I was amazed at how many barber shops I saw while walking around Charlestown on Nevis. It seemed to be way more than the 11,000 inhabitants could support, but I…
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Saint Christopher (St Kitts) & Nevis are a two-island country In the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean. The names supposedly come from Christopher Columbus who named them San Cristóbal (Saint Christopher) his patron saint and Nuestra Señora de las Nieves (Our Lady of the Snows) due to the almost permanent cloud cover over Nevis.
One of the famous green monkeys
Both the British and French settled on St Kitts in 1623 and choose to try and live peacefully on either end of the island. Unfortunately, they forgot to include the Native America tribe already living on the island in the discussions. For three years there was hostility, before both European forces massacred the natives. After this both the British and French spread their colonization out to other islands of the Caribbean with St Kitts being the mother colony.
Helpful Info
Population – 55,000 (44,000 on St Kitts and 11,000 on Nevis)
Money – shares the Eastern Caribbean dollar with 5 other countries and 2 British islands (fixed at US$1 = EC$2.70)
Language – English
Religion – 83% Christian
When to go – Dec-June is most popular. Summer is nice also, but a little hotter and more humid. Hurricanes most active Aug-Oct.
World Heritage Sites – 1 – Brimstone Hill Fortress
Country formed – Independence from United Kingdom on 19 Sept 1983
Towards the end of the 1600’s the two European powers were fighting each other for control of the island. France finally ceded it to Britain in 1713, who held it until they formed an independent country in 1983.
All aboard for the St Kitts train
My Visit
During my 2017 cruise through the Leeward Islands We stopped at St Kitts & Nevis on our return loop to the Virgin Islands. I must say we fell in love with Nevis and it was our favorite island we visited.
Likes, Dislikes, and Recommendations
Brimstone Hill is so huge it will wear you out
These two islands are only separated by two miles and once you are here they are very easy to sail between the two. Both of the islands have some wonderful things to see and do. The best thing by far on St Kitts is Brimstone Hill Fort. You can also ride a historic train, hike the mountain, wander around town, visit Romney Manor, and have beach time (the southern end is best for this). Over on Nevis there are several historic sites in town and outside of town you can go up the mountain a bit and see the Hermitage House. Plus, there is the botanical garden that is great.
Hermitage House is the oldest in the Caribbean
The bad part of St Kitts and Nevis is the limited anchorages. On St Kitts you have a shipyard at the northern end, an anchorage and marina in town, and some coves at the south end. Nevis has even less with the main anchorage and maybe an extra one to the north. If the weather turns bad, you need to really consider which one to use, because most are not suitable.
Soon you can get even more helpful hints by watching the travel videos I made for Kitts & Nevis. Also, you can read what all I did there in my blog posts located below the video.
All Blogs From St Kitts & Nevis
That is a super easy answer….the hot springs!!!! On the outskirts of Charlestown (to the west) you will find a natural hot spring. This spring was once a huge tourist…
As I walk around Charlestown on Nevis admiring the architecture, that I wrote about yesterday, I started noticing all the murals painted around town. The one using the name Nevis…
Whenever I visit the island of Nevis, I love simply walking around the main town on Charlestown and admiring the architecture. To me it is gorgeous, even in the sometimes…
Christopher Columbus named the island of Nevis Santa Maria de las Nieves, which translates to Santa Maria of the Snow, because of the ever present cloud covering the top of…
If you have ever cruised St Kitts you know that there is a lack of good anchorages, but White House Bay is a shining exception. This bay offers protection in…
St Kitts is a long island sitting in a roughly southeast to northwest direction and the bay around the capital of Basseterre can get quite rough if the wind is…
The answer may surprise you. It is bamboo. Now I bet you are wondering why I am talking about bamboo, which is part of the Asian culture, when I have…
Back in the begining of August I shared an article I wrote and submitted to several sailing magazines. Well turns out Multihull Sailor chose to publish it in thier fall…
[Shane – this week I broke up an article I wrote summarizing our cruise for some sailing magazines. The first part was on Sunday, the second part was on Tuesday, and…
[Shane – on Sunday I told you how I wrote an article and submitted it to some sailing magazines, but I was letting my readers read it first. This is…
[Shane – this is an article I wrote and submitted to several sailing magazines to see if they would be interested in publishing it. Of course, my readers do not…
I hope you enjoyed reading about the St Kitts Scenic Railway yesterday and St Kitts as a whole the last two weeks. We looked our time here, but it is now…
Then St Kitts is the place to do it, because it has the “last railway in the West Indies”. This historic track was laid down between 1912-26. It went in…
Today’s photo of the day is of abandoned railroad tracks on St Kitts. A railroad in the Caribbean, you might ask. Yes and you can still ride part of it….
I know that sounds weird to say, but you will see why in a while. First let me tell you about Romney Manor and the surroundings. It sits about a…
Today’s photo of the day is of the Wingfield Estate ruins. It is right next to the Romney Manor and Caribelle Batik. The factory was run with water power thanks…
On the northwest corner of St Kitts there is a hill near the water that is very steep and imposing. In fact, it is so imposing that the French who…
Today’s photo of the day is one Melek took of me resting during our 4+ hours at Brimstone Hill. This hilltop fortress is a World Heritage Site and I am…
As you can probably tell by the blogs we have written, we loved our time on St Kitts & Nevis. It is so laid back and there is just enough…
Today’s photo of the day is of Melek looking out from one of the Brimstone Hill cannons. Down below you can see the St Kitts Marine Works, which is one…
In the islands, life is generally quite relaxed, they are not in a hurry to do anything. That’s why most of the time we had to wait for customs or…
The photo of the day today is one of me taking kite surfing lessons. The reason it is perfect for today is because we just finished writting about Nevis, which…
After our little engine problem with the dingy (we wrote about it in the previous blog) we started our third day of exploring the Nevis. Our first stop was the…
Did you enjoy Melek’s humorous story yesterday about the dinghy issue? Well on Sunday she will share one of the most beautiful places on a gorgeous island. today’s and Wednesday’s…
Shane wrote about our engine problem that stopped working half way to Barbuda during our Antigua blogs. Well this time as we while we were in Nevis and motoring towards…
You will have to wait until Sunday to find that out, but I loved the photo so much I wanted to share it with you. Tomorrow Melek will tell you…
In the mountains of St Kitts and Nevis there live thousands upon thousands of green back monkeys. These monkeys were brought from Africa along with the slave trade in the…
Today’s photo of the day is my favorite photo I got of the green back monkeys on Nevis. As much as tourist love seeing these guys, the locals find them…
As soon as I heard that the oldest house in the Caribbean was on Nevis, I knew I had to go and visit. Our visit got even better because during…
This is a question you will ask a lot in the eight countries that use the East Caribbean dollar (EC$). All eight of these countries are former British territories, except…
It is called the Hermitage House and I will tell you all about it on Sunday. Until then enjoy today’s photo of the day and think of it as a…
This is the fifth island that we have been to so far, I liked something about every island but Nevis was the best by far! I couldn’t believe how many…
The cloud always sits on top of the island and when Christopher Columbus first sighted it he mistook it for snow, so he named it “Nuestra Senora del las Nieves”…