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 03:18 PM | Comments (0)
Redonda
We left Montserrat at 6:30am to head for St Kitts. We started to leak a bit of oil in the engine, and were concerned about it making its way into the bilge (and therefore, the sea). Do we go to Antigua, which is backtracking, and in the middle of race week, but where we would be sure to find a Yanmar engine dealer. Or, do we stay the course and head for an island that looks most likely to have supplies. It was not an easy decision, but getting out of the hurricane zone by the end of May was our deciding factor. St Kitts was it.
Sailing to St Kitts, we passed Redonda. While nobody lives here today, it has a great story(ies).
Phosphates were discovered here in 1865 and mining began. In 1872, the British annexed it to Antigua before the Americans took it. 100 people worked on the island, and personnel and equipment were pulled up and down on a two-bucket cable car. The descending bucket was filled with sea water from a reservoir, which acted as ballast for the ascending bucket. Phosphate production stopped in 1914.
Then there is the story of the Kingdom of Redonda. In 1865, Matthew Dowdy Sheill, had a long-awaited son after 8 daughters. Being a sexist, he wanted a kingdom for his son. He claimed Redonda. In 1880, Sheill, his son and the bishop of Antigua went to Redonda and the bishop crowned the son, King Filipe I of Redonda. M.P. Sheil (he dropped the second “L”, moved to England and became a writer of Gothic romance and science fiction.
Before he died in 1947, King Filipe I passed the crown to fellow writer John Galsworth (King Juan I), who bestowed titles in exchange for beer. Before Juan I died in 1970, he passed the crown to Jon Wynne-Tyson (King Juan II). Tiring of his royal duties, Juan II abdicated the crown in 1998 to Antiguan writer Robert Williamson (King Robert, Bob the Bald), who, to this day, presents an annual literary prize.
Posted by dave at 03:17 PM | Comments (0)