Nevis

Nevis is a small island in the shape of a perfect volcanic mountain rising out of the sea:

It’s not big, about 5 x 8 miles.  I saw only one town, Charlestown, the biggest on the island. 

Nevis and St. Kitts, an island 2 miles to the north, together comprise a country. 

This was the first time Princess has ever stopped at Nevis.  To me, it looks like a good alternative port to St. Kitts.  (There were 2 large cruise ships at St. Kitts.  A “cat” came to the place we went snorkeling while we were there and there were a hundred or more people on it.  We had 12 on ours.)

This was a tendored port.  The tendor process was smooth.  I had to be ready at 7:45 to get to my tour- snorkeling.  When we got on shore we were met by a guide and the cat we were to take immediately came and picked us up.  We pulled away from the dock and went to sail only.  Our captain told us that this cat was a special one, made by a St. Kitts company.  It was made of wood and designed to be sailed by one person.  It had a 50 foot mast and was a few feet shorter in length.  He said he has sailed it to a top speed of 35 knots. 

We sailed across the 2 mile straight between Nevis and St. Kitts and then a ways up the west coast to a snorkeling diving area off a cliff and rocky shore.  On the way he told us that two years ago a hurricane came “from the wrong direction” and severely damaged the luxury hotel on Nevis.  It was filled with mud and sand.  It has yet to reopen.  More on this in a minute. 

I snorkeled about an hour.  There was some coral fans, but not much coral, mostly sand covered rocks.  The fish sightings were limited to a few of various species, but nothing like what you would expect.   Clearly the hurricane had laid sand down on this area and it has not recovered. 

We sailed back to Nevis, which seemed to take a lot less time, maybe because I wasn’t paying attention or because the wind and currents were more favorable. 

We had to return to the ship by 1.  We got back about 12:15, so I only had about 20 minutes to see the downtown.  It was quaint and very interesting.  I wish we had more time.  

Chris went on an island tour of a sugar plantation and a floral garden.  She didn’t say much about it. 

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