We knew we wanted a tropical get away this winter. No more winters without reprieve. This is a given. [Especially if you don't want me getting any weirder than I already am. No promises though.]
We craved adventure. Exploration. Culture. Relaxation. And sun. (Lots of sun.)
We wanted a beach. A pristine, secluded, beautiful, natural, rocky, cliff-side beach - complete with shells, coral fragments, splashing waves, and of course - swimming. Is that possible? ANYWHERE? Well - you betta bet your azz Uni stepped in and provided!
We stayed in the cottage at Black Sand Cove on Long Point. Outstanding for seclusion from the touristy hubs, quiet (except for donkeys, goats, crickets, frogs, and crashing waves, plus morning doves), and that amazing beach & garden!
No more 2-year-long breaks in between posts here people. Not for this girl. This is a promise.
Welcome, to...
It was our first trip out of the country with the girls - so we found the combo of some familiarity (and family-friends to visit) in St. Kitts, along with the newness of the sister-island of Nevis - very inviting indeed.
Fancy wheels, eh? Jealous! [Fab gifts from Grandma Judy & Grandpa 'Bob' for Christmas.]
I'm so glad I didn't check the settings on the camera when I quickly snapped this shot. I love the 'motion' that is visible in this!
Le Plane & the 'fancy' bagel sandwiches from Le Airport in Charlotte - which made us literally almost-late = RUNNING for our connecting flight - just like in the movies!
{Like that upbeat and pretty description of our terror?}
Ah yes - we have arrived on St. Kitts. We have our vehicle. Stop #1 - the overlook above the peninsula between the Atlantic (on your left) and the Caribbean Sea (on your right). Bama!
Awaiting our Ferry to Nevis. (See Nevis back there waiting for US?)
Sunset on the Ferry! PS: We saw flying fish - parallel to our boat :) BONUS
Upon arriving on Nevis, in the dark, we weren't sure how to reach Adolfo - who manages the cottage where we'd be staying for the week. We have no signal on the islands, and had no clue where we were going. (Hey - can you say adventure?) I was all of the adventure-mindset, when we saw a uniformed police officer getting into his marked vehicle a few feet away. "Go ask to use their phone, Joel!" I suggested. So he did. They were swell. They called and found out where Adolfo would be, and we got to follow their lead to meet him. The people on these islands are some of the friendliest, most helpful, compassionate people we've ever EVER met - (both times!)
Good morning! We were greeted with a gorgeous full rainbow over the ocean...
And plenty of colorful flora surrounding our abode.
Our non-hot hot-tub. At first we thought it'd be nice to have it warm for cooler evenings. But then, we sat in it by day and it was refreshing. Plus, it didn't really get 'cool' at night! (NO COMPLAINTS HERE!) Yes, we had a home-made killer bee in-hand during our soak.
Fresh lemons (sour oranges, per the locals; these were diff from the typical lemon) - direct from our garden for my morning waters. BAMA!
Brought with our trusty gf pancake mix.... Mmmmmmmmm....
Time to walk down to THAT BEACH! Bring it. Here you have your fist glimpse of the resident 'guard' dog (just a puppy, but very protective.) Addie was in heaven.
And.... Do you hear harps and angelic singing? Me too! Then again - I also hear steel drums and Bob Marley... :)
They wasted no time in finding shells. What the hell is that guy doin' in the background??
In his own little world............
20-year-long tradition we refer to as "Our Shot" {Even before selfies were 'cool'!}
Something delicious about this photo.
This next series of photos is probs a fave. I should find out if I can have a flip-book made!
Hahahah! End series. See those tiny feet bolting away? (And Joel's soaked shorts?) Love it.
Oh yeah - I was here too. You know it.
We could hear the waves crashing against these rocks (and those situated on the other end of the bay) from our deck in the evenings. Dreeea-my.
Family pre-beach selfie! {Yes, we're back to the beach!}
Minnesota-Nice meets NEVIS-Nice! This turned out to be our fave spot to eat on Nevis. This story continues...
Virgin killer-bees... Mmmmmm.
