We were up early once again this morning and out onto the balcony for a look round. Today we were docked in the port of Basseterre, capital of St. Kitts & Nevis. We’d been here once before, in 2012; we therefore decided, like yesterday, to pass the time at our own pace instead of going on an organised excursion. Moored next to us in the dock and blocking the view was the massive Royal Princess that we’d seen in Antigua.
We spent some time reading the leaflet about St. Kitts and studying a map of the island. We thought we might walk to the railway station (which was only 1.5km away) and see if we could go on the St. Kitts scenic railway; P&O had offered an organised trip to do this, but it was expensive at £64.00 each, so we thought if we went ourselves it would work out cheaper.
At the entrance to the cruise terminal Trevor asked the guy on duty how much the train ride was, but the guy said that it only accepted pre-booked tickets from the cruise passengers, and you couldn’t just buy a ticket for the train. Trevor was sceptical about this however, and decided to go and give it a try anyway.
We set off along the hot and dusty streets in the general direction of the railway station. Although it was less than a mile and would normally only take us about 17 minutes, the shimmering heat made it hard going. Despite the map we found that a lot of the streets didn’t have prominent street names, and we soon left behind the shops and restaurants and found ourselves in the middle of an estate of ramshackle houses, the train station nowhere in sight.
It was hot, sticky and not particularly pleasant walking through the grubby streets with nowhere to shelter from the sun, and I soon got fed up and wanted to abandon the search the for the train station, especially when there was no guarantee we’d even get on the train. We therefore decided to head for the sea and perhaps look for a nice beach, or see if we could get the water taxi over to the neighbouring island of Nevis.
We walked down to the ferry terminal, but as it was Sunday there were only two ferries a day, one at 9:00am (which we’d missed) and one at four o’clock, which was too late. So much for that. 🙁
We then decided to seek the shade and have a cold beer (!!) each, so we found a nearby local snackbar which sold Carib beer, three bottles for five dollars, and we bought some. A small monkey was tethered up in the bar and there was a box where you could make a donation if you wanted to have your photo taken with the monkey.
We enjoyed our beer, then decided to have a look around some of the shops. Tonight was Tropical Night on the Adonia with a Caribbean buffet followed by a deck party and, even though I’d brought a fairly colourful dress with me, I spotted some cotton off-the-shoulder maxi dresses in the brightest of designs and colours, at only $22.00 each. I therefore went in and bought one. 🙂
We strolled around and browsed the shops, then spotted a sign at the casino offering Carib beer at a dollar a bottle – it was obviously designed to tempt people into the casino but we were more attracted by the free wi-fi. We sat at a long table outside and ordered a beer each, checked emails etc. then got talking to another couple who joined us; they were passengers from the Royal Princess and hailed from Ontario, Canada.
We passed a pleasant hour or so in conversation with the couple, enjoying another beer each, before deciding to go back to the Adonia and enjoy a cool, refreshing swim once again. We then ate a light lunch, and went back to our cabin to enjoy a siesta.
We then later sat out on the balcony, looking across to the giant ship opposite. A tremendous din of many voices, shouting, laughing and catcalling came from the Royal Princess and we could see people sitting out on their balconies. When the time came for the Royal Princess to depart, it did the same as it did last time – played a tune on its foghorn. This time, however, Adonia responded with a long, loud blast of her own! 🙂
After a couple more foghorn blasts between both ships, Royal Princess slowly started moving out of her berth, passengers from both ships waving at each other. At the end of the Royal Princess someone was holding up a giant red foam waving hand, and a cheer went up when the Adonia responded with a yellow one! 🙂
Once the Royal Princess had departed, two things struck us at once. One was how quiet it now seemed, the other was how much brighter our cabin was, now that the sunlight wasn’t being blocked out!
We got ourselves ready for the tropical night; I wore the colourful dress I’d bought along with a wig I’d brought with me – it’s a Tina Turner style but it’s red, blue, yellow and green. Trevor wore his tropical shirt along with a Bob Marley dreadlocks wig, and we each donned the leis that we’d been given on embarkation. Thus attired, we made our way to the pool deck amidst many comments about our get-ups. 🙂
After we’d eaten we decided we’d go to the early show; you always finish your meal much quicker when it’s self-service than you do when it’s a formal meal in the dining room. So we were done by 7:00pm and were able to go into the Curzon lounge for the first performance at 7:15.
Tonight’s show was called Night of a Thousand Stars and featured the Adonia Theatre Company doing their tribute to the many, many artistes who have performed at the London Palladium over the decades. It was a decent show but there are only five performers; three dancers and two singers, so it wasn’t as glitzy as some shows we’ve seen on other ships.
Afterwards we went back to the Crystal Pool deck and enjoyed a couple of drinks as the Adonia sailed along under a warm tropical sky. Both the band and the Amethyst Duo were playing lively reggae tunes and, as more people had their dinners, the deck area soon filled up, as did the dance area in front of the stage. We commented that we would normally have been in bed by now, ready to go to work in the morning. But we were here instead. 🙂
We then went along to the Conservatory for tonight’s syndicate quiz, and we were completely on form, because we won! Yes! We now have the hat-trick. When they offered us the bottle of wine, we asked them to keep it for us until tomorrow night. 🙂
We returned to the deck party and, in fact, Trevor and I were the last to leave of the passengers; only us and some of the entertainment team remained until it was almost midnight. Then back we went to cabin A006, but we weren’t tired yet and it was such a lovely, balmy evening. So we poured ourselves a rum and tropical juice drink, added lots of ice, and took them to enjoy out on the balcony. I put my feet up on the railings, looked at the silvery path on the sea created by the moon, gazed at the stars above in the black velvet skies and listened to the sound of the waves washing against the Adonia’s side. Absolutely gorgeous, all of it. What a perfect way to end an evening. 🙂