Wow, OK so I have been slacking a bit on the blog but it’s not what you might think. LOTS has been going on in our world and we are back in Florida. From the minute that we arrived back in PCB it was back to the grind of landlubber life.
I know you are saying what the heck…the last you left us Moon was sitting in Antigua and you were looking for another place to jump off of the boat and explore the undersea world. Well, it’s one of those things where you keep meaning to get something done and darn priorities keep popping up and taking it’s place. Here we are finally tell the story of our last adventure before we flew back to the mainland.
Last we left you I had mentioned that we had a hairline crack in our starboard ama and it had a slow leak. While we were in Jolly Harbor Brian decided that he should take care of it the best that he could before we set sail back to Nevis in the hope that the crack would not get any larger. He dove down and made an underwater repair right there in the harbor with some underwater epoxy that we had on the boat. Not an easy task as the anchorage was quite bumpy and rolly that day but he did a fantastic job. In fact when we hauled the boat out and could really get a good look at the repair it was amazing! It was even sanded nice and smooth. I would never had guessed that it had been done under the water. Kudos once again to Brian my superhero who can accomplish any task no matter the difficulty!
Wow…check out the waves behind the fisherman!
Our sail from Antigua was a dream…finally down wind and with the seas behind us and at speeds of around 8 to 13 knts…need we say more? We even saw our first pod of dolphins for the season who seemed to be showing us the way.
Remanent of a sugar mill at Nisbet Plantation Beach Club.
Nisbet Beach on Nevis with St. Kitts in the background.
We arrived back to one of our favorite anchorages at Pinney Beach, Nevis. Here we grabbed a mooring ball and spent one of our last weeks as cruisers. We of course spent more time at the hot spring (Brian’s favorite spot). We also hopped on another local bus to explore Nisbet Beach on the NE side of the island.
Nisbet Beach
A boat turned into a restaurant…sadly closed the day that we wondered by.
Saw these guys monkeying around as we walked to the beach.
In the anchorage one night as we were watching TV in the cockpit an inflatable dinghy drifted by us with no one in it. Once again Brian to the rescue. We brought it back to the beach where it must of come from but no one was there to claim it. Sure that the owner would come back for it and need it to get back to their boat we left it high and dry up on the sand for them. The next day a very thankful owner found out that we had rescued his dink and brought us a bottle of wine over as a thank you. If you have read our past stories then you know that somehow we end up rescuing lots of dinghies and now my wine collection is growing rapidly !
Black Rocks Lava Formation, The seashore formation known as Black Rocks is one of the few dramatic reminders of the St. Kitts’ volcanic past due to Mt. Liamuiga.
After saying our good byes to Nevis we headed to St. Kitts where we anchored in Cockleshell Bay, White House Bay and Frigate Bay so we could have our last bit of fun before it was time to haul Moon out for the summer.
Shipwreck Beach Bar & Grill
We found a new favorite hangout called Shipwreck Bar and Grill.
http://shipwreckstkitts.com
This place is awesome. Grab a bucket of beers and lunch and hangout by the beach in their free beach chairs. Snorkeling was pretty good too, (reef was dead but lots and lots of fish and I even spent some time with an octopus!) They have wild monkeys that hang out there and for my cruiser friends they have free fresh water showers…oh yea, we were pretty and clean when we left!
Our own private beach for Valentines Day
We also found a nearby cove with great snorkeling and a small private sand beach. We found it on Valentines Day so now we call it Valentines Beach.
Fort Thomas previously known as Bluff Point, Basseterre
Fort Thomas or Bluff Point
When Fort Thomas or Fort Bluff was in its heyday, it was armed with eight 24 pound guns facing the sea.
Of all the forts which were located in Basseterre, this one is the most well known today as it has become the venue for many different events. Originally after its use as a fort it was used as a quarantine hospital for the troops which fell ill. It is located in what is known as the Fortlands named for their vicinity to the fort itself. The lands at one time were all cane fields.
In the 20th century Fort Thomas was the site for a Holiday Inn, the well known chain of inns. After that it became known as the Fort Thomas Hotel for a few years.
Our last couple of nights we decided to anchor in Basseterre because it is the closest anchorage to SKM where we hauled Moon out. Once again we chose St. Kitts Marine Works to store the boat for hurricane season. The price was right and they treated us very well last summer.
https://www.skmw.net/
We spent our last days aboard exploring more of St. Kitts, it’s beaches and looking for chaney and sea-glass and just plain enjoying ourselves.
Brian walking on the jetty near Basseterre as I look for chaney on the beach. Nevis in the background.
Brian exploring the salt flats, St. Kitts
We took 4 days to “put Moon away” for the season. We took all of her canvas off and stored everything on deck and below. We reluctantly hopped on our plane and flew back to FL where we are now.
So clear that you can see the crater in Mount Liamuiga as we sail by on our way to the boatyard.
As I said we are back to work and if we have a good season this will be what we will do every day for the next 6 months. Sure we miss being on our Moon but what we do here makes it all possible. There is a plus side to being here too we get to spend time with our beautiful daughter Rachel 🙂
Moon in boatyard
The site will be a bit stale while we are here but I promise to get writing again as soon as we are back in the islands and the fun starts.
Thanks all for staying tuned…
Jennifer and Brian