Nevis island is situated in the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean, just 1,600 miles from New York City and 1,200 miles from Miami. In the center of Nevis island is the dormant volcano Nevis (3,232 ft high).
Picture going to a Caribbean island in the 1950’s, before all the commercial development, and you will have an idea what Nevis is like. This said, don’t get the idea that Nevis is backwards……far from it, Nevis has one of the highest literacy rates in the world. Only 12,000 inhabitants (but with 90% literacy!) reside on island’s 36 square miles. The law here holds that no building can be taller than the surrounding palm trees.
Dinghy dock at Nevis.
The currency here is the East Caribbean dollar. One East Caribbean dollar is equal to roughly 268 cents. So things things look expensive but really are not. This really requires some thought when making purchases…do I really want to buy that bag of chips for 12.00 EC? For me it always seemed like I was spending lots but I really wasn’t.
Around town.
The very first inhabitants in Nevis were the Sibonay Indians. The belief is that 2,100 years ago, Nevis broke off from Central America and arrived where it is today. Other Indian tribes migrated themselves over to Nevis including Arawak Indians from Venezuela and Carib Indians.
Ital van. Lots of Vegans in Nevis and St. Kitts.
Long ago, St. Kitts and Nevis were the pearls of the British Caribbean, rich and enormously important islands that were celebrated throughout Europe. Nevis, the “Queen of the Caribbees,” possessed unimaginable wealth from its super-productive sugar industry, while on St. Kitts the impregnable fortress of Brimstone Hill stood as the Gibraltar of the West Indies. In this venerable history is plenty of romance as well, for it was on Nevis that the dashing young Horatio Nelson met, courted, and wedded Fanny Nisbet, all the while attending to the whirling social life of the island’s prosperous plantation estates.
Old plantation that we hiked to.
View of the Caribbean sea from the plantation.
Nevis is the smaller of the two islands that make up the small island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis. A former British colony, the islands became independent in 1983. They are separated by a 2-mile wide channel called “The Narrows”.
Can you see how BIG the tree is behind Rachel??
Baobab Tree, the largest on the island, which also marks the entrance to Montravers Estate, built by English planter John Pinney. People believe these massive trees hold the spirits of the dead and that is why they are also referred to as the Sacred Baobab. In ancient times, leaders would have their meetings under huge Baobabs to discuss matters of great importance. According to them, the Baobab Tree didn’t just provide shelter, but also held magical properties which would aid them in making wise decisions.
The origin of Nevis island name…
The island was first named Oualie – The Land of beautiful waters by the native Caribs. Afterwards …
The volcano was named by Christopher Columbus when he first discovered the island in 1493. He thought the white stuff on the top of the volcano was snow so called it Nieve – or Nuestra Señora de Nieves (nieve meaning snow in Spanish). Columbus misunderstood it as it was clouds covering the peak but later on the British couldn’t pronounce Nieves properly and misspelled it as Nevis. Though Christopher Columbus was the first to spot and name Nevis, he never went onto the island. Captain Barthemow Gilbert was the first recorded visitor in 1603. In 1628, the British settle in Nevis. In 1629, the island was invaded and taken over by the Spanish. For the next 200 years, this went on. The government switched constantly between the British, Dutch, French and Spanish.
Charlestown, the capital of Nevis, is a small, picturesque town, with a Main Street lined with Georgian stone buildings which are examples of the architectural style of the colonial era, sporting breezy balconies and wooden upper floors over a ground floor built of stone. Nevis is not commercially developed. No Burger King, Taco Bell or Pizza chains here!
Alexander Hamilton, the guy on the $10.00 bill that might be in your pocket right now was born on Nevis. Alexander Hamilton got married in St. John’s and the copy of his marriage certificate can still be found there.
Very interesting is the Horatio Nelson Museum, originally called Nevis museum when it opened on March 22 1992. Nelson, a British Army officer who came to Nevis first in 1785, got imprisoned on Nevis and he married a Nevisian girl, Fanny Nisbet. (I remember his name from history classes and hope you too!) Later in 1805 Nelson died in the Battle of Trafalgar and his body was sealed in a cask of brandy to preserve it until the burial funeral at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
The Spring House, a two story masonry structure which was constructed from local hand cut stones. This building sits on the bank of the Bath Stream. The facility comprises of five thermal baths whose source of water springs from the base of the house. A series of earthquakes in the 1950’s severely damaged the structure and it was never restored.
The Baths. The springs are produced by groundwater that comes in contact with hot volcanic rock along subsurface fault lines. The result is water temperatures ranging from 105 to 109.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Bathing in the water is said to be an antidote for Manchineel burns from the sap of the Manchineel tree. It’s also said to bring relief to those suffering aching bones, rheumatism, gout muscle and other tensions. This is one natural hot tub!
The land here rises upward into a cloud forest filled with elusive green vervet monkeys and brilliant tropical flowers. Green Vervet Monkeys are vegetarians, and weigh anywhere from 8-18 pounds, standing anywhere from 10-18 inches high and these guys are all over the place! Originally these monkeys were brought to both St. Kitts and Nevis by French plantation owners at the turn of the 17th century as pets for the plantation owners’ wives and families.
Eventually the French were deported and the monkeys were not allowed to enter the boats so they were abandoned on the island. This did not pose a threat for them because St Kitts had ideal climate and vegetation with no enemies. They began to multiply and to date they have out-populated humans on the island.
Monkeys are everywhere…
Apparently monkeys like peanuts.
On a sad note a blood bank of over 15,000 specimens is maintained at a research center here and they also sell the monkeys to other research facilities. Tissue from the Green Monkey kidneys is used in the production of polio vaccines and other disease related projects. They give up their lives for us, not willingly I’m sure!
We had fun exploring Nevis. We hiked trails to plantation ruins, walked all over town and of course I found more broken china everywhere! Brian and Rachel broke out the bikes and rode further than we could walk.
Another much smaller Baobab Tree.
The anchorage was nice and calm while we were here which is always a treat. They require that you pick up a mooring ball and Brian did not have to haul the anchor up when we left, so he liked that part too!
More china I found around town…I even found a baby doll arm. Makes me wonder how old it might be and who played with it?
We had been doing some research and thinking lately on where we should pull the boat out for hurricane season. We’ve been looking for just the right boat yard to leave Moon so that we do not have to worry about her while we went back to work and so that we can paint her bottom when we return. We decided on the St. Kitts Marine Works boatyard.
Up she goes!
So now Moon sits on the dry at the boatyard. The neatest thing about this yard is that it sits and the foot of Brimstone Hill. We have a great view of the fort from where Moon is. It’s like she is being protected by the cannons high above and waiting for our return.
Digging a trench to set Moon in. Brimstone Hill Fortress is on the hill just behind the tractor.
We hopped on a plane and are now in south FL visiting family. We plan on heading back to PCB in a few days where we will get back to the daily grind of landlubber life. At least the memory of the sea is not too distant and we know that we will return to our beloved Moon at the end of the summer. I know boo hoo for us!
The Sounds Of Peace Concert was held at The Circus and featured performers including Rucas, Nicha B, Shanna, and Mr Bagnall. The organizers planned the event as an effort to join in the fight against crime and spread the message of peace among the young people. This was before it really got rocking.
Locals march to show support to stop gang violence/shootings that recently happened in St. Kitts.
Double rainbows everywhere…this one was in St. Kitts right before we hauled the boat out.
Take care friends…to our cruising peeps keep us in mind and fill yourselves with the joys of the sea for us and to our landlubber friends….see you soon!
Jennifer, Brian and Rachel