REAL killer bees. MMMMMMMMM! Watcha! They gitcha. ;)
So - on night number one in a new place at a new restaurant, my "gluten fears" started kicking in. Will they know what I'm talkin' 'bout??? I started to feel a little nervous about asking for gluten free food. I don't really know why - as I was successfully fed in St. Kitts 2 years back without issue. They waiter explained that the Conch in the Conch salad was served raw (ceviche style). I basically (in my head more or less) said, "Let's DO dis!" Just then, my 'worry song' came on their radio system (a song that has always made me feel supa calm whenever I was feeling amped about something.... I have a few, but the top one has always been "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers. By the way - we were at a Restaurant - on a BEACH, called "Sunshines"!) Sunshine himself, owner & chef, then arrived at the table, and asked about each ingredient, and whether it was 'safe' for me. I was blown away! He was oh so kind. THEN..... He brought out THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TADA! Have you ever laid eyes on anything as beautiful as this???? I about died of happiness. And then I tasted it. I about died again. I want this right NOW. {Who's with me?}
And then, when you think it can't get ANY better... The girls order "chicken fingers". And to our pleasant surprise, that translates to amazing, local, fresh chicken in a home-made bbq sauce. They said it was their "favorite chicken 'fingers' EVER!" BAMA.
Joel had himself a LOBSTER sammich. Also to die for.
AND, you could sit inside the open-air restaurant, OUTSIDE on their patio, or play on their playground, or jump in their trampoline, or hang out/ dance by the bonfire - all steps away from the ocean. Um. FAVE PLACE!!!!!! EVER. (And home of those infamous killer bees.) There is yet another story to this place - coming up soon.
Selfie: My girlies and me chillin' on the 'sofa' at our table at Sunshines. HAPPY!
While J was peeing and paying our bill, the girls and I decided to try a selfie-VIDEO. I do love the vid capabilities of this here machine.
In
Joel's words: "GOD-DAMNED DONKEYS!" (They were loud. They make noise
all day, and all NIGHT.) But we loved them. I miss them in fact. Joel
doesn't sleep as soundly - so they annoyed him a bit more. But it was
hilarious listening to these guys!
Wanna hear their song? Have a listen! (have your volume up)
The road to our cottage was quite an adventure in itself {and one I'm sure we'd never have found on our own - in the dark!} You can see the terrain in a video clip too big for the blog, on my old Youtube channel - HERE.
Addie's pet-away-from-home. [I'm partial to pets that live outside. This one was right cute.]
Daily digs... hanging to dry for the next round of beach-going :)
That black sand beach... Mmmmmmmm.
SUNSETS were phenom from this view....
Ooopsies. Nope - it's not urine. It's the Caribbean sea gettin' fresh...
The "Our Shot" tradition has evolved with the fam since the girls were born. :)
Lizards. We love lizards. It's a sure sign you're in a warm locale'.
Here's some more of that amazing garden.
Our cottage.
Meet Adolfo! He's beyond awesome! Fun, personable, happy to help you with anything! He gave us the run-down for how to properly extract aloe from the garden plants, for our sunburn. He helped us gather some coconuts to try. We got to try them at all stages. Very dry - with no water, just the flesh. "Ripe" - like we usually think of them, with some water inside, and some juicy meat. AND, young - filled with pure coconut water and what they refer to as 'jelly' (which it basically is!) ALL 3 were divine in my opinion. That water was STELLAR! The gardener used his machete to open them all up. Side-note: I love the Caribbean accent! It's so fun. It was "unbeelievabow"! (love, love, love)
For months we'd been singing "You put the lime in de coconut and drink the bowl up, you put the lime in de coconut and call me in the morning..." We heard it on MPR, and the girls loved it! We sang and danced to it - and kept singing about it - saying how we hoped we could do JUST that in Nevis. Well.... we made it happen, baby! Addie actually started talking in her sleep on this night. It was muffled at first - and then we figured out - she was singing, "Put the lime in de coconut"!!!! Adorbs.
Bird of Paradise bloomed just for us. And paradise it WAS.
Another visit to the beach. Hahahha!
This is the main house, as you look back toward it coming up from the beach.
Here we are in one of the towns.
There's something about this photo. Maybe the fact that it's giant library - with shelves of books visible through the open-air windows, and the zero-noise signs, and the two locals standing there - and the sun, and the colors.... And, and, and!
So love seeing places like this pop up. Nabbed a few goods from this place :)
And we saw crabs. Lots of crabs!
This is the back of the cottage.... Just perty.
