St Kitts a colourful highlights excursion

 

St Kitts and its smaller sister Nevis make up one of the Caribbean's more picturesque countries. St Kitts & Nevis tick all the boxes for that iconic Caribbean holiday offering blue sea, white sandy beaches lush green mountainous interior, engaging historical sites and luxury resort hotels. 

How to get there

St Kitts has an increasing amount of flights from in particular the USA, UK & Europe so finding a direct flight from the larger airport hubs is not difficult.  

It is also a popular port of call on a large amount of Caribbean cruise itineraries with the range of cruise vessels being from the large to small bouquet brands. 

It was on a cruise ship, the Celebrity Silhouette, that we arrived on the Island. The ships dock in the islands capital, Basseterre. From the pier  its just a short stroll into the center of the  capital. 

There is the normal array of toursist shops and bars directly at the purpose built port, but walk past them and experience the real streets of the town, with its friendly and welcoming locals going about there daily life. 

Cruise pier on St Kitts

What to see and do.

Well it is a Caribbean island so you could simple hit the beach and that would be a good choice but if its you first visit to this island then why not see more of what it has to offer. 

You could for example chose to travel into the beautiful island on the Scenic Train which runs quite a bit across the island, or you could choose to hike into the lush interior on a trip to Mount Liamuiga volcano, if this is to strenuous then why not learn about a bit of history as well as how to make Rum at the Wingfield Estate.

However on our visit, we decided to look for a full Island tours and after a bit of research we choose to book a independent tour with Tangerine Tours  which is part of Chariot Executive Tours St Kitts.

Tangerine Tours Island Tour

So we walked off the Celebrity Silhouette and a short 3 minute walk along the pier we were met by our brilliant,  friendly, informative and very very colourful guide for the day, the wonderful Christian. Once seen never forgotten would be a good description of this lovely man. 

Me and Christian I will let you decided who's who !! 

The tour we booked with Christian and Tangerine Tours was a Full Island tour, which basically was a a drive around the island stopping at various points of interest for a more indepth look and photo opportunity, whilst Christian explained the history and culture of anywhere we were seeing. 

There was 12 people on our tour and we travelled in a open sided bus that gave us good views as we moved along the roads. 

My Logistics Manager on the bus.

Basseterre 

Once we were all there and onboard the tour started with a short trip around the islands Capital where the interesting sites and history was explained to us by our guide. 

We then headed north along the main road that circles the island, passing through a number of small local villages and seeing local life with people including fisherman going about there daily routine, its at this point you also see some of the beautiful vegetation and flowers that grow naturally on the island. 

Romney Manor 

Our first stop was here, the former home of the owners of the Wingfield Estate Sugar Plantation. It is now the home of the Caribelle Batik workshop and store, this is a type of local craft where cloth is dyed. Very colourful.  The house is also surrounded by some stunning gardens which are worth a visit on there own, however within them you cone across a old stone bell tower with a more sinister past as this is from where the original owners watched there slave workers,  working in the plantation and used the bell to regulate there day. It really was a interesting stop. 

Stunning gardens at Romney Manor 

Examples of Caribelle Balik work.

Logistics Manger in the gardens.

Gardens

Some of the beautiful local flowers. 

Anglican Church

As we continued on our route we made a short stop at Middle Island Anglican Church, which was the first church in the West Indies. 

Brimstone Hill

 After setting  of again along the island the scenery changed to a more open rugged one, with the ocean on our left and mountains including Brimstone Hill on our right, we did not climb the hill, but Christian gave us a full explanation of it and the Fort that sits at its top history, in the various conflicts between the British and French during colonial times when they ruled the islands. 

Sandy Point Town

This was our next stop and it is the second largest town on the island, it is where the first explorers came ashore and for many years was the center of British rule on the island.  It was also one of the busiest trading ports in the Caribbean at that time. 

We then continued on our travels heading north west, where we passed by a huge development know as the La Valley Development,  this is transforming this part of the island with a golf course already built and large hotel complex however there is also a huge solar power development underway which is important for helping the island maintain its energy commitments in a increasingly green world.

Dieppe Bay

This is where the first European settlers lived and formed a small town, it was mainly French settlers, however even after the British took control of the island in the early 1700's the settlers remained in this part of the island, its now only a small  settlement but retains a imports place in the islands history. 

It is also the point where as you look out to the sea you see the place where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Caribbean Sea resulting in some very strong unpredictable currants. 

It was at this point our guide Christian produced his cool box, and offered some local snacks to us all as well as a local beer or rum !! Soft drinks were available. 🙂

Posing at Dieppe Bay.

Black Rocks

A stop on the Atlantic side of the island and its basically where after a volcanic eruption the lava flow entered the ocean creating and interesting part of coast. 

Black Rocks

Frigate  Bay and Timothy Hill 

After the  black rocks we had a leisurely drive down the more rugged Atlantic coast of the island before arriving at Frigate Bay which is where some of those 5 star resorts that are so well known in the Caribbean are based on St Kitts, and then it was up to Timothy Hill that gives some great views across towards St Kitts little sister island of Nevis. 

Frigate Bay

View from Timothy Hill with Nevis in the background. 

After this it was a 10 minute drive back to the port and our ship the Celebrity Silhouette. 

However since we still had a couple of hours before our last boarding time, we decided to go for a walk around Basseterre. Where after stumbling  apon it by chance, we took time to have a wander around a small local fruit and veg market, here the Logistics Manager bought herself some local grown bananas after which we then sat in a local cafe/bar and had a beer. I always think its when you take the opportunity to get out in the local area on your own you find a true feel for the place and on St Kitts the vibe was one of friendship and a love of life.

The clock tower in Basseterre described by our guide as the original Big Ben 😀

Enjoying the local produce as we wander around town. 

So that was our day in St Kitts, and I can honestly say it was a great day and one we will remember for a long time, so I have no hesintation in highly recommending Tangerine Tours St Kitts for your trip around the island once we can return to these great islands and enjoy independent travel.  They can be found on Google and have some great reviews on TripAdvisor.  Plus if your lucky you will have the very colourful and friendly Christian as your guide. 

So hope you enjoyed my review, please share on social media, and keep following and let's see where next our travels take us. See you soon.