St Kitts

Mega yacht sunset

It was a long slow slog of a motor sail to St Kitts, into the wind and into the seas.  Our boat is heavy so it wasn’t that bad, but we were only averaging 3 knots which took forever.  On top of that the description of the main town where you clear in (Basseterre) was that it is horrendous in the winds we were facing (southeast).  Added to that we’d be getting in at night, so instead we stopped 10 miles north and dropped anchor to get some rest.  One of the rollier anchorages we’ve had to manage for the night, but it got us to daylight the next day.

Christophe Harbor

The anchorage in Basseterre turned out not to be bad at all, so we dropped the dinghy into the water and headed into town to clear in.  Once done with that we decided to explore a bit.  Unfortunately, a) it was Sunday and most local places were closed, including the two restaurants we tried to visit on recommendation, and b) two cruise ships were in town which meant only cheesy tourist shops were open and were flanked with people.  The upside was that we found a supermarket to pick up a few extra things (precious tonic for Trip’s drinks) and ran into a couple (Torben & Judy) we briefly met weeks earlier in Jost Van Dyke.

Christophe Harbor

We got back to the boat and headed south to White House Bay where we were finally protected from some of the winds and nearly all the roll.  For the first time in days we got a really good night’s sleep!  The southern end of the island is also mega yacht capital – we watched multiples come in and drop anchor just behind us.  Also just inland is Christophe Harbor, a local home to the mega yachts.  Mayan Queen IV, who we saw in Maine this past summer was there along with other boats that boggle the mind.  We could have brought the boat into the harbor (certainly dredged deep enough) but instead threw the jerry cans in the dinghy so we could top off water and fuel.

There’s a little coffee shop at the yacht club that provides wifi so we stopped for lunch.  More importantly they have the fabulous Salt Plage (Salt Beach) bar.  We missed the live Latin music the night before (though it wafted out to the boat) but the canned music was still fun.  We had been told that the bar was too expensive to do more than have a single drink, but being from the northeast we didn’t find it that bad and wound up staying for a couple of appetizers too.  The bar is comprised of old tin and equipment from the old salt mills, but also has a great dock plus nets that allow you to savor cocktails while hanging out over the water.  We ran into Torben and Judy again and they invited us for dinner on their boat the next night.

Salt Plage

Salt Plage

We went for a hike the next day up the road where we got some great cliff shots of the anchorage and saw the vervet monkeys that have taken over the island.  Then it was off to dinner.  Judy made pizza which was absolutely delicious and we traded cruising and cooking stories.  I was reminded to pull out my sourdough starter and revive it – if it’s salvageable I’ll share.

Vervet Monkey

Off to Nevis later today!