Antigua, Dominica, St. Kitts

This is day three of our Caribbean stops. We have been to Antigua, Dominica, and today St. Kitts. It has been nice not to have to wear sweaters and jackets, but then again the heat and humidity when you’re not used to it is kind of brutal. These islands have been battered by hurricanes time and time again and some of them have been able to recover faster than others. It’s heart wrenching to see the amount of poverty in these islands. 

In Antigua, we took the included tour which took us on a tour of the island and saw some of the ruins from the British military era and then saw Nelson Dockyards, an upscale marina for the mega yachts.

In Dominica, Michael took the included tour and I took a tour that took us 1,200 feet up the mountain side on a narrow, scary steep and wildly winding road to see a lake.  We spent 30 minutes at this lake wondering why we were there. And of course, we had to go back down the same way we came up. It’s a good thing our driver was very good.

I then went to a hot springs resort to soak in the natural hot springs. It was quite lovely; I wish we had some more time there instead of going to the lake

In St. Kitts, I took a two hour catamaran ride along the coast and then took a two hour train ride through what used to be sugarcane fields. This is a narrow gauge track and going over some bridges was spooky because it was so narrow. It was a double decker train with the lower level enclosed and air-conditioned and the upper level open but covered. There was no way that one could see anything on the lower level because the wild grass has grown up so high, so it was to the upper level I went on a very narrow winding staircase. The train rocked and rolled so much at one could not stand up to take a picture without falling over; you had to hold on for dear life. And as someone with neck issues, I came off the train after two hours really feeling it.

Michael was very pleased with his excursion today on the island of Nevis.  He took a short bus ride from the cruise terminal over to the other end of the island. He then caught a water taxi for a 5 mile trip (which only took seven minutes) over to Nevis.  He was met by another bus which drove him and only five other people about 1000 feet up a mountain to begin about a 2 mile hike.

The guide, who was very good, pointed out a lot of the flora and fauna, and of course the many green monkeys that he saw on the way. He must've seen 30 of them.  The group stopped at an old sugar plantation that employed slaves and a lot of the structures were still there. They continued on down to the beach. This was followed by a delicious spare rib lunch with lots of beer and then two hours on a beautiful beach where the water was 90°