Jan 18, 2010

Early Summer in Nevis, West Indies

Authentic Caribbean

By Lisa T. Bergren

As soon as school ended, we packed up our kids, (ages 13, 9 and 5) and went to Nevis, an island in the West Indies. If you’re like most people I meet, you’re blinking twice and muttering, “Nevis? Where’s that?” Nevis is just across the water from her sister island of St. Kitts, a far more populated island and in clear view. There is a daily ferry across the channel that separate them, but since we wanted to get right to our island paradise, we flew directly into Nevis, from San Juan, Puerto Rico. (In searching for airfares, though, check out the option of flying to St. Kitts and then taking the ferry. To us, it wasn’t worth the hours we’d lose.)

The Spanish called the six-by-eight mile island “Nuestra Senora de las Nieves” (Our Lady of the Snows) because of the high clouds that often cling to the volcanic peak–somehow that became translated, in time, to Nevis, a far less romantic name that can mean “mole.” Don’t let the unromantic name keep you from a visit! This island was the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton, a top sugar producer in the 17th Century, and stop for pilgrims and naval fleets alike, all seeking fresh water from her springs.

How’d we settle on going to Nevis?

A writer friend and his agent wife have been going there for years and are even thinking of relocating to the island. Listening to their starry-eyed description, with a hint of in-the-know secrecy, I knew my little “Pirates of the Caribbean” fanlets—typically land-locked in Colorado—would love it. They’d watched the movies and wondered about the clear waters. All of us had a difficult time imagining water warmer than the mountain lakes we typically frequent. And we all were dying for some down-time together as a family. Add to that a passion for family travel—and we decided Nevis would be our Idyllic Island answer.

We met people who were staying at the Four Seasons. While world-renowned and recommended by the Travel Channel’s top 10 Caribbean resorts, we felt sorry for them. They had no car, so they had explored little of what we’d come to know as an amazing island, brimming with history. And the Four Seasons reportedly works hard at keeping her visitors on-campus; if you stay there, definitely find ways to venture out! There’s a lot to see on this very-manageable island!

We chose to rent a villa, found via Nevis1, and it was perfect for our family of five. Since we went off-season, and had our own kitchen, we saved some serious buckaroos. With a private pool, a gardener who brought us mangoes, coconuts and teeny bananas, and the ability to walk 100 yards to the beach, we felt like we were living a dream! The only thing that was missing: air conditioning. If I could get that villa, at that price, with air conditioning, I’d be back every year. (But I’m a person who likes her weather best at about 72 degrees. So, take what I say about the heat with a grain of salt. This is the Caribbean, after all! Heat is part of the equation.)

Settling In…

We arrived on Saturday morning at the tiny Nevis airport.

Outside, our friendly driver, Marlon Brando (no, not that one; Nevis’ rental car owner can be reached at #869.663.2013.) picked us up in his spacious van and delivered us to our villa, Coral Reef, near Nesbit Plantation—which boasts one of the best snorkeling beaches on the island. He then brought us our rental car.

Coming from high and dry Colorado, it took us days to adjust to the humidity, which hovered around 85% (temps ran 82 to 90 degrees). Our youngest hovered over the fan. Eventually, we got adjusted—and even to the wild jungle noises at night. We kept all the windows open and ran every fan in the villa. And we jumped in our pool right before sleeping—and again as soon as we awakened. The best way to deal with the heat is to beat it with one of your water options—pool, ocean or shower.

Nevis is an island that is a throw-back to fifty years ago, if I’m to believe my island-hopping friends, and “Authentic Caribbean” as per Conde Nast. Very low-key and relaxed, not a lot of tourists. Goats and chickens and donkeys run free-range and you have to watch out for them on the road. We had our eyes peeled for wandering animals and I squirmed in my seat, trying to get used to being a passenger on the wrong side of the road, and made our way to the grocery store for supplies. Prices are in Carribbean currency, but Visa and MasterCard are widely accepted. The nearest store was about 1000 square feet, stocked like a city neighborhood grocery. All the meat was frozen, and there was not a lot of produce—more is available on the other side of the island. Still, we managed to buy about $300 in provisions.

Back at the villa, enough food in the fridge to last us a while, pina coladas in hand (rum is CHEAP!), we walked down to the beach for a quick dip. We explored many other beaches too, but the one 100 yards away—Nesbit—from us was definitely one of the best. 6 out of 7 days we swam and snorkeled there.

