We had a lovely, fast sail. We passed between St Eustatius (Statia) and St Kitts about 0100, and, in a nice lee, calmly sailed down the coast. The water is 200+ ft deep right up to the shore. We were so close you could smell the land. The half moon was in and out of the clouds, so the water was dark. I had the 00-0300 watch, and was startled to hear what I believe was a whale blow alongside several times. Couldn't see it in the dark, but later learned that the northwest coast of St Kitts is a breeding ground. After Tricia took over, we hove to at 0400 off Basseterre. We entered the new Port Zante Marina next to the cruise ship terminal at 0700. Our friends on Antares were along the quay. The dock master pointed to the spot behind them and told us that was our berth. Tricia was sure it wasn't 44 feet long, but I felt it was OK. With an onsetting breeze, I modestly must say that I executed a text book approach and landing. 1 foot ahead and 1 foot behind was more than enough room. And no bow thruster!
Later that morning, the sport fisherman on the bow left. A charter skipper was assigned that spot. He promptly crashed into the concrete pier and my anchor. His gelcoat suffered worse than my anchor. They only stayed one day. Too bad.
Tricia's turn: So when I was in St. Kitts, from 1987-1989, ugh, the country had only been independent from Great Britain for 4 years. There was no tourism, sugar cane the only source of income, and not much of that. Unemployment was something like 70%. The island was poor, unwelcoming for the most part, and unsafe. I was pleasantly surprised to find not only the new marina (they had none when I was there), but a cruise ship dock, and a town that is trying very hard to embrace tourism. They are building everywhere, mostly homes, but now in addition to Ross School of Veterinary Medicine, there is also a medical school and a nursing school. There is no more sugar cane. There are new restaurants, bars, grocery stores, and shops that cater to tourists. Some of my old hangouts were still in business ( Fisherman's wharf, the chicken shack), and some were gone. Some had been recreated into bigger and better - the bar at monkey beach, which I'll get to....
So as soon as we could get wifi hooked up, I was emailing Adrienne K. ( a former technician at Chesapeake Veterinary Hospital), and Judy C. (my former equine dentist) who now go to Ross School of Veterinary Medicine, my alma mater. Mat hasn't shared much about our phone experiences here, but let me sidetrack for a minute to explain why I couldn't just call Adrienne and Judy. AT&T wouldn't unlock our phones before we left. Mine was still under contract, Mat's came from Alcatel, who wouldn't unlock his, and the girls' were AT&T Go Phones that weren't on my account, so a no go on unlocking those. Our choices were to buy a new phone that was unlocked and get SIM cards in each country we visit, or use AT&T with a $2.50/minute fee. So while we were in BVI's, Mat bought two new phones from Digicel that were 'unlocked'. Digicel lied. Not unlocked. Tried to get a hacker to unlock them while we were in St. Martin, no luck there, after already purchasing (stupid) a St. Martin SIM card. Mat refused to buy anymore phones, so it was wifi or bust.
Luckily, as all college students do, Adrienne and Judy check their email frequently, and we arranged to meet at someplace named The Strip after classes were done. We hoofed it into town, to find that the local buses only go to outlying communities, not to the beaches. The Strip, as they call it, is Frigate Bay Beach. So we hired a taxi for the short ride out of town, with no idea how we'd get back. Frigate Bay beach used to be a Ross hang out, and it still is, but it looks nothing like the old beach. The old beach had one cabana-type bar called Monkey Bar, and a few lounge chairs. The Strip now contains 4-5 bars/restaurants and a series of beach volleyball courts. Monkey Bar has been expanded, cleaned up (no more graffiti), and serves decent mexican food. But gone was the local flavor...a single grill with some local Rastas serving grilled lobster every weekend. In fact, lobster is no longer a once a week food. We haven't even eaten any, as it costs about $30-40 US for a lobster dinner anywhere we have been. I digress...So Mat and Cary played V-ball, students vs. profs, while I caught up with Adrienne and Judy, drank beers, and made plans for the next day, all the while being guarded (students) by private security guards that the school provides.
The next morning Adrienne picked us up and took us to see the new and improved Ross. We had to get passes to get through security, and were chastised for not pre-arranging a visit. Once in, we met up with Judy, and her family and boyfriend who were visiting. All took the tour. What was once three open air buildings and a snack shack is now a real university with more buildings than I could count. The landscaping was beautiful, the upgrades in the teaching facilities top-notch. They even have a poisonous plant garden, a museum, on-site dormitories, and a school for staffs' children. They have air-conditioning! The livestock have real fencing, and the grass that you see in the following picture is cut by hand and brought into the paddocks everyday.
There is a heard of donkeys, of cattle, of sheep, and about 6 horses. Bandages seen above are to keep injection sites clean. Adrienne is almost done her time here at St. Kitts. The pic below is of the two of us with the dorms in the background.
Below - all of us had to pet the donkeys. They are very spoilt, but cute! Mat made some comment about this pic - Asses & Asses.... We won't say whose is whose.
From left to right: Cary, Ginny, Adrienne, Me -
We said good-bye to our friends, after being awed by what Ross has evolved into, and made our way back to town. We hopped into Joe's taxi, and were dropped off first at a restaurant along the bayfront for some nice Roti, then off to the other end of the island to see Brimstone Fort. The fort has spectacular views, is well preserved, and offered some good hiking. That's St. Eustatia in the background.
Once back at the marina, we were introduced to a live aboard named Pat Kelley. Turns out he is a small animal prof at Ross, and oh, by the way, Tricia would you be interested in a clinics position at Ross? So, he emailed the head of Clinics, and tried to set up a meeting before we left St. Kitts the following day. Unfortunately, the Head of Clinics was out of town, so a meet and greet would have to wait. As much as I would love to try my hand at that type of work, Ginny was adamant that she could not live and go to high school in St. Kitts. Alas, it will have to wait until the girls have flown the coup. We said goodbye to St. Kitts, and headed south.
No comments:
Post a Comment