Today we were docked in St. Kitts. This is actually a 2 island nation called St. Kitts and Nevis. Basseterre is the capital. St. Kitts is small, being 29 km long and on average about 8 km across. Interestingly enough, we were told not to wear camouflage onto the island.
We wanted to go to Romney Manor, and were told aboard ship that a taxi would cost us $16. Well, that price would only get us a seat on an open air multi-person tour, Anton called them cattle cars. We had a bit of a hard time finding someone to take just the 2 of us, especially because we specified no time limit to our stay at the manor. We finally got Leroy for $60. This was our "taxi":
Leroy showed us some sites through town. A few times he stopped to show us something, and a guy with a monkey in a diaper would come over, wanting us to pay him for a picture. Which we refused to do since it exploits the poor monkeys.
We explored the ruins of the Wingfield Estate from the 1600's. It was a sugar mill and rum distillery.
We spent a fair bit of time at Romney Manor, which was settled by King Tegreman, a Carib Indian leader. It was all part of the Wingfield Estate. When he died, the land was claimed by Sam Jefferson, the great great great grandfather of Thomas Jefferson. Sam Jefferson sold it to the Earl of Romney.
Romney Manor is the home of Caribelle Batik, and we watched demonstrations of the extensive dyeing process involved. One piece of material can be dyed up to 7 times.
We spent most of the time walking around the gardens. We especially loved the 400 year old saman tree, its canopy covers over two thirds of an acre (the size of our property back home).
We complained to Leroy that we had missed the heiroglyphs. Turns out he had taken us there but a guy with a monkey in a diaper distracted us. So Leroy kindly took us back to see them. Not sure it was worth it:
Then Leroy drove us to the other side of the island, to Timothy Hill, an overlook of the island with a view of both the Atlantic and the Caribbean Oceans.
We had lunch on board the ship, then went into town and browsed the shops for the afternoon. We bought some fantastic t-shirts from a nifty store called Pirana Joe, here is Anton in front of the shop with his t-shirt. Unfortunately, when we got home from our trip, we discovered that we had left the t-shirts behind. So they never even got worn once. :(
We found a bench and chatted with a couple from Germany who both work for Wolkswagon, they feel a little betrayed by the company.
This was our usual dinner seat aboard the ship:
Tonight the ship had a comedian for entertainment, who has appeared on America's Got Talent. We actually did not like him and left.
Tonight the ship had a comedian for entertainment, who has appeared on America's Got Talent. We actually did not like him and left.
Captain Kate's Confucius saying of the day:
"Woman who walks in circles, finds defeat."
"Woman who walks in circles, finds defeat."
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