St. Kitts
Flight was an easy 25 minutes from SXM. Cost on Liat was$151USD per person including taxes www.liatairline.com. We took the 7:30AM flight over, and the 7:10PM flight back to SXM. Arranged for a custom taxi tour hitting just the highlights we wanted to see. Basseterre to Bloody Point then to Brimstone Hill, on to Caribelle Batik at Romney Manor, and finally to Turtle Beach on the south end. We had a great driver named Sarge who babysat us all day. He was the nicest most courteous driver we could have asked for. And very informative. Total cost for the custom tour was $100USD. We met Deepti’s good friend Isha at International Concepts and bought a gold charm for Bonnie’s bracelet. Ate breakfast at Ballahoo Restaurant. Good traditional American breakfast. Did a lot of window shopping more than anything. Stopped at the Philatelic Bureau and picked up a set of their infamous stamps for my mother, a retired rural postal carrier. Grabbed a refreshment of two at Circus Grill Bar and Restaurant. It’s a nice place to relax and people watch while resting your legs. While driving north to Brimstone Hill and then the length south to Turtle Beach we were struck by how clean the island is. We were also struck by how friendly everyone was that we came in contact with. The people and the beauty are two of the real attractions here. The island appeared very lush and sugar cane was abundant.
The Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park was massive and awe inspiring. At 800’ above sea level we especially loved the views from the top of the Citadel and the Place of Arms. I imagined that were I to have been stationed at a gunnery post it would be hard to accept orders to return to the homeland. Beautifully restored and must be seen to be appreciated. www.brimstonehillfortress.org.
We then stopped at Caribelle Batik at Romney Manor. The batik cloth is absolutely beautiful and was one of the main reasons we set this island as a destination. I had watched a program on Travel Channel that dealt with the beautiful clothing still made in this painstaking fashion. The grounds were a well-appointed garden and the central focus was an enormous 350-year old Saman tree. Well worth the trip. www.caribellebatikstkitts.com.

Out of the Ordinary (For Us)
Bonnie had never been to a casino before so on her birthday we went to Atlantis Casino and made a small contribution at the slot machines. She was at one time up $80 but fortunately we didn’t leave until she had lost it all. In light of the fact we hadn’t had a portrait taken since our wedding, some years back, I had surprised Bonnie and hired a photographer to take our pictures on Cupecoy. For $150USD we got 24 poses, 2 8x10’s, and all 24 photos on a CD. In reality he took 61 pictures and we got all on the CD. Thank you to Barbara for her recommendation. We could not have been happier with the experience or the results. Jerrol James’ shop is across the street from the Simpson Bay Yacht Club. Jerrol’s Photo is the name, I think it was formally Pete’s Photos. The number is 599-544-3866, or cell is 599-522-9706. [email]jerrolsphoto@hotmail.com.[/email] I packed a picnic and a bottle of champagne and took Bonnie to sit by the pier in Grand Case to watch the sunset and celebrated Bonnie’s birthday. We watched a group of local boys jumping, flipping, and throwing each other off the pier into the water. At one point four of the came lugging a soaking wet mattress up the pier. Where it came from is beyond me. The picnic was a recommendation from someone on the board and proved to be a very romantic setting. Thanks for the tip.

People
I would agree with John and Toddy’s assessment that the best part of any trip is often the people you meet and reuniting with friends. We ran into them at Baywatch twice. Went to the TTOL gathering at BBB on the 24th of May. Probably about 15 couples were in attendance. Met Jeremy and Kristen, Lee, Steve & Barb, Dave and Terrie, and John from Lawrence. Great job Kristen. It was a successful event. Someone ran around all evening asking everyone if they were “nudeandtanned” but I don’t know who she was…sorry.
Paula from housekeeping at Alamanda was a hidden gem. We spoke with her almost daily and she would always ask what our plans were. She always responded the same “You go for it Mon!”
We met Luiz’s ex-wife Lydia working in the Boutique at Bikini Beach.
We loved getting to know G.P. (Guy Pierre) in his own little bar in front of Kakao (KO Bar). He makes better drinks than the bartenders at Kakao and sitting and visiting with him at the bar was worth the plane fare in itself! The women all noted he was easy on the eyes. Not really sure how they were able to pry their gaze off of me, but alas. You have to see his T-shirt de jour.
Sarge our taxi driver in St. Kitts was without a doubt more than we could have hoped for. He was a truly outstanding representative of the island.
I loved Ludovic and Curtis from Alamanda. Sitting around Bull$hi!!ing with them was like hanging with some buddies around home. Even if they did harass me about my mispronunciation of the French language. Jim and Leslie from Atlanta