bisque, also off the every night menu:
Mediterranean Seafood Risotto:
Chocolate Praline Cake:
Dana's Destination Diary 