Wednesday, May 8, 2013

St. Kitts



We packed our suitcase with snorkel gear, beach toys, swimsuits and suntan lotion and headed to St. Kitts!

The island was "discovered" by Christopher Columbus, also known as Kitt for short, thus the name St. Kitts. Our time here was very short, but we enjoyed it. The maps we had weren't very detailed and the roads not marked well, so driving was a little difficult, however the island is fairly small and you can drive from one end to the other within an hour or two. Be prepared for an occasional very bumpy road.

A lot about the island reminded me of the time I spent living in Haiti. Sugar cane is growing everywhere and the island switches back and forth from both hilly and flat terrain. Little towns, mostly made up of well-worn buildings and a smattering of locals, are dotted along the main road that hugs the coastline. The highlight of our trip here would definitely be the time we spent exploring an amazing fort called Brimstone Hill Fortress (more info here on the fort: http://brimstonehillfortress.org).


The large fort is sprawled across the top of a sizable hill near the middle of the island and the coast giving it truly incredible views. The girls love these kinds of places, so we spent plenty of time there looking at all of the rooms and reading what they were used for - like opening a big time capsule of the past since the fort was built between 1690 and 1790.


We took lots of pictures at the fort and could have spent a lot more time there, but didn't want to miss the rest of the island.


During our exploring we passed all kinds of animals - lots of cows and goats everywhere. At one point a big mama pig came out of the bamboo and crossed the road followed by her five cute and curly tailed little piglets. At one stop we found a local young man who had an adorable little pet Green Vervet monkey named Max.
The girls took turns holding it while I snapped lots of pictures. The man was very nice and even let the girls help feed it. They now both want a pet monkey! :)
A couple of the public beaches we checked out were fairly crowded, so we passed those up and eventually found a large, secluded beach on the south part of the island with a big rusty ship wrecked right near the beach. 
We were hoping this would attract sea life, but there were only some small silver fish swimming around.




Micah, Heidi and I still enjoyed some snorkeling and watching the fish around the boat. Hallie floated along with us and looked from above the water. She enjoys playing in the sand more than the water.




These are only a few of the fun memories we made while on the beautiful island of St. Kitts and we think it makes a great place to take a family for a short vacation.

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