We are finally in the water! Woo Hoo! The crew at St. Kitts Marine Works where we hauled our boat out were great and we have had no problems after splash down. As soon as the lift placed Moon gently into the water the engine started right up and we motored right out of the landing bay and into the Caribbean. What a feeling to be back at sea! On our last day at the boatyard the winds really started picking up and it had not rained in a while so there was dust and dirt flying everywhere so it was great to get out of there.
Moon looking pretty with her bottom and top sides painted.
Moon on the move being brought back to the sea.
Our first stop was Basseterre, St. Kitts. Of course we’ve been here before and you can read back on some of the history on our previous posts if you haven’t already read them or if you’d like to get a feel for the place again. It’s the busiest and biggest town in St. Kitts. This time we were here because it was the closest anchorage to the boatyard and the place for us to fill our water, gas/diesel tanks and to get some groceries. The anchorage here is definitely not one of our favorites for comfort because it can tend to be a bit rolly. Thankfully it was not that bad for the night but it was a good way to jump right back into the swing of things. Hold on tight the ferry is passing by!
Moon anchored in Basseterre.
Town of Basseterre
Town of Basseterre, seen from anchorage.
Since Basseterre was where the Government office was that had our passports we decided to check the progress on them to see if we had been approved to stay longer. When we got to the office the staff informed us that they had tried to call us several times…yikes! We told them that we did not receive any calls and looking at their paperwork they did have our correct number so not sure what was up with that. We cleared things up with them and asked if we could extend our time again this time because of upcoming winds and we wanted to be sure that we did not have any hiccups before we got too far from the boatyard. No problem they said we would just have to pay again and wait until Wednesday of the following week to get our passports back. We are guessing that they have to be sent somewhere else to be stamped and approved .
Local tour guide in White House Bay with his monkey on a snorkel tour…and I thought that monkeys did not like water but it does look like the little guy is hanging on to the guides head pretty tightly!
We decided to head to White House Bay to sit out the high winds while we waited for our passports. Love this bay, it is so pretty, protected and calm. We finally launched the kayaks and snorkeled. The snorkeling was not that great in way of corals and such but there is a pretty neat shipwreck near shore that we explored.
So on Wednesday we went back to Basseterre to collect our passports. That’s when things started looking like we might have problems. First when we showed the lady at the desk our receipt and asked to pick up our passports she had the most confused look on her face. Then when she started searching for our passports she could not find them! Now, I do have to say that they have a very impressive filing system…shoe boxes with rubber-bands, various envelopes and boxes placed everywhere are what they store the passports in while they are waiting for them to be picked up. No rhyme or reason just all of the countries placed together in various containers. The girl looked through all of the boxes and envelopes and desk drawers but could not find our passports. We can’t even share with you what was going through our minds…lets just say, not happy thoughts! Dealing with two lost passports does not seem like it would be a fun adventure. Finally another girl that worked in the office came over to ask the girl at the desk something and the first girl asked her to help to find our passports. Low and behold there they were in shoe box number one! Whew, glad that was figured out. Enough stress for one day! So passports in hand we visited the customs office to let them know of our sailing plans to visit Nevis after anchoring in a couple nights in local bays and “no problem” was the response.
A man and his monkeys in Frigate Bay.
After spending the couple of days in nearby bays we headed back to the town of Basseterre to check with customs once again just to be sure that we did not need any additional paperwork before we headed to the island of Nevis. Yes, St. Kitts and Nevis are the same country but last time we were required to have a permit to travel from one island to the other. Once again the customs agent told us “no problem” that we did not need any additional paperwork so we headed out, next stop Nevis.
Nevis
Rainbow, Nevis
Booby Island…just for the guys to admire 🙂
Once we arrived in Nevis we picked up a mooring ball and headed into town to pay for the mooring and to check in with the customs agent there. Now here is where it gets fun because the agent in St. Kitts should have updated our paperwork. Oh yes, twice he totally told us “no problem”. Apparently there was some paper work that did need to be taken care of he just did not want to or feel like doing it. Fortunately the customs agent in Nevis was very professional, courteous and helpful and he assisted us with straightening everything out.
Brian rescuing a dinghy that floated away from another boat near us. It was a windy day and somehow their dinghy escaped them. We did not have our dinghy launched so he had to take a kayak. Brian to the rescue once again. They were very thankful and brought a bottle of wine and a beer as a thank you.
Thankfully everything’s worked out now and we are sitting pretty on a mooring ball beachfront in Nevis. It’s a very beautiful spot! The Nevis peak of 3,232ft looms just above us as we look out our ports. We still are working on projects here and there but are in a great spot to have fun too. We love Nevis. The town here is so much quieter than the big island of St. Kitts. We already been exploring and have lots to share so hopefully I will get in gear and post again soon. As always we’ll take lots of pictures because we plan on lots of fun ahead!
We wish everyone a safe and Blessed Christmas and New Year –
Atlantic side of Frigate Bay
Brian and Jennifer