Hiking Photos

     Here are some pictures from our hike up Riviere de Deshaies. I am currently in an internet cafe in the Saintes attempting to type on a French keyboard...it feels like learning to type all over again!
Nicole.

Hiking Riviere Deshaies

      In the leeward chain of Caribbean islands (which includes Saba, Statia, St. Kitts and Nevis, Anguilla, St. Martin/Sint Maarten, Antigua, Guadeloupe, and Dominica) you can often see several of the other islands in the distance while sailing from one to the next. On the sail from Montserrat we could see Antigua in the distance and part way through the day Guadeloupe emerged from the white haze ahead. After a sunny day trip we arrived in a sheltered bay by the small fishing village of Deshaies (pronounced Day-ay). Red roofs are framed by green hills and the town has the feel of a small European village accented with the bright colours often associated with the Caribbean. Guadeloupe is a territory of France and has a population of about 330 000, making it the most populated island we’ve visited so far. Deshaies is on the western island of the two islands that form Guadeloupe, comically named “Basse-Terre” (low-land), despite being higher than “Grande-Terre” to the east. It is of volcanic origins and consists of many towering green peaks.

     During the first night here winds funneled down the hills in a constant stream, often gusting to 40 knots. It was quite different from White House Bay in St. Kitts because there the wind would come in large swirls then calm down again, whereas here it is constant like a wind tunnel. Yesterday we chose to hike up Riviere Deshaies into the mountains. It was the most strenuous and rewarding hike we’ve done yet, requiring us to clamber over rocks of all sizes for several hours. Vines hung from trees all around along with monstrous spider plants. Everywhere we looked was green: green vines twisting around trees and bushes, green elephant ear-shaped leaves clinging to cliffs, green moss coating the rocks of the river, even bright green geckos hiding on old logs. Scrambling through the bush, Sarah and I got scraped by a plant that made our legs sting and my knee began to swell until I doused it with cool river water. 

     Higher along the river we passed two local men carrying small wooden traps, perhaps to catch crayfish. The river cascaded into shallow pools of clear water and the slate blue rocks had a rusty red buildup below the surface. After a few hours a road appeared on our left side, but we continued on as our guidebook suggested, and came to a beautiful pool of cold water before a cave. The water made for a refreshing and well-deserved swim. Jamie and I decided to scale a huge boulder blocking the way into the cave and came out into the end of the cave where the water cascades down from a slide-shaped crevice above. I tried not to think about what might lurk in the deep pool behind the rock, but standing there beneath the isolated beauty of the cool waterfall was so exhilarating and well worth the long hike. The cave was beautiful and captivating in an all-to-yourself kind of way and the difficult climb into the cave (requiring some decent wall-climbing skills) made us wonder how many people had experienced its beauty before us. The lovely waterfall, refreshing fresh water and quiet rainforest all combined to create the perfect traveler's experience.

Nicole.

Impressions of St. Kitts

     Basseterre is a Caribbean city with friendly people and a tangible culture. Many buildings are older in colonial British and French styles, the streets have open sewer drains, and reggae and calypso music play from many store speakers. Throughout the day people sit along the downtown streets just "liming"- a relaxed attitude that involves sitting around, chatting and enjoying life. Walking through the roundabout of the circus, taxi drivers called out to us from all sides asking if we wanted tours of the island. No cruise ships were docked so many unoccupied taxis with unique names painted on the front sat waiting. One driver with a brightly tie-died shirt and matching green, red and yellow beard shouted "ah sailors off the boat! The one's yesterday were delicious!" leaving us laughing as we walked deeper into the city.

     Funny enough, our guidebook talks about this colorful character saying, "Ready to party? Call Christian Rameshwar at Tangerine Tours. Christian is from Trinidad and likes to get his passengers in fine spirits with an open bar of lots of beer and four types of rum. He wears very brightly colored clothes and a beard tinted to match. His tour vehicle is a big open bus, where you sit with the breeze and the view. Christian, who loves having fun, will jolly along anyone with Eeyoreish tendencies. He is knowledgable and eloquent on historical tours."

     As the day progressed vendors filled the streets selling fruit, vegetables, homemade rum, and knockoffs of jewelry. One looked like a typical hotdog stand but instead of street meat they sold packets of candy. Port Zante sits along the waterfront just off the long cruise ship dock. It is filled with duty-free shops selling jewelry and what I like to call 'made-in-China tourist crap.' Tacky tourist stuff that you can find just about anywhere. Happily I stumbled upon a lovely little craft shop beside the National Museum that had a small hand painted sign outside advertising, "Made in St. Kitts and Nevis, not China." I couldn't resist going in and I'm so glad I did. The lady running the shop made us feel so welcome. She told me all about growing up sailing with her Dad around St. Kitts, Nevis and Statia. I ended up buying a few small things, including some hand painted items made from calabash, which she explained is a large hollow fruit grown on trees and made into bowls and other small objects. She also assured me that everything in the shop was made by local artists.

