15/12/2019: Lunch with friends
The Caribbean has never really featured on our list of places to go. Not sure why. But that all changed when our dear friends Lewis and Steph Jackson announced late last year that they would be moving to St Kitts in the Leeward Islands. Steph is a highly qualified veterinary nurse and she was appointed to a post at the University in Basseterre.
Even before they had moved out we had booked our Christmas holiday with them. (There was no invite from them!) Flights and accommodation all booked in January 2019.
When looking for lodgings, Joan fell in love with a small beach hut which had a galley kitchen with two large hatches leading to a bar on the decking. It was in Dieppe Bay which is on the north coast of the island - quite remote from the main town. The hut had been part of the Golden Lemon complex - an old style colonial hotel that was the haunt of film stars and other glamourous types in the 1960s. Our neighbours in Whaley, Tracey and Alan, had eaten there once when they had a stop off on a cruise.
The hotel is no longer open but a restaurant, Arthur's, remains on the beach and some of the villas attached to the hotel have been sold off into private hands, including our own.
Right on the sea edge, the roar of the waves fills the rooms.
After a night in a cool air-conned room with mozzie nets, we ate a lazy breakfast on the decking. Brown pelicans flew by and in the rocks beneath our decking Hermit and other crabs went about their business.
Travelling is so much more complicated nowadays. We had to charge devices, find USBs and other cables and set up Kevin's new tablet. There is roaming to be switched on or off, and still the intrusion of emails from back home.
Via the magic of WhatsApp Lewis invited us round to his for a late lunch. He sent us a location pin so we could find him via Google maps.
Driving down to Basseterre in the daylight was so much more easy. The locals drive faster than us - a source of frustration to them. Donkeys, goats, dogs and scrawny cats sauntered accross the coastal path. Much of the time an impossibly blue sea was to our left.
We reached Conaree where we were due to turn off and perhaps a sat nav error took us winding through its narrow streets. It was getting narrower and steeper when we realised we were at a dead end. It took some craftmanlike manoevring from Kevin to reverse down the narrow street without scraping the car doors.
Back on the right path we finally found Lewis and Steph's home which is on a hill overlooking the implausibly beautiful Half Moon Bay.
After a lemonade on the porch they kindly took us to Mangoland, a small eatery with a few wooden tables in a garden run by an Antipodean. (They have never asked him where he came from.) It was time for a catch up and find out about their lives in St Kitts. Plans were made for the coming days.
We wanted to get back to our hut before dark and said an early goodbye. They were going out for dinner that night with friends at a restaurant that does a full Sunday roast on a Sunday including Yorkshire puds!
We headed to the supermarket but it was closed so we turned home and ate whatever was left in the fridge with some slightly dodgy St Kitts lager and the wine we had saved from the flight. We've decided to go to bed early and get up early to make the most of the sunshine here.
Even before they had moved out we had booked our Christmas holiday with them. (There was no invite from them!) Flights and accommodation all booked in January 2019.
When looking for lodgings, Joan fell in love with a small beach hut which had a galley kitchen with two large hatches leading to a bar on the decking. It was in Dieppe Bay which is on the north coast of the island - quite remote from the main town. The hut had been part of the Golden Lemon complex - an old style colonial hotel that was the haunt of film stars and other glamourous types in the 1960s. Our neighbours in Whaley, Tracey and Alan, had eaten there once when they had a stop off on a cruise.
The hotel is no longer open but a restaurant, Arthur's, remains on the beach and some of the villas attached to the hotel have been sold off into private hands, including our own.
Right on the sea edge, the roar of the waves fills the rooms.
After a night in a cool air-conned room with mozzie nets, we ate a lazy breakfast on the decking. Brown pelicans flew by and in the rocks beneath our decking Hermit and other crabs went about their business.
Travelling is so much more complicated nowadays. We had to charge devices, find USBs and other cables and set up Kevin's new tablet. There is roaming to be switched on or off, and still the intrusion of emails from back home.
Via the magic of WhatsApp Lewis invited us round to his for a late lunch. He sent us a location pin so we could find him via Google maps.
Driving down to Basseterre in the daylight was so much more easy. The locals drive faster than us - a source of frustration to them. Donkeys, goats, dogs and scrawny cats sauntered accross the coastal path. Much of the time an impossibly blue sea was to our left.
We reached Conaree where we were due to turn off and perhaps a sat nav error took us winding through its narrow streets. It was getting narrower and steeper when we realised we were at a dead end. It took some craftmanlike manoevring from Kevin to reverse down the narrow street without scraping the car doors.
Back on the right path we finally found Lewis and Steph's home which is on a hill overlooking the implausibly beautiful Half Moon Bay.
After a lemonade on the porch they kindly took us to Mangoland, a small eatery with a few wooden tables in a garden run by an Antipodean. (They have never asked him where he came from.) It was time for a catch up and find out about their lives in St Kitts. Plans were made for the coming days.
We wanted to get back to our hut before dark and said an early goodbye. They were going out for dinner that night with friends at a restaurant that does a full Sunday roast on a Sunday including Yorkshire puds!
We headed to the supermarket but it was closed so we turned home and ate whatever was left in the fridge with some slightly dodgy St Kitts lager and the wine we had saved from the flight. We've decided to go to bed early and get up early to make the most of the sunshine here.
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