Favourite Islands Part 3: Saba to Montserrat

Moving on to the inner arc of the Leeward Islands:   these are rugged, more sparsely populated islands that are primarily of Dutch and British history.

Here's the first instalment and second instalment of this series if you missed them.

Saba
We first fell in love with Saba (The Unspoiled Queen) when we visited by plane on our initial sailing trip to the Caribbean in 2008.  Since then we have sailed there once in 2012 and visited by plane again in 2014.  Saba has a well-earned reputation for being a difficult place to visit with your own boat:  the island is steep-to which means that anchoring is pretty much out of the question unless you carry about a kilometre of chain.  There are lots of mooring balls but unless you get to visit in a dead calm with no northern swell, you will not want to spend much time on the boat.  But, that's the reason we visit Saba.  We want to get off the boat and explore this pristine and quaint little island that appears to have stepped right out of Gulliver's Travels.  You can hike to the highest point in the Kingdom of the Netherlands at the top of Mt. Scenery, or you can dare the near-vertical descent of the The Ladder to relive history and the path of absolutely everything that came to Saba prior to construction of the port.  We adore hiking on this island and for a long time called Saba our favourite.  Now there are rivals but it will always hold a special place in our hearts.
     Love:  a tiny encapsulated island where you're certain everyone knows one another
     Hate:  the reputation of the anchorage puts people off

Saba rarely reveals it's crown

The little village of Windwardside perched on the saddle

The Ladder - with the Customs House perched above.

St. Eustatius
We only visited Statia for the first time this year and really enjoyed it.  This is another island with a rolly anchorage if there is any north swell.  Our first impression of this island is that it is much like Saba with it's Dutch history only rougher round the edges - there's a certain 'outback' kind of feel to Statia.  This was once a huge busy port but is now a sleepy backwater that sits under the presence of Quill, it's dormant volcano.  The main town is lined by weathered clapboard houses along cobblestone streets with small signs of improvement in places.  We have climbed Quill and explored it's micro-climate crater but have yet to branch out to other areas of the island.  We will definitely return for more of this friendly laid-back isle.
     Love:  this history of this place
     Hate:  another rolly anchorage makes long stays in the winter months difficult

Oranjestad overlooked by Quill

Many choices for hiking in the park

Quiet streets of Oranjestad.

St. Kitts
We visited St. Kitts in 2015 on our way south and have to say that this island did not leave a really good taste in our mouths.  There are some great sights to see and Brimstone Hill Fortress should be visited at least once - it is the only UNESCO World Heritage site in the Eastern Caribbean.  However, after driving around the entire island and spending a couple of days on the streets of grubby Basseterre we never really felt welcomed to the island.  This is the only place where I have been acutely aware that I was the only white person in sight.  I will give St. Kitts it's due that this was the first 'new' island we visited as we started our travels south and perhaps now that we have experienced more of the British heritage islands (Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada) perhaps we would have a different opinion of St. Kitt's.  There is also no really good anchorage with easy access to town so you have a choice of either a rocky, rolly anchorage at Basseterre or being miles from town but more protected down at Whitehouse Bay
     Love:  Brimstone Fortress (too bad it's not on another island)
     Hate:  the feeling of being an outsider

The Circus in bustling downtown Basseterre

Beautiful batiks at Caribelle.

Brimstone Hill with Telca Marina below.

Brimstone Fortress - a formidable defence structure.

Nevis
Nevis is paired with St. Kitts as a dual-island nation and yet couldn't be more different than her neighbour.  It helps too that we have friends with a cottage on Nevis and so we've been treated to a 'local' view.  However, the island has a great mooring field within easy reach of the main town of Charlestown, the population is laid-back and friendly and the island has some great history and geology to explore.  As with all these islands, it can get rolly here with a north swell.  Nevis was once the largest sugar-producing island in the Caribbean for the Brits so there are umpteen old ruins to explore, there's some good hiking and Nevis Peak is said to be one of the most difficult Caribbean volcanos to ascend (we have yet to do it.)  This is also one of the few islands where you will find monkeys (the locals consider them a pest) but for those of us who don't have to live with them, it is quite exciting to see them in the wild bounding through the trees or stopping to screech at you from the branches above.
     Love:  this island is just the right size
                - small enough to be accessible but large enough to still offer a challenge
     Hate:  there's no real dinghy dock at the town dock

Welcome to Nevis!