We returned to the villa, whipped up dinner, took our first post-dinner dip in the pool, then tried to sleep through what sounded like forty small boys with tin whistles pulling an all-nighter—but were really only tree frogs. We awakened at sunrise and wondered if we’d ever sleep during our “restful” vacation; after the second night, we had some hope; after the third, we realized we’d become accustomed to island sounds—a special victory.

Nesbit Beach

Two visits to Nesbit Beach to explore, snorkel and swim. My nine-year-old, haunted by a library book about sharks, didn’t want to come in. I told her she must, to just try it, I’ll be right there, that she’ll love it. And she did. Within five minutes, she lifted a massive conch shell from the swirling sands, rising, victorious. She was officially addicted to her mask and snorkel from then on. We found if we started down the beach to the right, we could drift with the current and not go all the way to St. Kitts!

A Visit with a Nevisian Naturalist

We met Jim Johnson an island naturalist and guide, for an evening bonfire, marshmallow roast and to talk about what we were seeing, smelling and hearing—all foreign to us landlubbers, other than a vague recognition of the stars. Jim is a brilliant, wiry man with zero percent body fat (he climbs Nevis Peak at least a couple of times a week) and Coke-bottle glasses, a living whirr of information—he constantly blends a blend of trivia, scientific and historic facts, and tosses out quizzes, to engage and educate you, but is really ten minutes ahead of you in his head at all times. He pointed out the Scorpion and Bear constellations to the kids and related mythology about each of them. The kids, exhausted after a full day of sun and swimming, barely absorbed one-third of what he said. Heck, we adults did little better. Still, we planned to meet him in the morning for a bamboo forest hike.

Hiking on Nevis

We headed to Golden Rock Plantation (great place to spot monkeys!) to meet up with Jim for that hike. A young honeymooning couple cheerfully joined us and we tramped up the hill, through a native neighborhood, and then descended through the jungle.

Jim, who has taught at the med school about native plants and their medicinal uses, pointed out flora and told us about their medicinal properties. We tasted key lime leaf and cinnamon, smelled lovely bath bush—evoking images of Victorian ladies soaking in cool tubs—and stopped to swing on jungle vines just like George, George, George of the you-know-where. My favorite parts were listening to the giant bamboo stands, which knock together and creak in eerie fashion, and walking the 17th century trail that the Spanish used to overtake the French in their foolishly low-lying fort. But I was hot. Really hot. So damp with sweat I might as well have been swimming. Later, I decided I had a touch of heatstroke. Luckily, my family fared much better.

We passed by some sugar mill ruins and returned to Golden Rock, where we gulped down liquids and had a lovely lunch, overlooking the sea, far below us. (Next time, I’d opt for the plantation hike with Jim—sounds easier and is still intriguing for kids. My friend said she felt like Indiana Jones on that hike—vine-covered ruins, etc.)

Long Haul Bay & the New River Ruins

We headed out to find Long Haul Bay, just around the corner from Nesbit, and supposedly boasting terrific snorkeling. We realized later we could’ve walked there, but we drove, and the only sign we saw was a faded “Long Haul Bay Development” plaque falling off the post—apparently a business development deal gone belly up. It’s typical of Nevis’s beaches—very few are marked with signage…you just follow directions/your nose and brave rough, dirt roads. The beach was picturesque, but we failed to locate more than one natural reef—lovely with its white coral, but disappointing because there were few fish. We did, however, see a lobster pot among vast fields of sea grass just two feet below us, which was cool for the kids—they’d only seen lobsters in the tank at the gourmet grocery store at home. And we saw a family of monkeys in the trees along the road!

We went back to the villa for lunch and then went to the Alexander Hamilton museum, not worth a stop in our estimation (expensive for what you get)—just drive by to see from where our American forefather hailed. The afternoon was redeemed however, because we stopped at New River, on the southern end of the island, and wandered through the amazing 17th century sugar mill ruins. It’s a not-to-be-missed stop. Nevis was once the #1 sugar producer in the Caribbean and a provisioning stop for trade ships and those heading to the U.S.—the soil seeps history from its pores. There is no signage at this amazing location either, but history comes alive as you walk through it. Nowhere in America could you just climb over historical buildings of this caliber. The kids loved it and so did we!