     Outside of the city we anchored in White House Bay along the southern stretch of St. Kitts. Green peaks rise up along the length of the island, covered in bush and grasses of green, yellow and brown. Many of the beaches are a dark grey-brown, fairly rocky, with cliffs dipping down into the sea. Nevis towers in the distance, clouds capping its main peak. So far we've done a lot of swimming, snorkeled a small wreck by the rocky shore, and gone hiking along the road around two large salt ponds and a trail up a peak right by the anchorage. After snorkeling on the first day here, I was eager to explore on shore. As I walked a beach with large pale oval stones I glanced down the curve of the beach and caught sight of a small herd of white goats trotting towards me. On and on they came, led by a white bearded old man of a Billy goat. The first thought in my head was, "I wonder if they're coming to drive me off the beach?" As they rapidly closed the ground between us I retreated into the shallows to let them pass. Quickly as they appeared they were gone, clambering off into the bushes, leaving only scents of goat cheese and curdled milk in their wake.

     On our first hike ashore, Jamie, Dad and I caught sight of our first African green vervet monkey darting off the beach and into the low bushes. Small, shy creatures, they popped out of the bushes along the main road and quickly disappeared from view, like deer dodging cars back home. Jamie and I had fun wandering the main road to view the salt ponds and developing real estate on the many hills. We explored a bay to the north side and Jamie mused about kiting in the large murkey salt pond. Today we took the dinghy into the salt pond where Dad and Jamie intended to try kiting, but it was such a swamp! The water was yellowy-green, rocks and pipes protruded through the murk and when Jamie put his foot on the bottom it stuck about a foot into sticky brown muck.

     White House Bay has been an interesting anchorage in many ways. The water is clear and clean, it is fairly secluded with only a few other cruisers anchored around, and there is a useful dock nearby, courtesy of Christope Harbour Development. They are actually converting the nearby salt ponds into a marina, although it is early along in the process. There have been a few negative factors to this anchorage as well. Every day the wind swirls down the nearby hills, tossing the boat around as it funnels into the bay. As Mom likes to say, "The wind goes from zero to sixty knots in five seconds." A bit of an exaggeration, but we did have a problem after the first night when our anchor chain decided to wrap itself around a large piece of metal wreck on the bottom. Every time the wind tossed us in the night the chain would yank and make a banging sound on the bow. It took a lot of maneuvering and Jamie snorkeling in the water telling us what to do to release it. It ended with the anchor free and the piece of metal broken in two separate pieces. After that we made sure to snorkel the area all along the chain to make sure it was clear.

     So far St. Kitts has been a beautiful welcoming country. I can't wait to rent a car next week and drive the undulating hills. Jamie and Dad hope to kite off the north side of Frigate Bay tomorrow. So far our plan is to wait for the part Dad ordered for the auto pilot to arrive and then move on to explore Nevis. I think renting mountain bikes on Nevis will be a great way to explore, and the guidebook assures me that you can get around the whole island in one morning at a leisurely pace.

     We managed to get a sim card for the iPad so we do have Internet all the time now, but I cannot get pictures onto it, so they will follow soon. Also, Jamie has put together an awesome video of photos and video footage from our time in the BVIs and St. Kitts. So that'll be up when we head back to Basseterre to rent a car next week.

All the best,
Nicole.

Hiking on "Alvin's Heights"

     Late Tuesday morning, while Dad and Jamie went kiteboarding yet again, the rest of us went on a long hot hike above Biras Creek Resort on Virgin Gorda. A trail leads along the waterfront of the Bitter End Resort, through a swampy mangrove trail full of skittering lizards, to several trails around Biras Creek. This resort struck us as the perfect escape: small, secluded, intimate, in a tropical setting overflowing with colourful plants and flowers, with a heavy price tag to match its tranquil setting. It boasts a location between three different bodies of water- the North Sound, the Atlantic Ocean and the strikingly blue Caribbean Bay. We've hiked the "Orchid Trail" several times now, passing up above the Bitter End for a nice view of the North Sound, then down to the far side of that resort. This time we took a path called "Alvin's Heights," which cuts up a higher hill to overlook all three bodies of water.

Biras Creek

     Scrambling up the dry red earth, the landscape gradually shifted from palm trees and turk's cap cactus to pipe organ cactus and frangipani. At the very top, the plants changed again and sun-bleached grasses crowded the forest floor beneath trees intertwined with green vines. Hiking to the summit was hot, sweaty work, but looking down on the North Sound from a new perspective brought smiles to our faces. After an out-and-back to "Alvin's Lookout," the trail turns towards the tragically-named "Lover's Leap," before descending over loose red rocks to a beach of stone and dried coral beside the simple luxury of Biras Creek's ocean suites. Back at the Bitter End, we discovered the perfect answer to our strenuous trek: a delicious, calorie-infused, melting-in-the-hot-Caribbean-sun, ice cream bar. Anyone who knows me well knows I love my ice cream. And how I've missed my daily fix since the boat life began!

All the best,
Nicole.