We went to the local farmer's market today. Watermelon, plantains, baby bananas, giant avocado, tomatoes, some fruit we can't remember, and a cocoa (cacao?) pod. So fresh!
Addie and her first souvenirs. "Fishies" -
Hahaaaa! The esteemed 'waler-melon'
My fruit bowl and the fresh flowers they had placed in our home-away-from-home.
New fave family portrait. Love that timer-feature. Love that BEACH!
Most of the hikes in the area were guided, and we weren't sure with the kiddos... But we did take a walk. A very long one down our back road - in the blazing hot sun, where Addie literally almost melted. Thankfully she loved one of the bars Dale sent with us. (Yay Dale! He saved my life - because I literally ate those for dinner on both flights.) But it was fun. We had to dodge quite a bit of donkey, monkey, and cow droppings.
A quick stop down to the beach for the sunset - And OH so glad we did! We saw the "Green Flash" that eve! It had been talked about on our first visit to St. Kitts - and we watched the sunset every night - never witnessing it. This year, we hadn't even remembered that this phenomenon is somewhat common here - and we happened to decide to take sunset photos before going to dinner. We saw it! I didn't actually take a photo at the time. I had the camera down away from my eye. I'm wondering if I'd have even been able to see it through the lens. Was probably meant that I wasn't looking through it at the time; it happens in a second! So that's checked off the ol' bucket-list now ;)
Our first attempt to eat at this amazing restaurant up in the hills meant coming back to try for lunch instead. They were booked solid that eve. Very cool entrance.
So we ventured back to Sunshines for some fun. It's no wonder I felt right at home here ;)
BBQ sauce-euphoria!
And, here's where our story continues at Sunshines! Meet "Godfather" (real name Kelvin. Godfather is his beach name!) He was super cool and he loved that we had the whole fam there. He watched how we danced by the fire and didn't have a care in the world. We chatted for a while, sharing stories, etc. He then came over to the girls and gave them each a necklace. As he gave them to each girl, he said, "Remember, life is what you make of it." BA-MAA! It was just what I needed to remind them that they can choose to be in the moment, or let the moments pass them by... LOVESSSS!
And although the music wasn't live, it was AWESOME! We didn't let that moment pass us by :)
Myla's my dancin' girl!
Addie enjoys it too - though more often when other people aren't nearby.
Addie receiving her necklace from Godfather.
Some girl-time on the swings on the beach.
Da Girlz.
Found these dresses, and WOW! So meant to be! Check these beauties out~
My little tropical chicas.
photo-bomb!
Every now and then you grab a shot of Addie with no sass in her face. Look at that doll.
So we returned to the fantabulous restaurant/ Inn in the hills - called Golden Rock. AMAZE-ballz. (Especially if you're there as a couple. Now added to mama's bucket-list.) The manager came out with some bread for the girls to feed the koi in the ponds. They LOVED it.
Hahaaaaa! I love to try new things. This here is called the Mount St. Helena. It's made with vodka, (plus I forgot), along with jalapenos & rosemary! Outstandingly unique - and yes - it was spicy. Mmmmmm. Nom nom.
THE best lunch I've ever had... It was the lime & rum glazed shrimp salad, with plantain chips. DI-VINE. BEST shrimp EVER!!
We finished with home-made mango & coconut sorbet. I'm craving it again right now.
A kind staff member took a pic for us.
Time for some garden exploration~
You may recall a couple different "The Trees" we were privy to visiting on St. Kitts in 2013. Well, this probably has them both beat! This thing is huge. You'll see.... keep scrolling.
And with the girls standing alongside the ROOTS of the tree (which stay above ground for this species) - you can get a better perspective on just how massive it really is!
Completely spontaneous. I still got it ;)
'Tis our ride! Cute, eh?
Now we're back at the cottage - and the gardens were just glowing in the low-lying sun... Mmmm.
I see a creature??
More sunsets? ALWAYS!
This is the money shot right here. I adore this image of these 3.
Family "our shot"
More swimming- at sunset!
One night we made a meal at the cottage with some goodies from the grocery store. Came out rather good for not being Sunshine's or Golden Rock. ;)
The Golden Hour isn't called the Golden Hour for nothin'!
Time to check out Golden Rock all romantically-lit at NIGHT! Ooooh la la.
