Barbados and St. Kitts

For Barbados we had a shore excursion planned where we would take a catamaran out and go snorkeling with the sea turtles and to a variety of coral reefs. The catamaran was huge and very relaxing. This was probably the biggest group we had on tour with us at a time, but the boat was big enough to hold everyone and still have that feeling of intimacy. In fact the group of people we were sitting with toward the front of the boat were very interesting to talk with and we had good conversation for the ride their and back.

The crew was excellent and had a variety of fresh snacks and goods prepared for us to eat on the ride out. This included homemade chocolate chip cookies as well as banana bread. Both were delicious.

At our first stop we were told that there were usually a decent amount of sea turtles swimming around- and they weren't kidding! You could see them through the water as soon as we pulled up and anchored. We were told not to wear our flippers for this part of the tour as we could accidentally kick a turtle with it. Also, we were told not to grab one and make it come with you. This seemed pretty obvious to me, but apparently snorkeling etiquette was not upheld by this group of travelers. We had to deal with a lot of people not looking where they were swimming and running head first into us and all other sorts of nonsense. But the turtles made it worth it, even the ones that would graze under my feet and snap at my toes :)

The coral reefs weren't particularly exciting as they were dead. However we did stop fairly close to a beach so Chris and I just swam out and walked around on shore until it was time to depart again. The catamaran was about a forty minute ride each way, so we had plenty of time to dry off on the way back and enjoy mellow music and vanilla rum.




A sea turtle swimming beneath us.





Stingray sighting.


St. Kitts was very overcast when we arrived but still no rain. We were tempted to sign up for a shore excursion at the last minute, but the only one that wound up being available was a train ride around the island so we opted out. We couldn't decide after the fact if that was a good choice or not. We found out after the fact that the train had become derailed on the tour and it almost sounded like quite the adventure!

We did spend some time exploring the area on our own which was nice. We made visits to several shops to find gifts for family and friends since we had yet to do that. Chris was very excited to find a bottle of Oban a very hard to find bottle of scotch that just happens to be one of his favorite. We also brought back a bottle of Bailey's for my dad as part of his Christmas present.

It was really fun exploring on our own for once and I think this was the prettiest location we stopped in other then the beaches we previously visited.




Basseterre, St. Kitts




Strolling down the streets of the city.