Day 1 Charleston, Nevis

The first port we visited was Charleston, Nevis. Nevis is typically associated with St. Kitts. They have a long, intertwined history. They were both visited by Christopher Columbus in 1493, Francis Drake in 1585, and Captain John Smith of Jamestown, Virginia fame in 1607. They became rich islands on the back of sugar cane. When sugar cane farming went away, they became tourist destinations.

Nevis is also famous for being the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton. We decided to take a tour because it included a botanical garden in Nevis.  My dirty little secret is I go to botanical gardens anywhere and everywhere I go. Also, Mike and I visited Nevis a couple of times on a sailboat many years ago. At that time, we landed via zodiac on the beach next to the Four Seasons. It was so inviting and beautiful. On that trip, we took a tour of the English homes that were once sugarcane plantations. My memory of Nevis was a beautiful idyllic place. Well, that was pretty much a fantasy.

Charleston is okay but I kept thinking it would be so much nicer. This time we saw the “real” island. We visited the Alexander Hamilton museum.  I have to say it was actually quite depressing. It needed significant work although it survived Irma so it is a sturdy structure. The shutters were hanging by a screw. The inside was not worth the visit because there wasn’t much inside and it was basically a trip inside a basement. Hopefully, they will get funding to make it more inviting.

 From there, we went to Lord Nelson’s home. who is best known for his valiant command of the British fleet during the Battle of Trafalgar. who is best known for his valiant command of the British fleet during the Battle of Trafalgar. It turns out he met and married a woman who lived on Nevis and made the island his home. 

During our bus tour around Nevis, we passed a park that was heavily decorated for Christmas. It was a bit over the top but fun to see.

The next stop made the whole tour worthwhile. It was the Nevis Botanical Garden. It is situated on the Montpelier Estate overlooking Mount Nevis and the ocean. It is owned by Christi Douglass.

Her husband passed away and she remained on as the owner, tour director, and anything else she needs to be. She gave us a beautiful tour of the garden and spoke about what they added to the original garden in the way of plantings and Asian sculptures, collected over many years by the Douglases, who are collectors of fine art and antiquities.

She also collected many plants from Thailand because she has a home there as well as Nevis. Because we live in Florida, we are typically surrounded by much of the beautiful plants but the addition of the sculptures just elevated the experience. At the end of the tour, they gave us a delicious drink. There is a botanical shop for souvenirs on the property as well as a restaurant that looked lovely.   

Getting back to the ship was an experience. We boarded the lifeboat to go back and were almost at the ship when when the motor overheated and we smelled smoke. Instead of anyone telling us what is wrong, they shut down the motor and we were adrift.

The winds and currents were pretty strong; we thought we were headed back to St. Martin. Unfortunately, the crew was not communicating with us so we had no idea what they were going to do to get us back. There were about 40 hungry and bathroom-needing people on board, all wondering what was happening. About an hour later, they finally dispatched another lifeboat to come and tow us back.

It was alternately funny and worrying but we finally got back and they kept lunch going for us. Later that day we met with the Captain who had a lot of data but no sympathy or apology. They begrudgingly gave us a note apologizing. That could have been handled much better.