Ceiling And Visibility Unlimited

3-25 Our overnight from Barbuda to St. Kitt’s started about 9. I slept until about 12, but not very good. Josh relieved Cale at 1:00. I went up shortly after to check in on the kids, then probably around 2 it started to rain so I went up and had the kids go inside. I started my shift at 3:30. Kelsey had just gone up with a bad dream and thought Josh was Cale. She was half asleep and then I came up. She slept and hung out with me. When it started getting light she woke up some. She said she wanted to see the sun come up. It was directly behind us and sadly covered by clouds.
Cale started to feel sick around 1:30. He came back up to get us through the channel but then went back to bed on the couch outside and Cole took over. He thinks it was a combination of eating so much right before leaving and then looking at his screen while it was so dark and rollie at night. We hardly had any moon, which makes a big difference in being able to see.
We got anchored at Basse Terre. It was right next to the cruise ship terminal. There were 3 huge ships there. Cale and Josh went to shore to check in. The kids played cards. Customs came by in their boat with their lights on. I explained that the captain was still ashore and they left. They came back when Josh came back in the dinghy. I explained he wasn’t the captain and they left. Then, I was out front trying to take down the Antigua flag because it was all tangled and they came again and said ‘put up your flag.’ I explained I was trying. They were very persistent. We went to shore so we didn’t have to deal with them again. We loaded all the Wester’s bags up and met Cale on shore. St. Kitts looks super cute from the shore. Bright colored buildings. It was nice on shore but very cruise boat feeling. We walked through the busy area and into the historic part. There is an area patterned after Piccadilly square in London called the Circus. We saw that. The town has a lot of French and British influence. It changed hands several times. It’s also burned down in the late 1700s so a lot of the town is from that time period.
We got lunch at a 2nd story restaurant overlooking the Circus Square. Josh and Anne got a cab from there. It was so fun to have them and sad to say goodbye.
We walked back and passed a dance group performance. There were also lots of guys with the cutest monkeys that you could take pictures with. We opted not to, but are hoping to see some in the wild.
We dinghied back to the boat and Cale took a nap, since he was still feeling a little sick. We ended up moving to Frigate Bay, just a bit south. It’s a pretty bay. There were rows and rows of beach chairs they were putting away from the cruise boats. This island definitely sees a lot of cruise boats. We tried to walk to a rental car place but the map wasn’t quite right so we just came back to the boat and had a light dinner before an early bed.

3-26 Church was at 9. I woke up not feeling great. We got there at 8:40 and the gates were locked and no one was there. We decided to wait and sure enough people started coming. It ended up being a pretty good size branch. There were 3 people attending who were investigating, one of which bore his testimony. It was really cool to hear all the testimonies. I also enjoyed Relief Society. Yw didn’t have a lesson so Kira came in with me.
On our way home, our driver took us to Timothy Hill Overlook. It was really amazing views of the water looking out to the Atlantic on one side and the Caribbean on the other. At all the little stops there were monkeys. Our driver said they are baby monkeys they take away from their moms. It makes me wonder what happens to them when they get big. We didn’t support any of the guys with them. We came back to the boat and cleaned and I took a nap hoping to get rid of my cold. Cale picked up the rental car around 3, and we went on a drive around the island to explore. We went to Shipwreck Bay. It’s a real touristy bar right on the beach. It’s all wood and looks really cool. We right away saw monkeys. They put out food for them and they come down. They were really cute. We also saw some mongooses, which they introduced to the island to get rid of snakes in the sugar canes but they killed all the snakes. We drove to the South end of the island where the ferries go back and forth to Nevis, then to Christophine Harbor which is a fancy marina for big yachts that went bankrupt and was never finished. It was still very nice and had several super yachts at it. We watched one of them dock.
We tried a dirt road to go to the beach in the Atlantic side but our rental car wasn’t making it. After a bit of trouble we got the car turned around. We finally found an access point on the other side of the Marriott. There was a ton of sargassum on the beach.
We came back and checked in with Libby on their upcoming trip and had dinner. Cole practiced his spear fishing behind the boat.

