THE VOYAGES AND ADVENTURES OF M/Y INCOGNITO! : Nevis

The next day we left the marina and headed over in INCOGNITO
to Nevis which wasn't a far jaunt.

Nevis was a far cry from the dry scrubby terrain of St Kitts.

It was lush, extremely green and absolutely gorgeous...everyone was as friendly as can be!! (this wasn't to be found in St Kitts) You didn't see the poverty of St Kitts, just a proud and prospering island surrounded by natures bounty and very proud citizens.
What a treasure this place is!! I felt safer here too.

Here's some of the nitty gritty on Nevis...who knew they had the highest literacy rate in the western hemisphere?!

Nevis /ˈniːvɪs/ is a small island in the Caribbean Sea that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. Nevis and the neighbouring island of Saint Kitts constitute one country: the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. Nevis is located near the northern end of the Lesser Antilles archipelago, about 350 km east-southeast of Puerto Rico and 80 km west of Antigua. Its area is 93 square kilometres (36 sq mi) and the capital is Charlestown.

Saint Kitts and Nevis are separated by a shallow 3-kilometre (2 mi) channel known as "The Narrows". Nevis is roughly conical in shape with a volcano known as Nevis Peak at its centre. The island is fringed on its western and northern coastlines by sandy beaches which are composed of a mixture of white coral sand with brown and black sand which is eroded and washed down from the volcanic rocks that make up the island. The gently-sloping coastal plain (1 km (0.62 mi) wide) has natural freshwater springs as well as non-potable volcanic hot springs, especially along the western coast.

The island was named Oualie ("Land of Beautiful Waters") by the Caribs and Dulcina ("Sweet Island") by the early British settlers. The name, Nevis, is derived from the Spanish, Nuestra Señora de las Nieves (which means Our Lady of the Snows); the name first appears on maps in the 16th century.^[4] Nevis is also known by the sobriquet "Queen of the Caribees", which it earned in the 18th century, when its sugar plantations created much wealth for the British.

Nevis is of particular historical significance to Americans because it was the birthplace and early childhood home of Alexander Hamilton. For the British, Nevis is the place where Horatio Nelson was stationed as a young sea captain, and is where he met and married a Nevisian, Frances Nisbet, the young widow of a plantation-owner.

The majority of the approximately 12,000 citizens of Nevis are of primarily African descent. English is the official language,^[5] and the literacy rate, 98 percent, is one of the highest in the Western Hemisphere.

We booked a guide to show us the islands' sights and I told him we were arriving via boat at The Four Seasons and he said we better not get his seats wet. Ha!
Did he think we were swimming to shore?
His name was Humpy.
Here I am calling Humpy to tell him where to find us as we arrived at
The Four Seasons dock...

I asked him how he got his name, and he said that he had a bad fall when he was a kid and got the nickname Humpy. He was just the sweetest! The only part was that as informative as he was, he had an accent as thick as can be and it was truly hard to decipher what he was telling us. I think we understood about every 5th word. We almost got whiplash as he pointed out so many sights. It was fun and kept us completely entertained whilst we enjoyed the whole experience.

Humpy was a fabulous guide, however our planned "hour" of touring turned into 4+ hours which was no travesty. We saw so much of this gorgeous island. Nevis was SO much nicer than St Kitts!! What a surprise.

We visited this beautiful church from the 1600's...hard to fathom that place and time.

It was called St Thomas' Anglican Church and was established in 1643.

There were a few graves inside the church.

Some of them you walked across as you headed down the church aisle.
Kinda sacrilegious in my opinion.

Thankful to see they have taken good care of their history though!

Another cemetery outside the church.

After checking out the church grounds, we hopped back in the van and continued on our adventure..but what's this?

Luckily Humpy slowed to a crawl in order for these little lambs to cross to the other side.

I know you're looking at them and thinking...hey! These aren't lambs, they look like goats. Albeit true, it turns out that goats hold their tail in the air and lambs in the Caribbean hold their tails down. They are certainly sheared to handle this heat and lambs indeedy.

Our next stop was Nesbit Plantation. One of the big things to see here are the former sugar plantations which have all been turned into hotels.

The interiors had an old world island vibe.

The views from the house were tremendous!

The beach sure looked like a perfect spot to widdle away the day.

You can almost see us here...the "divine" light just couldn't resist photo-bombing us.

And another photo-bomb...

Our next stop was to capture this photo nugget of the boys...Grrrr!

Then Brad salivated ...

as we cruised past their lone drag strip! He's a drag race aficionado and then some.

Next, Humpy then took us to the Goldenrock Inn, another old sugarcane mill which turned out to be our fave spot on the island.

Buddy & Nancy found their namaste and practiced their yodeling skills from this window...

The lunch menu looked delish...too bad we opted for another locale.

The perfect setting at the top of the mountain for an alfresco lunch.

This place was so serene...you could sit and meditate there all day.

I however, chose to spazz out. Shocker.

This special hotel reminded me of a monastery where monks would reside

and practice their vow of silence.

It was crazy hot & humid out...

I think we were all sweating.

