Nevis & St Kitts

On February 21st we left Barbuda earlier than planned as the weather worsened becoming rainy and windy. We headed to Nevis; after about 20 hours of sailing in 20-25 kn of wind we anchored just in front of the capital Charlestown. An historical note: Columbus called the island Las Nieves because of the clouds looking like snow that often crown Nevis peak.

Port of Nevis

After clearing in, we walked through the village, where we found very friendly people and a nice and colorful atmosphere. Since Sergio badly needed a hair cut, we went to one of the many barber shops. The owner, a young guy coming from Santo Domingo,  was about to start his job using an electrical hair cutter; after Sergio’s firm request to have him use comb and scissors instead, he accepted for an additional amount of money (still quite reasonable). What followed was perfect for a comic movie. The barber’s hand holding the comb was waving in the air emphasizing his storytelling, rarely touching Sergio’s head, while the hand holding the scissors was randomly diving into Sergio’s head without any criteria. We were looking at each other wondering what will have been the final outcome. We left the shop thinking it could have been much worse, however Gemma was immediately appointed as the new personal barber of Sergio!
We spent the rest of the day in a small café in front of the dock where we were finally able to find a reliable WiFi connection to make calls, clear out some backlog and update the blog! The day after we moored to a buoy in front of the Four Season lodge, featuring a beautiful long sandy beach. Quite a touch of elegance!
Even if we found limited places to see and visit, we liked Nevis as a small island, peaceful and authentic.

On February 23rd we crossed the “Narrows”, the small strip of water that divides Navis from St Kitts. We anchored in front of downtown Basseterre, the lively capital of St Kitts. We found once again close to the cruise terminal an artificial “city in the city” made of duty free shops lined up in a colorful architecture. We spent just one afternoon in the city, so we were only able to gather a very superficial impression of the island. On the 24th we left for St Martin where we planned to stay a few days to prepare the boat for the arrival of a couple of friends from Italy. it took us about 9 hours to get to Sint Maarten, just in time to pass under the dutch bridge leading to Marigot bay that opens at 5pm. While we were waiting for the bridge to open we had the pleasant surprise to see “Touch of Gray”, the boat of a British couple who made the passage with our same rally.