3-27 We got busy with school. It’s going pretty good but with guests the past 10 days and more coming soon we are going to really try and focus the next bit.
We left at 11, and started driving the west coast of the island to Brimstone Hill Fort. It is the best fort we’ve seen so far. It’s been very well maintained and improved. It was originally British. There was a month long siege when the French tried to take it over and finally did. Then, just a year later in the Treaty of Versailles the British got it back. Each room had interesting facts including life as a soldier, how people came to be there, food they ate, ways they punished soldiers and so much more. The hardest, saddest, and most compelling part for me was learning about the slaves who were brought here. They were the ones who chiseled, moved, and built the huge fort. It was hard to comprehend what they had to do. The British made the slaves do it because it was felt that the harsh heat was bad for the British to do themselves. It’s so sad to learn about.
We also saw monkeys at the fort just on the side of the road.
We next kept driving towards Black Rocks and encountered a party going down the middle of the road. We were stuck behind it so we all got out of the car, except Cale, and ran up to look. It was a celebration for their sports team winning the Caribbean region all sport, which we think means track. They were dancing and throwing things and climbing on walls. It was pretty crazy.
We drove up to the starting point of Mialunda, which is the large volcano here. The drive up was a tiny road through long grasses and then turned jungle. We didn’t have time to hike but even the drive up was cool.

We found Blackrock Beach which was huge black rocks with giant Atlantic waves crashing. Cole and Cale bought some button up shirts and Kelsey got a monkey. We walked down the tires towards the water. The entire drive was very cool. The island goes from desert looking, almost like Idaho on the south side, to ocean and green grasses, to rocky, then jungle near the volcano. The towns between all had a lot of character, with old churches and colorful small houses. We really enjoyed the variety of what it has to offer. We stopped and got dinner at the container food trucks and then groceries. We spent about 800 ec, so 2-250. It was the most American selection we have seen since we’ve been out. It’s expensive, but kind of nice to see foods we are used to.

3-28
We got up early to catch the sea bridge ferry to Nevis. We had heard it was a 15 minute ride across and that it left every other hour starting at 8. We got there at 7:30 to be sure we got a spot. It was late. Everyone parked so they could back on. It was a bit rough getting the car up the ramp. We got put right up at the back between a big truck full of fruit and another big truck so we couldn’t get out. I was worried we would get sick, but it wasn’t bad, even though we were boxed in super tight. It was a little weird that the truck next to us was swaying so much. It was about a 30 minute ride. Nevis is beautiful. It’s also small. The whole island is basically one big volcano and then land surrounding it. We drove into town first to see the museums. One was about the history of Nevis, slavery and how it came to be. It never gets easier to hear about how horrible it was for the slaves that were brought here. The more I learn the more I continue to wonder how? why? It’s just so horrible. The second museum was about Alexander Hamilton. It was the place were he was born. It was small, but very interesting. Having read a lot of the book and being big fans of the musical it was interesting to see where fact ended and fiction began.
We only thought we had an hour at this point so we hurried around the island. We stopped by the bath houses which are no longer maintained but used to be a very popular spot. They said even the British who founded Jamestown bathed in them when they stopped on Nevis on their way. We drove up through the hills. We passed the rainforest and an old plantation. Once we got down lower the coast line was amazing. We stopped for drinks and then headed to catch the 1:00 ferry, but we noticed as we came into view that the ferry was leaving. We asked at the dock and sure enough we had the times wrong. The next and only ferry left at 5 that night. We were kind of shocked thinking about what to do. We had several problems. 1. We were supposed to return the rental car at 3. 2. We had invited the missionaries to come for a sail and dinner but wouldn’t make it back in time. 3. We had planned to check out of customs so we could leave early enough tomorrow to get to St Martin and get through the draw bridge and check-in.
We took the kids to play at the park and made a bunch of calls to figure it all out. 1. We talked the rental company into letting us bring back the car after hours (although it took Cale a long time to get a hold of them when he tried to later that night). 2. We got a hold of the missionaries and they’d had something come up so that worked out fine. 3. We had to wait until we got off the ferry and hope Cale could make it to the customs in Basse Terre by 7. If not, we’d be stuck until Thursday.
We killed time by grabbing a delicious lunch. It was 4 by the time we finished so we went and waited. We watched the boat guys move one boat out of the way with a tractor and back the other one in. It was scary how little precaution they took and how easily they could be hurt.
The ride back was better. We went up on the viewing deck and it was fun to see out. My kids immediately turned out and just talked and played while looking out at the water.
Cale rushed back as soon as we got to the dinghy and got our papers and then took the car on his mission. He was able to check out of customs after tracking down the worker who at 6:45 was out in the parking lot tinting his friends car windows. Port authority was closed so he had to go to the airport and beg the guy to do it there. They finally relented and he said he had a good laugh with the workers there because one of their co-workers apparently likes to sing loud but doesn’t have a great voice and was belting out a song. He just had the rental car situation left, which as mentioned, took a while but he succeeded. St. Martin here we come. The beach restaurants here have loud music all night which has made it hard for me to sleep!!