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April 22, 2005
N17.2 W62.4 Basseterre, St Kitts
We arrived in St Kitts at the new marina at Port Zante. This decision was driven by south winds (all of St Kitts’ anchorages are south facing), and the drippy oil issue in the engine room. We immediately set to finding the filters and tools we required. The cruising guide said we should find filters in the Pelican Mall, and tools just up past the Circus (modeled after Piccadilly Circus in London). Well, the filter place didn’t exist and the hardware store wasn’t where they said it was. We asked people along the way, found ourselves in the grocery store on the edge of town, and discovered that the spare parts store was just across the parking lot. Everyone we asked was really helpful (if their directions weren’t a bit confusing). We finally found the stuff we needed, and struck a deal with the engine oil guy to buy a case of oil, which he would delivery to the boat. Beautiful. Now, all we needed was shore power. Thing is about buying a French boat, you can’t just plug it in. So off we went to the marina office to discover Jason, who was extremely helpful in making a reservation at a fantastic restaurant up on the hill overlooking the bay, but no adapater for shore power. This meant no air conditioning, and no movies. Dispensing with the luxuries of life, we walked up to Serendipity, sat out on the veranda and had a fabulous dinner, and decided that St Kitts was a place we would definitely return to. There is a strong sense of community, with a lively city centre.
The engine oil would wait for morning.
St Kitts was the first British settlement in the Caribbean. Basseterre has been the capital since 1727 and is charming with its old West Indies architecture, which for the most part, has been preserved. Columbus discovered the island on his second trip in 1493, and named it after St Christopher, the patron saint of travellers. The original Carib inhabitants called the island Liamuiga, or ‘fertile land’.
Posted by dave at April 22, 2005 03:18 PM