Snapper.
Lobster. (Melted in thy mouth.)
Girls had mahi mahi
And chocolate cake! Love that everything here is made from scratch.
I like how there is abstract motion as we leave in the eve. Kind of a fab 'goodbye' shot.
And THIS - is how they pack us in like sardines on the ferry. This time, we were sandwiched in between cars, and would have had to crawl out the window and climb to get out of the car. So we stayed inside the vehicle on this one.
Now we're settled at Rock Haven B&B where we got to reunite with Judith & Keith (owners, and friends) and introduce them to the girls! At din-din time, we headed to Sprat Net for some fresh caught Snapper (with the heads still on!) and Johnnycakes (for the 3 who can tolerate gluten).
Fab view, sunset, food, and drink. Gotta love dining alfresco in the Caribbean.
Thankfully - they were not intimidated by looking at the fish looking back at them ;)
We stayed in the littler room this time, and it was the girls' first time looking at a TV for over a week! (Love that. They didn't miss it during the week, but they welcomed its return.)
Judith & Keith and their staff transformed their office space into a second bedroom for the girls for the 2 nights we stayed. They are so wonderful!
We're headed into the jungle up in the hills for a self-guided hike along some pathways, and a visit to Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park!
This is the fortress...
I freakin' love this image! I almost didn't take it too...
Another fave.
It was so clear, we figured (according to this map) that we were able to see St. Eustatius, saba, and also - very faintly in the distance, what must have been Gustavia, and Barbuda.
Windy!
We arrived at the Black Rocks, and we couldn't believe how much they've changed. The sea has swallowed up many of the larger rocks. Also, they now have a rope and signs preventing people from going down to them. (Joel and I - crazy cats that we were - went down there right next to them when we were here 2 years ago! CRAAZAAAY.) But so glad we did it while we could!! He and our friend Andy also were down there. You can see those pix and make comparisons by looking back at them in the previous post from St. Kitts in 2013.
We also stopped at the spot on the north end of St. Kitts to look at where the Caribbean and Atlantic meet. The waves were pretty big this time - which was great. You can really see where they come together in this video!
And, our self-guided jungle tour :)
Must be baby-season for lizards. There were literally thousands of them scurrying everywhere! We thought we'd step on them. Tiny. Luckily - they were also fast!
And we re-visit the first "The Tree"
As you can see, it's actually significantly smaller than the one on Nevis where the girls stood beside the roots. These roots are only probably a quarter or perhaps even less in size.
This shell is the shell in the necklace I bought this year. (I like souvenirs I can use, share, and enjoy!) They were all around the jungle floor.
The girls called this the "ginger tree". Love it.
They were in a little 'fort' beneath this one.
Some local insects. ["Callapillar", per Addie]
St. Kitts hillside at dusk, behind the B&B
Cathy's was closed (with my fave ever Lobster!) But, Shiggity Shack was open, and hoppin' - with music, a bonfire and fantastic food! I like eating with our toes in the sand.
Gotsta dance!
I had the grouper here, and it was EXCELLENT.
And, it was our last night - so the girls again got to have - cake!
Mom and dad's desserts. Rum punch for me, baby! Carib beer for J.
Never too much dancing...
A kind couple took our pic. One was blurry. The other - she had her hand in front of the flash. Oh well. Better than nothin!
We were enjoying the crazy-loud-awesome crickets on our balcony at the B&B and the narrow set of lights in the distance above this roof are the glow of Nevis from here.
Remember the crickets? No? Here ya be...
Tea time! The tea that I will never forget, and forever try to duplicate. (Need new basil & mint plants, now that the lemongrass is flourishing.)
They rearranged some things. Very cozy outdoor space overlooking the Atlantic from atop the hill.
Fresh fruit every morning!
That bird is smart. He knows when to come around. We enticed him to actually land on the table - with the girls seated on either side of him.
Just look at these tropical beauties!!!
When the girls want to put a flower in daddy's "hair" - this is their only option. ;)
Those gorgeous grounds overlooking the ocean.
Could not BELIEVE (Unbeeelievabow) that we found this donkey necklace! Myla giggled, picked it up, and said, "I HAVE to buy this!" Right on.
And our friends, Judith & Keith of the Rock Haven B&B! Until we meet again. :)
