The island of St. Kitts
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St. Kitts a medium sized Caribbean island that has a very relaxed feel.
St. Kitts is a great place to kick off your shoes and hang out at one of the many casual beach bars. |
Timothy Beach Resort
We spent 5 nights at Timothy Beach Resort. Overall we really liked the property. The location is excellent.
It is a short walk to the beach and numerous beach bars and restaurants. The staff was very friendly and we liked our room.
Timothy Beach is on the Caribbean side of the island near all of the restaurants. Each day we would see people walking over from the Marriott (Atlantic Side) to enjoy the beach and restaurants near Timothy Beach. |
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The rooms are on a hill that overlook a salt pond and the Caribbean side of the island.
The beach is a short walk down the hill. Our balcony was a great place to relax. We really enjoyed it in the morning when we had our morning cup of coffee. |
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We opted for the Deluxe One Bedroom class of rooms. The room included a bedroom in the back, a full kitchen and dining room, and a large balcony.
It was a fairly good size unit. Timothy Beach wasn't the nicest place we have ever stayed, but it was a nice clean basic condo. |
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Marriott St. Kitts
One day we walked over to the Marriott.
The hotel looks very nice but it really doesn't "fit in" with the rest of the island. It is void of the laid back St. Kitts culture. |
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St. Kitts is a quaint little Caribbean island and then there is this huge resort that just looks out of place.
We thought the beach looked very "commercial" with all of the little sun huts. |
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Places to Eat in St. Kitts
One of our favorite meals on St. Kitts was at Mr. X's. The restaurant is really just a little beach bar, but the lobster was wonderful and huge! We had a lobster dinner and a rib dinner and we couldn't finish everything.
The lobster was fresh and inexpensive. I believe our total bill with Carib beer was around $50 USD. |
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The lobster, shown above, is a must if you are on St. Kitts. |
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We also had a nice meal at The Monkey Bar. We split the "combo" meal which was very good. As you can see, we had lobster once again. The Monkey Bar was a little pricier than Mr. X's but it is a little more upscale and the ambiance is a little nicer. |
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Probably our favorite place to have lunch and a few beers was at the ShipWreck Bar and Grill.
The bar is a very casual and comfortable establishment. The food was good and the view is just awesome! They have beach chairs that you can use if you frequent the bar or restaurant. This is a true find. |
If you want a good meal for a reasonable price, then head over to Frigate bay and check out Cathy's Ocean View bar and grill. This is a small little eatery which has tables in the sand on the beach. When we stopped by they had the barbeque going so we decided to give it a try. The food was very good.
This is not a high end place, but if you want a nice casual meal where you can put your feet in the sand, then this is a place to consider. P.S. Cathy has great Mac Pie! |
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Beaches in St. Kitts
St. Kitts does not have spectacular beaches that can be found on other Caribbean islands, but there are some nice beaches and most of them were not crowded. |
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One of the most scenic beaches on St. Kitts is Cockle Shell beach.
We stopped by in the morning and it was empty. I would not be surprised if this beach becomes the site of a big hotel in the near future.
The picture to the left shows the island of Nevis. |
Turtle Beach
Turtle Beach is a Bar and Restaurant located at the southern tip of the island. It is located on the Atlantic side of the island so we found the water too rough to swim or snorkel.
This is by far the "most commercial" place on the island. The main attraction is the beautiful view of Nevis and the wild monkeys. (And of course a big fat pig called Wilbur)
We liked Turtle Beach but it was a little pricier than everywhere else on the island. |
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Turtle Beach is a GREAT place to see Monkeys. They were everywhere.
If you want to see monkeys up close and personal, this is the one place on the island that you are sure to see some. |
Things to do in St. Kitts
St. Kitts does not have the "shopping" that you'll find on other Caribbean islands. So one day we drove the car around the island and visited a few points of interest.
If you decide to drive around the island be prepared for an adventure! You drive on the left and people routinely park their cars in the middle of the road. We have driven on numerous Caribbean islands and this one was one of the more challenging ones. By the way, if you are looking to rent a car, Avis was wonderful. The rates were good, the car was nearly new, and they were very helpful and friendly. |
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Brimstone Hill and Fortress
The Brimstone Hill and Fortress was a highlight of the day. The fort is located up on a hill which has stunning views.
Be warned, that there is quite a steep walk up the hill if you want to actually see the fortress, but the views are awesome. |
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Romney Manor |
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We also visited the Romney Manor on the way up the coast. The Caribelle Batik store was closed so there really wasn't much to do. But the grounds are beautiful and it looks like it would be fun to watch the demonstrations.
The Saman Tree is 350 years old and it covers over a half acre. It was quite a sight. |
Carroll's St. Kitts Blog
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Waking up at 9:00 in the morning after an arduous journey to the rustling of palm trees has a calming and restful affect on one’s mood.
Zip back two days…the alarm jolted us awake at 5:30 am. We showered and loaded up the car. Dave had to work in Oakland on the same day we were to fly out on the redeye for our trip. I drove in with him and hung out in Oakland while he worked at World Market. Jack London Square has a few interesting statues but not much else. Let’s just say the day was very boring. You can only hang out at Barnes and Noble and drink so much coffee at Starbucks. Dave finished up work around 6:30 (later than usual). We drove to SFO in much more traffic than we had anticipated. We got to the airport and were checked in for our 10:30 PM flight by 7:45. We ate dinner at the airport restaurant. We hung out in the United Red Carpet Club until it was time to board our flight to Washington-Dulles. The flight took off right on time and we arrived 14 minutes ahead of schedule.
