Carriacou Regatta Festival 2007 - Caribbean Compass

SEPTEMBER 2007 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 24
Nevis – A Gentle Walk
on the Wild Side
by Bill Bate
ALL ASHORE…
Nevis is a land of wonderful tropical trails. You
can walk through the rainforest on a carpet of
fine grass growing over small cobblestones laid
in the 1700s. Masked in the shadows under the
canopy and behind the shroud of green, you catch
glimpses of the sugarcane fields and cisterns of long
ago. The air is still and cool and only disturbed by the
sounds of chirping birds and the call of a monkey. The
peaceful silence allows the imagination to run wild,
envisioning horse-drawn carts burdened with piles of
sugarcane on their way to the mill.
We arrived on Nevis somewhat skeptical of what we
would find. We had only heard of it in passing from
another cruiser, who said he preferred to anchor at
Nevis and travel to St. Kitts by ferry. We selected this
option, as we favored the winds and weather by sailing
on the east side of St. Kitts rather than the traditional
west side. This route took us through The
Narrows passage between St. Kitts and Nevis.
We soon arrived at our planned anchorage in Nevis,
at the south end of Pinney’s Beach, which proved to be
secluded, sheltered from the south and beautiful.
There is a long sandy beach extending for three and a
half miles to the north. Along the south end of the
beach is a plantation of tall palms fronted by a rich,
green shrub windbreak. In the background is the towering
Mount Nevis with her peak shrouded in cloud.
When Columbus first saw it he thought it looked like
snow and named it “Our Lady of the Snows” —
Nuestra Señora de las Nieves — and from that grew
the name Nevis.
The anchorage proved, through our four days on
the hook, to be one of the kindest and most beautiful
we have experienced so far. Only five minutes to the
south at the commercial dock is a dinghy dock lined
with automobile tires. Leaving our dinghy chained to
a tire, any fear of dinghy theft was immediately dispelled
for at the end of the dock was a public market
and square where we were greeted by friendly, smiling
faces. We had a sense that we’d have no worries
about crime while on Nevis. What a refreshing
change, especially after our first few days in St.
Maarten, where 15 boat break-ins had occurred in
one week.
—Continued on next page
Above: The view from our anchorage of Nevis Peak; it’s unusual to see it not shrouded in clouds
Left: The welcoming Charlestown waterfront is clean and colorful
The Botanical Garden of Nevis, where, although it was dry season, we found wonderment at every turn
ALL PHOTOS: BATE