The Cruiser's Guide to St. Kitts
Written: Feb 05 '07 (Updated Feb 05 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Not yet overrun with tourists, great natural beauty, friendly people, warm temperatures
Cons: Not a great place if you wish to shop
The Bottom Line: Who knew this place would be so great?
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| chelledun's Full Review: St. Kitts and Nevis |
I had few expectations regarding St. Kitts going into my January port stop there. Prior to my trip I learned from a book called Sugar and Slaves that the island was called St. Christopher at one point and used to have, well, sugar and slaves. Other than that, I knew pretty much nothing about it. Amazingly I set aside my obsessive compulsive tendencies some on this cruise, due to my husband’s desire that we should leave at least a couple of island ports open to completely spontaneous exploration. St. Kitts was one of these.
During our day on the island we learned that St. Kitts forms a confederation with neighboring island Nevis. The two islands, formerly British colonies, have their own legislature and are self-governing. Interestingly, though, the Queen of England remains the head of state. She obviously doesn’t pop over too much, but she does send a representative. Due to the island’s volcanic nature, the landscape of St. Kitts is very hilly and aesthetically interesting. Most ships dock at Basseterre, the island’s capital and a great place to start touring.
When we visited St. Kitts, the island was blissfully empty of tourists. Our ship, the Crown Princess, was the only one in port. A look at the island’s cruise ship schedule at http://www.stkittstourism.kn/DiscoverStKitts/cruise_itinerary.asp reveals many days with only one large or two small cruise ships in port and some days with none at all, particularly in off season. This makes St. Kitts a refreshing change from the more heavily visited ports of St. Thomas, Mexico, and the Bahamas where you will almost always see from two to a half dozen large ships daily. Despite our lack of preparation or knowledge going in, St. Kitts turned out to be a major highlight of our trip and a place we would eagerly visit again.
Cruise Ship Port and Basseterre
Cruisers disembark on a pier just a minute or two walk from downtown Basseterre. It is necessary to walk through a tunnel filled with tour company booths and then basically a mob of independent drivers offering island tours and various scuba and snorkeling excursions. The booths indoors are a great and relatively nonintimidating place to pick up a tour. We hooked up with Michael B. of Big Banana Tour Company here based on his attractive banana-covered signage. This was our very favorite island tour of the week and I can’t recommend Michael and his banana-bedazzled vehicle enough. Whichever tour operator you choose, make sure you haggle a bit regarding the price, and understand that the tour bus will NOT leave until it is full. We like to hop on one that is almost filled so as to get last-minute prices and avoid a wait for departure. Our three-hour island tour cost is just $20 per person although I know others in our vehicle paid as much as $30.
With the exception of the initial gauntlet of tour companies, we found downtown Basseterre blissfully free of “hard-sell” merchants. Merchants did not stand outside the stores or pressure passers by to enter. The same attitude was reflected among merchants we encountered all over the island. When we visited in January, much of the downtown area consisted of empty storefronts which were being filled with stores geared toward cruise tourists. Think “Del Sol” and the like. Pelican Shopping Mall was one of the few indoor facilities that was full of stores at the time of our visit. We browsed a few local stores selling batik fabric and beaded jewelry but mostly just wandered around this downtown area. Except for batik, St. Kitts is not really a major shopping port at this time as compared to some others.
Don’t miss the Circus of downtown Basseterre. Modeled after Piccadilly Circus in London, this cute little circle shows the island’s British heritage. The bright red phone booths sprinkled around the downtown area also reminded me of my time in England. St. George’s Anglican Church, a very interesting building, is also worth a walk-by. Also just a short walk from the pier sits Independence Square, a park formerly used for slave dealing. Basseterre is small and easily navigable. While a significant amount of car traffic passes through the city, we found drivers to be friendly and eager to wave us across the street. Most of the sights of downtown can be seen in a leisurely hour or so walk. The beauty of St. Kitts lies outside of Basseterre, so be sure to venture out via an island tour or other activity.
Sites to See Around the Island
St. Kitts’ natural wonders take center stage on any island tour. I found this hilly island to be the absolute most beautiful port stop of the fifteen or so I have visited via cruise ship. We got some great views of the various volcanic peaks on our tour around St. Kitts. The truly adventurous volcano lover can even hike up Mount Liamuiga. Don’t worry – they say it’s dormant. This whole extravaganza sounded a bit too strenuous for me, but maybe next time. The highlight of my visit was a stop at the beautiful Black Rocks created by lava deposits long ago. These rocks sit along the ocean and make for breathtaking views and photos. The area around the main photo stop is filled with friendly merchants selling beer and rum-infused coconut halves. We also drove through a portion of the Rainforest during our visit.
Beaches on the island offer great diversity, varying in color from white to black. We passed Pump Bay, an interesting beach with black sand. Most cruisers head to Turtle Beach which has abundant facilities. St. Kitts tour companies and cruise ship excursions give access to typical island water activities including snorkeling, scuba, boating, deep sea fishing, and the like. Unless you are a total and passionate beach bum, on a first visit to St. Kitts I recommend getting out and seeing the great natural variety and beautiful views this island has to offer instead of spending a whole day at the beach.
Practically all tours, private or cruise ship, include a stop at Romney Manor. Touristy but fun, this manor offers beautiful botanical gardens and hosts demonstrations of batik-making. Every batik product imaginable, from t-shirts to pillows to wall-hangings, can be found for sale at fairly reasonable prices, although we found haggling to be ineffective. Batik is a big part of St. Kitts culture and we really enjoyed a look at the labor-intensive process behind it. Brimstone Hill Fortress is another manmade site of great interest to visitors. This fort sits high in the mountains of St. Kitts and, from what we heard, offers a nice little museum and beautiful views of other Caribbean islands. Visiting the fortress can kind of eat a whole morning, because it takes a while to get up so high. We were able to view the fort from the outside and hope to return to St. Kitts and spend a day exploring the inside.
Overall…
We absolutely loved St. Kitts. The people were friendly, the island lovely, and the terrain fascinatingly varied. St. Kitts maintains a unique cultural identity and has not yet become overrun with thousands of tourists daily, making it a nice, peaceful place to tour. Even without planning ahead, we stumbled onto a wonderful day here. I think it would be difficult to have a bad day among such beauty!
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Dec - Feb
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