MITSUGIRLYS FREEDOM OF THE SEAS REVIEW & PICTORIAL
Day 4: St Kitts
ST KITTS: 9-6PM Day 2 on the ship
We really didn't know what to do at this port. Honestly, it's not one of my favorites. We had already been to Reggae at Cockelshell and Carambola-Ship Wreck at South Friars. We figured maybe we would do some 4 wheeling/dune buggies here but I couldn't get a straight answer from Kendra after weeks and weeks of questioning her.
There was a tour mentioned here on the boards by James Javin My Island Tours that sounded interesting. The tour consisted of this:
From the port will see a few sights in the capital, Basseterre, and then we will head to the Spooners Cotton Ginnery and explore a well preserved piece of history. We will then visit the Black Rocks where we go down onto the lava rocks for photos and exploring.
I will then journey back to the town of Cayon where we will hike up the Cayon Ghaut (river system) into the rainforest. We will enjoy nature and swim in cool, mountain-fed pools (as Mother Nature provides).
After the hike we will head over the southeast peninsula make a stop at Timothy Hill for some amazing views and snorkel at Whitehouse Bay where there is a shipwreck accessible from shore, and an abundance of colorful fish often turtles and rays and other underwater scenery including a shipwreck and sunken cannons to enjoy. We will then head to Cockelshell Beach for some beach time with great views of our sister island, Nevis. Then it is back to the port for 4pm.
Ok, that sounded interesting enough and what made it even more interesting is the guy had a monkey (just like Kendra's) named Peaches. Well, Peaches comes along on the tours and even goes snorkeling.
Now I do have to say that communication took a while and I sent 3 different emails trying to book this tour. They finally answered me and communication was good after that. They said they would be able to book the 10 of us and had another 7 people going as well.
Adults were $95 each and children under 13 were $75 each. You get a 10% discount for having more than 6 people.
We were told to meet at the "Smoke and Booze" at 9am and they only give you 15 minutes to get there...however, we didn't arrive until 9am and so that wouldn't be possible. They said they would have to adjust their time, but didn't say for when.
I also inquired about walking in the rainforest and the hike on the black lava rocks. I told them about Billy breaking his leg and in a walking boot (but he used the knee scooter as much as possible) and their reply was:
"As for the hike onto the black rocks is on rocks so uneven by nature and the rain forest is partially trail partially some rocks. It is a dirt trail. I’m not sure how it will be for your friend. It is easy to sit out at black rocks and enjoy the views."
So we figured we'd play it by ear when we got there and if he didn't think he was able to do either, he'd sit out and "enjoy the views".
We were to arrive in St Kitts at 9am so I set the alarm for 7am just to make sure we had enough time to get ready and head to breakfast and NOT be late (Kendra Alise!) to meet Javin as soon as we docked.
Now one thing that RC does it change the day in every elevator...one way to keep you from getting confused.
I could see land off in the distance and knew we needed to hurry up.
They have a variety of everything on RC.
There is staff during every meal going around serving drinks. It sure makes it nice if you have your hands full with plates, silverware and trying to find a table. They were always dressed up with something goofy. They put a smile on my face each morning.
It was getting close to 9am and we were pulling in.
Celebrity X was with us today and had already docked.
A call to Kendra's room and they were eating breakfast in the room and just about ready to head out. Thank goodness we weren't running behind because that's Kendra's speciality...making us late for everything.
We decided to head down to her room, since we had to go down anyhow to get off, and just for precautionary measures in case I had to drag her out to be on time.
We had made it...
Winding our way down the streets full of vendors and shops...trying our best to get out.
The Smoke and Booze is easy to find. Just out of the cruise compound and a slight left.
There were several people waiting and then off we went to the buses.
Immediately we were introduced to Peaches the monkey. She went around introducing herself to everyone.
Now I'll show you pictures "of interest" along the way. Our tour guide told us the significance of each place...but honestly, I have no idea what any of them are. I'm NOT a "tour-type" of person at ALL!
These awesome pictures comes to you from inside the tour bus with tinted windows=blue/green pictures. Enjoy! lol
WATER!!!!! YES!!!!
And we pulled up to the first stop... Spooners Cotton Ginnery to explore a well preserved piece of history.
So we stopped at this "cotton" building place thingamajigy. Like I said, I'm really not into "tours" or historical things but this was part of the excursion...so....here I am. Now if I'm staying on the island, I don't mind doing things like this...but I'll admit, only for the picture opportunity. 😉
So our tour guide, a native of course, told stories along the way here about his childhood and growing up.
