Today we go upmarket!

Sunday 6 January, St. Kitts: Pool time at the Park Hyatt, lunch at The Pavillion and back to earth with drinks at the Shipwreck bar!

When we went to bed last night we didn’t have a firm plan for today’s activities. At 7am Glen wakes up and pokes his head through the main hatch, only to see a big dark cloud sitting on top of Mt. Liamiuga volcano. So we won’t be hiking this morning. Back to bed, lazy morning it shall be!

When we do wake up, Glen goes straight into the bow cabin, looking at the pile of stuff we store on top of the berth there: “can I really be bothered to take it all out and to dig the kite-surfing gear from under the berth, just to go kiting on a very unappealing beach?” And “nope” is the quick answer!
That’s the trouble now that we have 2 spinnakers stowed up there. With just one we could move it from one side to the other to get under the berths. Hmmm we will have to rethink stowage under that berth. And we will also have to think hard what we are going to do with the nearly new asymmetric spinnaker, which is really excess to requirements now that we have the Parasailor.

We have the hire car for today too, but we already finished driving around the island to all the places that were worth having a look at. And since today is Sunday, day of rest, we actually take it accordingly for once.
A bit of admin on the computers and then we head off ashore.
When we attempt to dock the dinghy at Salt Plage we again face the same security guard as yesterday and the same obstruction “you can’t leave the dinghy here before 4pm”, but on a much firmer tone this time! He has made his calls and this time he is prepared for all our reasoning. Yesterday Melanie, the customer support manager at Christophe Harbour told us that we can leave the dinghy here if we take responsibility for it. But he trumps us with his call to the overall manager John, who says a defiant “no” to anyone docking there during the day 🙁
So all we can do is dinghy around into the marina and dock there, then walk the few hundreds meters back to Salt Plage where the hire car is parked. What made them stop us dock the dinghy during day time after all this time, we wonder?

We then drive to Park Hyatt, for some lazying on the sun beds by their magnificent pools. We really like this place, it reminds us of the sophisticated hotels in Dubai: classy, well done, excellent service and pretty exclusive. Certainly the nicest hotel on St. Kitts.
We pick our spot at the higher level infinity pools which overlooks Nevis volcano, and just relax watching the world go by. Not much of it though, there are very few people around in this area, which makes it even more appealing. The sound of water cascading over the edge of the pools, the view, the breeze, the lovely temperature, it all makes the perfect relaxing environment.

And after we’ve had enough of chilling out, we head to the next relaxation oasis, The Pavilion, for lunch. The restaurant is very quiet, I guess we’ve only just made it before they close the kitchen.
From our table we have a very nice view over the garden and Sand Bank Bay, again very peaceful and relaxing in very classy surroundings. And food is delicious. When we get the bill, it sums the same amount we paid yesterday at the Shiggidy Shack. Beyond that, there is no comparison in the setting, service and quality of food. It would be like comparing street food to a gourmet restaurant … but at the same price??
After meal we sit by their pool to let our lunch go down. There’s only one other couple around, in the pool, and from where we are sitting we have unobstructed view to this beautiful pool and garden setting, and blue bay beyond.

For late afternoon entertainment we get down to earth and head to the very unsophisticated Shipwreck Beach Bar, where there is live music on Sundays. And when we get there it is indeed quite busy, and we recognize the band that was playing on Friday at the Sprat Net restaurant. Plus, we recognize lots of other people whom we have seen around in all the bars and restaurants we’ve been through in the last week. That is a clear sign we’ve been here too long! We need to move on! But not before climbing the volcano. Glen even meets 3 ladies from Newfoundland and they are shocked that a non Newfoundlander has actually lived there and knows the place. Classically (for Newfies) they are already high into the party spirit. We note that St.Kitts really stands out for its resident expat population, more than any other island we have seen. We wonder why.

After a very enjoyable time in Shipwreck and a nice sunset, we return to mother-ship, via the marina where we left the dinghy. It is a rather chilly dinghy ride back with this long detour, especially as we turn the corner into the wind. So annoying that we couldn’t dock at Salt Plage just 50m in front of our bow. But beggars can’t be choosers!

We continue to have a relaxing evening, and an early night in preparation for our climb up the volcano tomorrow. Fingers crossed for clear skies.