St Kitts

We have now been in St. Kitts for a couple of days. We took advantage of an inexpensive daily rate to take a slip in the marina. For the first time in a long time we have a decent Internet connection. The downside is we also have a lot of mosquitoes that are driving us nuts every night.

Basseterre is the classic cruise ship port. Directly off the cruise ship docks are all of the duty free shops with the predictable merchandise: liquor, smokes, jewelry, and perfume. When there is a ship in port the area is pretty active, when the ships sails everything closes down. The rest of the downtown area is very active in the daytime but shuts down at night. We have been advised that it is not safe to go wandering around after dark. It is a short walk to the one bar that stays open but that is part of the tale.

Everything in St. Kitts is quite expensive - more so than any other island we have visited to date. Imported beer is $5 US per bottle. Any beer not brewed on St. Kitts is "imported" - Presidente is an "imported" beer. Add music played in an empty bar at a level sure to cause deafness. So conversation is impossible. What a great place to visit.

Frigate Bay is apparently the party strip. Given that it is a $100 cab ride from the port and that it has a reputation for being quite dangerous at night - roving gangs prey on the women who come to party, including those that are not interested. I had the same experience in the BVI in 2002 and 2003 - groups of men who would surround a woman on the dance floor and grind and grab at her. One could do little about it since they were aggressive to any attempt to stop them. The solution was to just not go out at night. Sad, but that seems to be the norm here also.

We have a couple of days here collecting and then on to Nevis.

Fair winds and following seas