"This is where I went to school"
"This was my neighborhood growing up"
"I use to come here to play hide and seek"
"I use to climb this tree"
In my head, I'm only picturing the things I did growing up and places I visited and thought "Who would have thought that I could do a tour about my life and it would interest people and they'd pay money for it?" Whoodathought? j/k
So, everyone piled out of the tour van and we walked around the place. Hmmm....ok. Some people just got out to stretch and didn't walk around it. Billy of course got out and sat on his scooter. I almost wished I had a scooter right now.
This was a tree he climbed as a child....just in case that interests you
These "ferns" (as I called it because that's exactly what they looked like) are the kind that if you touch them, they will shy away and curl up. They will wait for a minute and come back out. The tour guide said "Do you know what these do?" I said "they curl up"...I don't think that he liked that I answered. He asks what they were and I said "They look like ferns" he gave me a stern "NO" and said the proper name for them. Ok... Well, I only know about them because they have the same thing in Belize when we go cave tubing. Fern, flower, bush, tree...either way, I knew what they did and what they looked like.
Peaches was monkeying around with the hubby... She liked attacking the small children's legs and feet. I'm not sure the small children appreciated her attack mode.
Now when I see places like this...I think of "this would be a neat place to do a photo shoot". LOL Just the photographer in me.
Then there's this thing. He told us that he use to climb up inside it to the top. Then the entrance was closed off and there was a way (in the ground) that had a tunnel you could go down in and across to get inside. No way, no how would I have done that. But hey, he was a kid and kids do things like this without worrying.
So that was the end of this portion of the tour. The next thing out of the kid's mouth was "are we going to the beach now?" I had to say "maybe" and "probably" just to keep them from complaining.
Next up was....the rain forest. It was maybe a 10 minute drive from there.
We pulled up and everyone piled out.
Bah-nah-naaah (said in my minion voice) Immediately Brayden was hungry and ask if he could eat some.
This was some type of vine with HUGE leaves. He said they will wrap themselves around the trees and eventually make it to the top and kill out the tree. He said they had some type of tree planted in his yard growing up that got these vines and when someone ask why didn't they just pull the vine off or kill it and he said it was better not to ....for some reason. Hmmm, why can't I remember this stuff? I think Dementia is part of my diagnosis these days.
Then it was game time (even though Peaches and Sakari were having their own game moment, I'm not talking about that).
He would pluck things off the surroundings and had us smell it. We were to guess what it was. I can't remember everything he gave us but there wasn't one person that could guess any of it. I remember one was oregano.
I think he called these elephant ear plants or something. That made me think of going to the fair and eating elephant ears. Ok, I was getting hungry already.
What do you think the name of these palm trees are?
They are called foxtail palms. I should have known they would be associated with an animal.
Anyone want to play Tarzan?
Continuing on the path...
The kids were way ahead of us and we knew that they were ok because we could hear Xander (Kia's son) talking and laughing. LOL
Notice those of us that were dragging our feet and walking slowly...me, Kendra and Kia. They kept one of the tour guide "observers" behind us...just in case we got lost from the rest of the crowd...which was highly likely to happen at this point.
We finally caught up to the "middle section" of hikers. Who knew how far ahead the front section was. Those enthusiastic little shiznits.
This lady....she carried her son (no clue how old he was but tall enough to be 3-4 years old, but he could have been just tall) during this entire excursion...on her back! Now, wait until you see the rest of the rainforest tour. I give her mad props! The husband...well he just carried himself! (And we would see her all over the ship and other places in port and that kid was ALWAYS on her back but a few times). She's gonna have to have back surgery before long to correct her posture and slipped disc.
Now time to get to the nitty-gritty stuff. Remember how they said it was a path and some uneven surfaces and it would be up to Billy to see if he wanted to do. THERE IS NO WAY!!! NO WAY IN HELLO that he could have done this walk. We were lucky to do this walk...and I'm not exaggerating. My family hated me after this.
Yes, there was a path to start out with and then the terrain got crazy. Up and down and over rocks and trees and ....whatever else was in the way.
Here comes the climbing.... Hubby went first and I was following.
I knew after this...I should probably go back to the ship and climb the rock wall because I was going to be a pro at it.
