Basseterre, St Kitts

Overnight sail of 155 nautical miles.

Wow, what a fabulous day we had.  Woke at around 6am and R went upstairs to get tea for us.

Up for breakfast, then into our togs and organised what we needed for our excursion.  This is a short-version blurb on what we did:

Boarded catamaran at Port Zante marina.  Leisurely cruise down the scenic south eastern peninsula, arriving at the snorkelling spot in a calm secluded cove of Shitten Bay (I kid you not).

The cruise down the coast was fabulous, with beautiful turquoise/navy blue water, and the crew were very entertaining and attentive – one of them was called Elvis.  Once we arrived at Shitten Bay, on with swim vests (which are inflatable if necessary), then into the water with flippers, masks and snorkels.  Not overly warm, but not cold enough to make you gasp.  The snorkelling sights were good, but not as good as Fiji.  About 30 mins in the water by which time I was quite cold.

Back onto the boat, and just after that they sounded the conch to get everyone out anyway, so my timing was pretty good.  Underwater camera was good, although it was very slow to take shots so your timing had to be pretty good.  Back on the boat, then cruised over to Nevis for lunch, and time on the beach.  Back on the boat, then 1.5 hour cruise back to Basseterre.  It was fabulous with an awesome crew, and a good group on board making it a lot of fun, helped along with lashings of rum punch.  Bought some tonic in port, then back to the ship as we were crusty-smothered in sunscreen (and I know you’ll just appreciate that description!).

Sister ship Celebrity Eclipse was alongside us - our ship on the right.

Gins on the balcony but the sun was straight in on us and very warm, ie it was actually too hot and we had to come inside and shut the curtains.  Went down to the Rendezvous lounge for a glass of bubbly and listened to Dukeland Quartet, who played ballroom to jazz.  We were totally entertained by a couple who were pissed as parrots, trying to dance.  She was in ridiculously high silver shoes, and a white cotton ensemble.  Everyone seated around the dance floor was watching them, totally bemused by the performance.  The woman next door to me said she really hoped she didn’t fall over as she didn’t think she had any underwear on – I have to say I wasn’t looking that closely!  Up to dinner, then tired bunnies in bed by 10.30pm.