Once in Washington D.C. we found out that our flight to San Juan (SJU) was delayed by one hour. We departed at 10:30 am eastern time. We were luckily able to rest in the United Red Carpet Club from 6 to 10. This helped to while away the time restfully.
Once in San Juan we picked up our checked luggage and proceeded to American Airlines to check in for our final flight to St. Kitts. We freshened up a bit in the restroom and hung out at the airport bar, Caribbean Breeze, since we had five hours to kill. At around 6:00 we paid our tab and made our way through security. We then enjoyed a few more Medallas and played some cribbage before boarding for our short flight to St. Kitts.
We finally arrived in St. Kitts at about 10:00 EST, approximately 36 hours from the time we left home in Dixon, CA. Wow….what a journey.
A short taxi ride ($12 US) to Timothy Beach Resort and we were checked in. We quickly cleaned up and walked over to Mr. X's Shiggity Shack. We enjoyed a few drinks and then basically collapsed from exhaustion for a restful nights sleep.
Friday, Feb 2, 2007
We awoke around 9:00 am, made a big pot of coffee and relaxed on the veranda. At around 11:00 we called Avis and asked them to pick us up so we could rent a car. They were prompt and in no time we had our rental car.
Driving on St. Kitts is an adventure! It is opposite from the US and you drive on the left. The streets and roads are very narrow. Drivers often stop to visit, pick people up, etc. Caution is the key to driving safely.
We made our way to the local IGA in Basseterre. The IGA is near the airport and has a good selection and good prices. There was also a Royal Canadian Bank so we were able to get money from the ATM. We purchased provisions for our stay on St. Kitts and ventured back to TBR to settle in.
Shipwreck Beach Bar was our next destination. It is located on South Friars Beach. Funky and fun are perfect descriptors for this beach bar. We split a lunch of chicken and ribs. The chicken had a great seasoning to it and the ribs were fall-off- the –bone delicious.
We returned to TBR and decided to beach it for the rest of the afternoon and watch the sun set. From 4 PM to 6 PM it is happy hour at the bar so we enjoyed $1 USD Caribs, swam and lounged for a few hours.
We ate dinner at the famous Monkey Bar on Frigate Beach. The meal was a bit pricy but definitely well prepared and tasty. We each had a salad and we split an entrée, which consisted of Lobster, Mahi Mahi and Shrimps.
I also forgot to note that we stopped at the Marriott earlier in the day. The resort is the largest on St. Kitts and also seems a bit out of place. The lobby was spectacular. The main pool was massive. The beach is on the Atlantic side and the water was quite rough compared to our TBR location on the Caribbean side. As large resorts go it looked nice but was not our cup of tea.
Saturday, February 3, 2007
I think we were both still jet-lagged as we woke up not feeling well. Dave slept until 11 AM and still was tired. I made us a late breakfast and we hopped in the car for a tour around the island. Almost immediately I began to feel carsick. I think it is from riding on the left side. We drove to Carabelle Batik at Romney Manor. The gardens were beautiful. If nothing else visit the gardens to see the massive Saman Tree. The shop was unfortunately closed.
Brimstone Hill and Fortress was our next stop. It was quite spectacular. Since I was nauseous from carsickness I skipped the short hike up the hill. Dave trudged up and enjoyed the views. We drove on around the island and 3 and ½ hours later returned to TBR.
Dinner was at Cathy’s Ocean View Beach Bar and Grill on Frigate Bay. Dave had the Jerk Chicken and I had the ribs. The meat comes with a plate full of sides such as rice and beans, mixed veggies, fried plantains, and to-die-for Mac Pie…all for just $13 a plate. Cathy’s is not as famous at Mr. X’s or the Monkey Bar but wow was the food good. Anytime you can sink your toes in the sand and enjoy local cuisine, life is good! Sunday,
February 4, 2007
We woke up and had a nice homemade breakfast of potatoes and eggs. Today was to be our beach day. We packed up the car and drove toward Cockle Shell Beach. On the way we saw a bunch of goats. While Dave was taking pictures of them we realized that he had not brought his extra charged battery, so we back tracked back and got the extra battery. Once we got to the beach we didn't see much promise for snorkeling so we got back in the car and drove to Turtle Beach.
Turtle Beach is famous for their beach bar, semi-tame monkeys and Wilbur the pig. To our surprise it really wasn't too busy. We got a bucket of beer and lounged for a bit and read our books. We also saw that one of the vendors had a Chris Webber Sacramento Kings jersey on. It was so funny to see a reminder of home so far away.
We ate lunch at the Turtle Beach Bar. We split an order of Conch Fritters and a hamburger. We also watched people feed the green vervant monkeys. We saw Wilbur but all he was doing was slumbering and snoring. The shopkeeper said that he was depressed because his caretaker had gone away.
On the way back to TBR we stopped for the last time at ShipWreck Beach Bar. We had a couple of Caribs and enjoyed the view.
When we returned to TBR we thought that they would have happy hour after 4PM. Since it was Super Bowl Sunday they had no drink specials. Boo hoo. Still we lounged and enjoyed the beach.
Dinner for the night was at Mr. X's Shiggity Shack. We ordered lobster and ribs. The lobster was huge and the ribs plentiful. All together we spent $50 USD. What a deal!
Monday, February 5, 2007
Today was moving day. We had breakfast and then packed everything for our move to Nevis. We returned our rental car to Avis and they took us to the ferry dock. We took the 10:30 AM ferry over to Nevis.
This blog continues on the Nevis Blog.
This is a link to a popular St. Kitts Travel Site.
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