Our next stop was The Hermitage. Another plantation and simple chic.

Humpy told us all the nitty gritty.

They had the cutest little cottages on this plantation turned hotel.

The heat does make one a little crazy.

How cute was their lone dog house?

Humpy showed us a cinnamon tree and we all had to smell the fragrant leaves.

Next up was lunch at Montpelier Inn.
A historic sugar plantation and Relaix & Chateaux property...

Montpelier history dates back to 1687 when Sir Hans Sloane, Secretary of the Royal Society of England and a doctor, visited Nevis and discovered this location. A hundred years later, history gave this small Caribbean island prominence far beyond its size. Although many epic battles were orchestrated from Montpelier, this estate became famous for love. Montpelier Plantation witnessed the marriage of Horatio Nelson, famous for his service in the Royal Navy, to Frances “Fanny” Nisbet, niece of the president of Nevis, John Herbert.

Their old world interiors were well appointed.

We had lunch poolside and the ever impressive old mill lurked in the background.

Turns out, you can have a romantic dinner for two inside that mill.

I loved their clever weather station...too funny!

Not a detail left untouched.

Nancy and I posed in our colorful best...

Humpy gave us the download on this gorgeous plantation.

It's loaded with nuggets of history...so are we!

He then took us for a cruise past Alexander Hamilton's place of birth.

We finished our tour and Humpy dropped us back at The Four Seasons.
We then set out on a tour of our own down the beach...

Every so often we came across a lone cow that was tethered to the ground. Sad to see, and this one was calling out for his owner to come and get him out of the sun.

This one was wondering what all the fuss was about...

Maybe he was worried we might take his boat for a cruise?

We then walked down to "Sunshines"...an institution on Antigua.

Albeit, one that has seen better days.

Nonetheless, we had to try their "killer bee" drink that they are

famous for ...

and cop a squat on the beach.

INCOGNITO was right across from us awaiting our return...

The boys worked on their fierce tans.

We made it back to the boat for a gorgeous sunset and dinner.

Then...the unthinkable happened. Dun, dun dun....Buddy thought it would be a great idea to go fishing off the back of the boat late that night (after those killer bee cocktails), but the fish he caught got away.

What he did catch was himself. OUCH!

The hook had little barbs on it, which meant if we pulled it out it would hurt like a mother and he thought the best idea was...to PUSH IT THROUGH!! What?!

Nurse Nancy inspected the sitch...

Luckily his beautiful wife talked him down and we let him know that this was the worst idea possible. yuk. We wriggled at the thought of it breaking off and turning into a worse problem. Therefore, it was time to wake up our captain Bish to see if he had any bright ideas and break out our massive medical kits.

e We went searching for some injectable Lidocaine. Nancy and I thought we could give him a shot in his finger to numb him and then use our scalpel to cut it out. Since Nancy had been a nurse she was certainly qualified for this, yet once we thought it through neither of us could stomach performing this task. Ha! That and the fact that we couldn't find the Lidocaine to save our life. We both were weak knee'd at the thought.

Then we woke up Brad as we needed the "voice of reason"
to weigh in and take a looksie...

It was best for Buddy to have another opinion and not push the hook through as he was insisting on doing. I mean...who ya gonna call?

We finally reached the group consensus that it would be best to wait for a doctor and go to a hospital in the morning. wah wah.

Our captain Bish had the great idea to make a "cone" of silence for Buddy's finger.
(like you do for an injured dog)

We were all in hysterics! We clipped off the lure and just a small part of the hook remind sticking out. It would hold him over until he could get to a
hospital the next morning. It would keep it safe so he could get some ZZzzzzzz.

First thing the next morning, off the went to the hospital. Bish took them via dingy and dropped them off at the dock in the center of town. They were told the hospital wasn't too far, but then they met a sweet man who told them it was too long of a walk and that he'd "carry" Buddy. Buddy couldn't believe he wanted to carry him, and they cracked up at the thought!! What the man meant to say is that he would drive them. (funny how languages translate sometimes) This sweet good samaritan proceeded to clean the seats for them in his car, proud as can be and then stated "anyone who sits in my car I must pray for." He did it right there as he drove them and said his prayer out loud. When do you come across this kind of wonderful human behavior these days? We are all so jaded with muggings, terrorism, etc and then this nice guy comes along and restores your faith in humanity.

Buddy and Nancy made it to the hospital in record time

Buddy was ready to get that sucker out of his finger!

The doctor was no charmer however, and had the personality of a knat. He didn't say much except for "are you staying at the Four Seasons?" with a snooty tone.
Talk about "profiling"...

He had ZERO bedside manner, and didn't take the proper steps prior to extracting the hook. Normally, a doctor would prep the hand for surgery and make sure it's lying flat. This doc, had Buddy hold his hand in the air (wave it like ya' just don't care!) and then injected it with lidocaine (ok- he blew that finger UP) then proceeded to make a small incision to release the hook from his flesh. Eeeeow. Who performs this procedure with a finger in the air? HA! How in the world Nancy was able to keep quiet and not chime in is beyond me. I wouldn't have been able to hold my tongue.