Saturday Morning Stroll

Before getting back to the books for the final cram session of the semester, I decided to take a stroll up the mountain and see what I could find. This 600 acre plot of land is owned by a wealthy family in the U.S. who only visits once a year. The remainder of the year, the land is vacant and free for exploring.

Heading up the old mountain road

Coconut

Old Sugar Mill structure built at the base of this tree

View of St. Kitts and the Caribbean Sea

Another Sugar Mill structure nar the top of the mountain

Another view of St. Kitts

Words With Friends

I have been keeping in touch with my brother Adam by battling back and forth in a game called Words With Friends for our iTouch. Even though we are over 2,000 miles away from one another, brotherly competition is just a click away...

Dustin: 1, Adam: 0

409 - (part 3) - Black Hat's and Beyond

"409" came to a close after a few more stops. Hunter and I hit up the Black-Hat, a local restaurant/bar on the south side of Charlestown, near Fort Charles. Here we enjoyed chef/bartender/restaurant-owner Black Hat's specialty fish chowder and garlic bread. I haven't tried too many fish chowders here on the island, but I must say, his will be hard to beat. After enjoying the local atmosphere in Charlestown for a few hours, we headed back towards the famous Sunshine's Beach Bar where our class was gathering to celebrate the completion of our two biggest exams of the semester. This was a nice way to relax, enjoy local music, and unwind for a minute with our classmates before getting back to the books on Saturday. Here's a peek at the "409" finale.

The Famous Fish Chowder

Belly-up to the bar at Black Hat's

The crew at Sunshine's

409 - (part 2) - The Sand Dollar

"409" continued as we made our way to Pinney's Beach, just north of the Four Seasons Resort. Here we got to see some local flavor with all the fishing boats used on a daily basis to bring in the day's catch. We were also introduced to the proud new owner of the Sand Dollar beach bar, who is restoring the structure that was destroyed due to the devastating hurricane that hit several years back. After meeting him, we took to the water for a few hours and I actually got a chance to see my first sting-ray here in Nevis. Luckily Hunter had his under-water camera ready to shoot! While walking back from the water we also encountered a true 'island-style' set-up back in the woods with a thatch bar and picnic tables. Apparently a charter company brings guests over from St. Kitts and caters to them with food and drinks for an afternoon of island living. As we made our way back towards the Sand Dollar, we were invited in for an inaugural drink. We found out that the bar had just opened that day and we were the first customers. In honor of the opening, Hunter and I decided to leave our mark by signing a few sand dollars we had just collected from the Caribbean Sea, and leaving them with the owner. He got a kick out of this, and claimed he was going to have ALL his guests follow suit...

Local boat on Pinney's Beach

Just crusin'

An old cannon submerged

Can you spot the fish?

I think I'll call him Ray

True island livin'

Checking out the setup

The first of many...

Hanging out with the locals

Sunset over Pinney's, from the Sand Dollar

409 (part 1) - The Great Escape

"409" proved to be an epic day on the island. To cover all the major happenings, it will require several subsequent blog entries. I'll set the stage with the first major event that kicked off our afternoon around 1:30pm . . . The "Island Jeep," as it is most prominently known here on Nevis, isn't exactly what you would call "street legal." There is no glass in the jeep, other than the rear view mirror (yup, no windshield). The Newcastle Police Department have become well aware of the "island jeep" and are making it a priority to get this vehicle off the road until it has a windshield. As Hunter and I were cruising over the hill near Oualie Beach on our way to get some snorkeling in at Pinny's Beach, we encountered an oncoming Newcastle Police car. Our quick thinking led us to hooking the first left across from Oualie and heading up the road to our friend Rose's house before they could turn around and see us. We hung out at the top of the hill for a good 10 minutes and weren't sure if they had ever turned around to come after us, and then sure enough, we saw the Newcastle police cruiser come flying by from the opposite direction. They had been hot on our tail, but we must have missed them by milliseconds. Not only did we slip through the hands of the police, we were also able to capture some great shots of Oualie Beach...

MANGO MADNESS

I dove into my first mango of the season today. Sure, it wasn't completely ripe, but with all these mangoes surrounding my house, I couldn't stand to wait any longer

Mango tree right outside of my front door

Baby mangoes...they told me to be patient

Our papaya tree is looking promising as well

My back yard...

A view from above

Sunset over the sea from this past weekend...

How Great Thou Art

St. Paul's

As previously mentioned, we decided to end our Easter Sunday with a performance at St. Paul's Church in Charlestown. It was just $15 EC to attend, so we figured we might as well give it a shot. The church itself was pretty cool. The architecture was rather impressive for such an old church. The musical performance itself, however ... slightly less impressive. Here are a few pics and a short video from the performance. After the show, we felt obligated to treat ourselves to an Easter feast at Tea House Chinese restaurant in the town square. It's the best sesame chicken on the island! Not to mention, they've got 3 different types of Red Bull available!

View from the entrance

Our seats

Pretty cool architecture

Chinese Red Bulls!

Sesame Chicken -- the best around

Easter Sunday - Funday

St. Theressa's in Charlestown

Happy Easter to you all. My Nevisian Easter Sunday was one for the books, to say the least. It began with a big breakfast consisting of eggs, bacon, home made hashbrowns, and Gatorade (made from powder). My buddy Hunter and I then went and picked up our classmate Rosie and headed to St. Theressa's Catholic Parish in Charlestown for Easter morning service. Mass was great and it was followed up with a brunch in the gazebo behind the church. We feasted for a while, visited with the other church members, and then decided to head out. After dropping Rosie back off at home, Hunter and I decided to get in some exploring around the island so we headed up Ridge Road and were blown away by what we found. There were some magnificent homes up there...and we actually got the opportunity to check out an amazing house that overlooked Oualie Beach, and had a great view of St. Kitts. After a few more stops, we made it back to the house to get some studying in, but couldn't pass up the invitation which was extended to us to attend a "musical" - How Great Thou Art - put on by the Nevis Chorus at St. Paul's Catholic Parish in Charlestown. This was a treat all in itself. Clearly it has been a busy part of the year for the Nevisians because it was evident that there was no time for vocal practice. The church was fantastic however, and we enjoyed ourselves, none the less. Those pictures will require an entirely separate blog post...For now, here is a glimpse at my Easter Sunday on the island...

Easter Morning

Easter Mass

The Alter

Me, Rosie, and Hunter

Lunch behind the church

Atop Ridge Road

Blue Skies