Horseback Riding in Nevis

We rose and took our normal morning swim, then changed, packed up and went to Nevis Equestrian (#869.469.5786) for a horseback ride along the beach and beyond. It was girls-only, since my husband needed to stay with our son (he was too young to ride). They took off to pick up a picnic lunch from Deli by Wendy—a wonderful place for sandwiches, beverages and more—and met us afterward.

It had been more than twenty years since I had been on a horse, and my nine-year-old had never been astride a saddle, but the horses were well behaved and the guide tied my daughter’s horse to his. We crossed the road, then wound our way through Nelson’s Springs (where Admiral Nelson re-provisioned his ships) past Cay’s Bay and Paradise Beach, beside some sumptuous, drool-worthy private abodes on the water, up past a school, where the kids waved at us, and then into the hills, were we saw nice suburbs and poorer neighborhoods too. It was a nice “real Nevis” peek rather than the sanitized vacationer view. After an hour and a half, however, I was saddle-sore and longing for the stables. Fortunately, they soon appeared.

The boys were waiting for us when we returned. We dismounted, then joined them in the car and headed out to Paradise Beach—a local favorite—for a picnic and swim. (To get there, turn beside the St. Thomas School playground and head toward the ocean.) On a beach exploration roll, we then went to Lover’s Beach. (To get there, park by the highway just west of the airport and walk west of the shore. You can park closer, but you have to cross smelly high tide muck to get there—eewww, hardly romantic.) But this beach, like them all, is very worth a visit! Sun-soaked and weary, we returned to the villa.

Our eldest was feeling at home, so we got the kids settled with dinner and a video, and my husband and I escaped to a fabled beach bar, Sunshine’s, for a sunset dinner and an amazing drink called Killer Bees. Warning: No more than one of these alcohol-laden doozies per hour! (To get there, turn at the faded and worn sign that says “Welcome to Pinney’s Beach” and head toward the brightly colored stands to the left.)

They start cooking at sunset and we watched them buy the lobster from a local fisherman an hour before we ate it. Tristan and Tessa, ex-patriot American children at sea with their parents for a couple of years (or “until the money runs out”), sat down and chatted with us for half of our evening, making us wonder why we left our own children behind. But we had enough Killer Bees in our system to thoroughly enjoy it all. We decided to bring our kids back the next night so they could know what a true “beach bar” was really like. We considered it educational…Okay, we considered it experiential, and I wanted another Killer Bee.

Walking the Deserted Beaches

Our last real day! Snort, sniff…We rose, took our dip, then headed down to what we were now calling “our beach.” But this day, we walked farther, down to Herbert’s Beach and an old grease pole where the girls tried to balance their way all the way to the end. I tried it and fell off half-way down, where it wasn’t so deep, and sprained my ankle. Fortunately it wasn’t anything that 4 Advil and an ice pack couldn’t cure. But the girls couldn’t get enough of the challenge. We stayed there for an hour.

We returned to the villa, changed for dinner and went to Sunshine’s, hoping to run across Tristan and Tessa again and introduce them to our kids, but they had shipped out, off to Antigua as planned, apparently. We moved on to the Gallipot for dinner, an expensive stop for our family of five (about $225 for all of us). My husband and I noticed that most of the wines in Nevis are from South America and France—not many California varieties available.

And the Obligatory ER Visit…

Our younger daughter awakened at three a.m. with a terrible ear ache—Swimmer’s Ear, I guessed, that was rapidly turning into an infection. With two small plane trips to weather to reach our next island stop (Vieques) the next day, we had no choice. My husband took her to the tiny island hospital. She was seen by a nurse on call, the only one in the building, who didn’t charge him to administer ear drops and arrange for her to see a doctor in the morning to get a prescription. What’s a family vacation without a trip to the local medical establishment? For us, it was all part of the adventure. (But next time, we’ll take over-the-counter ear drops and an antibiotic prescription “just in case.”)

We packed up, gassed up, and cleaned up. Transition day! With luck, we’d be in our condo on Vieques by nightfall, we hoped. And we were!

See our Puerto Rico report, where we spent a couple nights before heading to Nevis to make the most of our villa’s Saturday-Saturday stay.

See our Vieques report–where we swam in the bioluminscent bay and glowed like blue aliens!

Have YOU been to Nevis? Please comment below about your own experiences!