The town square - a great place to lime under the Flamboyant tree.

Church ruins - some of many on the island.

Love em or hate em, there are monkeys on Nevis.

Montserrat
Montserrat is a unique experience in that it is the only island with a currently (and sometimes violently) active volcano.  The volcano has been erupting since 1995 and has now completely destroyed the original capital city of Plymouth and rendered about two thirds of the island uninhabitable.  People come to Montserrat to view the awesome power and destructive capability of Mother Nature but there is much more to discover on this island.  From the northern anchorage at Little Bay you have little indication of what you will see south of the Central Hills but this really gives you a sense of the resiliency of those islanders who have remained on Montserrat - rebuilding and carrying on with their lives.  The northern part of the island encapsulates a wide variety of landscapes from rugged cliffs, dry scrubby savannahs to lush rainforest in the mountains.  Hike around, take the bus or lime at a local watering hole to get a real feel for this island before gawking at what we've all come to see - the eruption of Souffriere Hills volcano.  If you manage to get to Montserrat in March, you will have a unique experience with St. Paddy's day celebrated among the most Irish influenced, Guinness drinking islanders.
     Love:  incredible contrast and the power of nature
     Hate:  when people miss the rest of the island, and when the tour guides encourage them to do so!

The anchorage at Little Bay with a small surf rolling in.

We were lucky enough to catch a local cricket game - boy was it dry that year!

The north end of the island from atop the lush Central Hills rainforest.

Looking south - to the destruction at Plymouth.

One thing all these islands have in common is that most of them have small anchorages that are prone to roll when there is a northern swell.  If possible, visit them as late in the season as you can to reduce the risk - perhaps on the way south in the April-May timeframe if you have heading south for hurricane season.  The rewards are worth it though as these islands are quite distinct from the other more populous islands and a world apart from the French islands.

One more instalment to come - the Windward islands down to Grenada.

Nevis Nice at The Source

Carib Beer has a slogan for each island where it sells its wares down here, each one enticing you to enjoy a cold bottle of yellowy goodness in each individual surrounding.  In Grenada last August the slogan was "Get Wired - For Carnival" and it certainly exuded the kind of energy we found around the place.

In Nevis, as you disembark at the town dock, the local bar is resplendently billboarded with the trademark Carib yellow proclaiming "Nevis Nice".  I'm not sure which came first - an island saying or a marketing slogan, but Nevis Nice pretty much sums up what we have found here, including the overall welcoming feeling we have as we wander the streets and tuck into the little shops.

So that is perhaps the source of Nevis Nice, but we had another source to discover today.  This one high up on the side of Nevis Peak and it is in fact the original source of water for the islanders dating back to the 1600s when locals installed an iron pipe to bring down lovely clean, cold water from the heights above.  Over the years repairs have been made to the pipe and in places it has been replaced but water is still provided to cisterns lower down the slopes from The Source.

Because there is a maintenance trail along side the pipe, it has now become a well-travelled and popular trail to hike on the island - although on the day we did it we seemed to be the only ones up there.

We rode the bus up to Golden Rock Estate (red line) and then hiked up the side of the peak to The Source.