Yea, that moss covered rock above....DOWN I WENT. OUCH! I just knew it. I can't have a cruise, any cruise, where I just don't get hurt in SOME way. I still have a huge black bruise across my right hip and buttocks to prove it. Ugh
Ok, so maybe I wasn't a pro and I shouldn't go back to the ship to try the rock climbing wall after all.
Up next was this tree. They kept asking us if we saw some type of face. I didn't at the time I was there and took tons of pictures trying to figure it out. Now that I look at it, it looks like a smiling bear...like Disneys Baloo. (Which I'm pretty sure was NOT what they were saying it looked like).
This was the highlight of the rain forest tour for the kids. Peaches just hoped from one person to the next as we traveled and when we stopped. Freeloader!
Kam was not liking this hike. We were climbing and walking up hills and then back down and we were huffing and puffing. Kendra tried to carry her and probably wished that she had that ladies back carrier about now.
We came to a bunch of bamboo. Bamboo is so cool and grows so fast. It's some of the fastest growing plants. It can grow around 3' in 1 day. When the wind blows it makes a sound like music. My dad had a bunch of this growing at his house in Alabama and we use to go out and make fishing poles with it. It made for a good fence along his driveway too. If you ever came home drunk one night and hit the fence, no worries, it would grow back in a few days. Whoodathought?
We crossed several rock beds and creeks...all of which were slippery and/or wet and the hubby was paying extra attention to me at this point.
Peaches would ride on someone until they got close enough to a plant that interests her, grab it and then scurry off.
Obviously, the bamboo polls came in handy. He told us that he came out here and made these handrails himself, in all different areas, to make the tour easier. Wait, easier? What about building a lift chair or how about a conveyor belt? Yea, that would be nice. 😉
More climbing coming up.
Peaches....Just doing her own thing
She made it back up with the rest of us and the hubby stopped to pet her. She assumed that meant that this was her freeride for the next lick of the journey.
There were a lot of snails in the rain forest.
Oh gosh...I know this look. I get it from Myla (Kendra's monkey) all the time right before she decides to......
LEAP!!! And then I was now her ride for a while.
Peaches didn't last long with me before she moved on to Kia...hanging upside down on the journey is much more fun anyhow.
More bamboo and winding trails...up and down and down and up. There was a lot of climbing and holding on to branches to pull yourself up places. I never expected this and pictures a walk in the rainforest similar to that in Belize when cavetubing.
Whew! It was time to rest and listen to the bamboo making music. ♪♪♫♫♪♫
Everyone was hot and couldn't wait to get to the cool mountain-fed pools of water. Then down we go. I hope I don't slip and fall.
More nanners
It was so hot and Brayden decided to pick a large leaf and fan us with it. Shawna did not find it amusing and I told her he was sheltering her from the hot sun because she was a goddess. BTW, the boy in front of her with the orange shirt hung out with the kids the entire time and ended up being somewhat friends after that. I heard him asking B what his "snapchat" name was. lol
Not only did the snails like the pretty flowers...so did Sakari and the tour guide picked her one.
We came across some huge rocks and they were covered in moss. I thought it was neat...as long as I didn't have to stand on them (they were bigger than me).
Where we are headed....oh boy...more treacherous terrain. Hey, at least we were going downhill.
We finally made it back to the van. We kinda did a loop and was so relieved to know we weren't going to have to turn around at some point and go back the way we came to get out. The entire trip the kids and Kendra kept saying "Are we going to have to do this in reverse?" "Where's the water?" Well, the water never came. I guess it was dry season that day.
Billy was still sitting on his scooter waiting on us and at some point wondered if we had been eaten by the lions, tigers, and bears.
The hike was an hour long if that gives you any indication of how long we were gone....and speaking of "gone"...my legs were too and I was starting to feel the pain in my butt bone and hip.
Back to the tour van and into the a/c. I pretended to be zoned out so that I didn't hear the kids (and by kids I mean Kendra) saying..."Did you know we were going to have to do that?" "Did you realize that's what walking in the rainforest was?" "Are we going to get to the beach sometime soon?"
Off we went, but this time we were driving in the rainforest and I was too tired to take pictures. But, I captured one I think.
Because everyone needs a bridge on the side of the road and not over the road.
There was a lot of houses like this...it looked like rebar sticking up on the roof. I'm not sure if they had plans to build a second floor or if there was another purpose for this. There were A LOT of houses like this...like a lot.
Mountains...
I spy something blue (other than the window)...