Located in the West Indies, a two-island country lies among the Atlantic Ocean’s blue water. With Basseterre as its capital, this island is today known as Saint Kitts and Nevis. This island is the smallest sovereign state in the Americas, in both population and area.
On the larger island of Saint Kitts is its capital Basseterre. The smaller island of Nevis lies about two miles southeast of Saint Kitts, across a shallow channel. Saint Kitts is a Commonwealth Realm with, currently, Queen Elizabeth as its head of state. This island was one of the first in the Caribbean to be settled by Europeans. Saint Kitts has also been titled, “The Mother Colony of the West Indies,” due to the fact that it was home to the first British and French colonies in the Caribbean.
Over the summer of 2015, I had the privilege to experience this beautiful island in person. My family and I were able to experience our second Carnival cruise, with stops at four of the islands in the Caribbean, Saint Kitts being one of them. Out of all the islands and out of that whole vacation, this island was the one that really stood out to me.
I remember waking up that morning; it was at seven or eight. I could barely open my eyes; the only thing I was thinking was “Geez! Isn’t this a vacation? Why can’t I sleep in?” But then I realized why we had to get up so early.
Earlier in the summer my family and I sat down to figure out excursions we could do at each island. Excursions are different activities or trips that someone can sign up for to do on the island. Everyone in my family decided we should do the hike up the island’s biggest mountain because it would be a view and experience we could never live through again. So that’s what we signed up for. That morning at around 9, my family and I got off the ship to go take a trek on Saint Kitts.
Before we actually left the ship there was fighting over who got the first shift in the bathroom. With my amazing persuasion skills, I was able to test the shower’s first attempt at giving a warm shower. – The attempt was perfect. After everyone took their shower and got ready, we went down to the Lido Deck, which was the main deck, to have breakfast. Luckily there were still some bagels for my stomach to digest and my taste buds to enjoy.
After going through security, we finally got off the ship. And, of course, it was cloudy and drizzling. No one was happy, even people that were staying on the ship were upset – it was hard to have fun on the open deck when it was raining. However that didn’t stop us, we found the man who was in charge of our excursion and, after gathering everyone, we loaded up into a minivan and headed towards the mountain. The drive was about 15 minutes with beautiful scenery every direction your eyes took you. Once we finally arrived, we met with a family that lived practically two steps away from the mountain. They told us how it looks each season, that there are monkeys that live in the trees and just some general facts about the island that they call their home. They let us walk around their yard to see the beautiful trees and plants.
Eventually after everyone came back towards the people’s home, we started making our way towards the mountain. I was beyond pumped. I really wanted to say hey to some monkeys! When could I have a chance like that again? While we were making our way up, we noticed different orange fruit among most of the trees. One of the men that went on the excursion with us asked our tour director what they were. Apparently, they were mangos. I learned that day that there are 47 different types of mangos among the island of Saint Kitts.
We were about half way up the mountain when my mom’s back started to hurt. My mom has a terrible back, but she said we would be able to do the excursion. The tour director paused to make sure she was okay. When it was almost to the point of her not being able to walk anymore, the tour director decided he would stay with my mom, and go as slow as possible to make sure she’d still be able to enjoy the view. He even offered to walk back down with her, but she refused.
The hike took a good 30-40 minutes to get to the very top with the prettiest view; when we finally gotten there, everyone was in awe. No one talked, people didn’t even take their phones out right away to take pictures; they just wanted to take it all in. The tour director let us spend 15-20 minutes exploring the top of the mountain. You could see the beautiful palm trees that are spread throughout the island and the clear blue water that the Atlantic Ocean can call its own. Eventually, though, we had to make our way back down from the island.
When we got back, everyone was shocked. The people that we talked to before the hike had prepared a feast for us. There was a variety of different local foods from the island. Most were homemade and there were fresh mangos, my brother was practically jumping for joy. We ate and ate until we felt the buttons on our shorts were going to pop.
After almost everyone was done eating, our tour director made an announcement that we were going to spend two hours at a private beach. Can you imagine the excitement and joy everyone was feeling in that moment? We all hurried into the minivan again and made our way to the beach.
The sand was blistering hot; I was surprised I was able to walk at the end of the day. My brother sister and I spent a full hour and a half in the water. The water was so calm; it was crystal clear and absolute beautiful. I didn’t even know water could be so pretty. After everyone dried off and started walking back towards the van, our tour guide began to tell us how thankful he was to have us there with him that day. He said he was ecstatic that we all enjoyed it so much. We arrived back at the entrance of the ship and we all said good-bye.
That day was unforgettable. I wasn’t expecting to have such a sweet and caring man as a tour director; I thought he was just doing it for the money. But I could see how excited he got when he talked about the island and he made personal connections with the people there with him.
Saint Kitts was absolutely beautiful and I have no doubt in my mind that I will be visiting The Mother Colony of the West Indies sometime in the future. When we left port that day, I felt a little happier about life Seeing something so beautiful, so amazing, with views you’ll never see again, meeting new people, learning how people in other countries live, it changes you. I’m forever grateful that I was able to take part into that change.