A little note on our bus ride to and from the trail head at the Golden Rock Estate - and you really can't make this up.  This is what riding an island bus is all about.  We jumped on the little mini-van bus in Charlestown and confirmed it was going to our destination.  As we pulled away from the town square, a lady in the seat in front of us handed some money to the young man who collects the bus money and asked him to get her some bread.  So, the bus pulled up to the bakery and the young man hopped out and joined the line at the bakery.  This was going to take a while.  The street was now blocked by the bus and a line of cars started to form, patiently waiting.  I guess someone in the back didn't get the memo and let out a polite little honk, so the bus circled around the block and came back to park in front of the bakery once again.  We waited a few more minutes when the young man emerged with the bread and the lady's change.  On ... On... (as we say down here).  We carried on at breakneck speed up the road until we reached Church Ground where we turned off the road onto a two-track and proceeded up the slope of the mountain (a two-track is two tracks of concrete with grass growing in-between.)  Up, up we went and it did cross my mind that had this been a year ago we might have been worried for our safety, but today we knew that this was just a diversion to drop off or pick up a passenger.  Sure enough, the very professionally dressed young woman in the front seat hopped out at the top of the road and had just saved herself a mile walk up the mountain in her high heels.  It was now just us and a couple of guys having a very animated conversation with the driver and we headed back up the main road, once again at break-neck speed.  In no time we reached Golden Rock where we hopped out, paid our 3.50EC each (about $1.25CAD) whereupon the bus turned around and screeched back down the road to Charlestown - we were a custom drop too I guess.  On the return journey we picked up a couple of little pre-schoolers from their school.  The fare collector diligently helped them into the bus, did up one of their shoelaces and we then drove to their individual houses to drop them off.  These island bus drivers sure do earn their hard-won fares!

But now, back to our hike ...

The first half of the hike is deceptively easy with broad grassy tracks and a very gentle slope.

Don't forget to turn left at the donkey.

The latter half of the track becomes a little more narrow, a little more steep and a little more slippery.  Notice the pipe on the right that we're following?

Like blossoms everywhere, these beautiful toadstools perched on the side of a downed rotten log.

We're now getting into the rain forest on the slopes of Nevis Peak.  A short portion of the pipe here has been replaced with plastic.

Giant tree ferns clinging to the steep slopes.

Near the end of the hike there are a series of mossy, slippery concrete steps to climb.  43 steps ... they were pretty dicey but don't show up looking too bad on the camera.

Until you look back up.  Then you realize just how high they were.

This cane toad was about 6" long and very determined that he was going to jump down the hill.

We were getting close as we spied some small waterfalls along the way.

In one section there was no pipe, just an acqua-duct rather like the Beauregard Canal on Martinique.

We walked right under and through this magnificent thicket of Heliconia flowers.

The undergrowth was just exuding moisture at this point.

We arrived!!  The water pipe continues up to the top of the waterfall, accessible only by a dodgy looking ladder.  We declined the temptation to climb higher and instead relaxed in this idyllic spot.

This ladder was not for me!

The hike took us two hours from Golden Rock up to the top with the hardest part on the last third - scrambling over slippery, moss-covered rocks and very grateful for the odd rope in the really steeps spots.  The water at the top was ice-cold and refreshing both for a shower and to fill water bottles.  The humidity is pretty intense even though you are under cover and away from the sun.

We turned ourselves back down the mountain and with the afternoon downhill trek we seemed to be joining the return of most of the barnyard animals on the trail as well.  At one point a troupe of monkeys let out loud warning calls of our presence but the most threatening encounter we had was the donkey who wanted us to take him home.

A flock of sheep, led by a goat and carefully guarded by a ram preceded us down the trail.

We then came across a herd(?) of pigs grunting away in the undergrowth.

Remember our sign-post donkey?  He was tired after his long day and definitely wanted to head back home with us.

All in all a great hike to The Source on Nevis and now the site of my new favourite photo of Henry and I.

Slow Down on Nevis

Saturday was a fantastic overview of the island with Wendy & Bill, so on Monday we decided to take it a bit slower and travel on foot.

What happened to Sunday??  Well that was Mother's Day and after calls with family and some pretty heavy rain we decided to take a lazy boat day.  The sun did shine a bit in the afternoon and we celebrated with sundowners on Mowzer just to let the sun know we appreciated it's presence.

The destination for our walk was the Montravers Estate ruins and then a hike on the Upper Round Trail over to Morningstar.

Straight up from the boat to Montravers and then around the island to Morningstar.

The trail was pretty straightforward to find from Pinney's Beach and we were treated to interpretive signs along the way.

The Baobab tree at the old gatehouse is the largest on the island.  We've seen Baobabs on other islands and they are usually the result of a captured African bringing the seed over with them when they were enslaved and then amazingly planting it somewhere where their new community would be able to sit under it as they had back home.  Even in all the turmoil of that time, some traditions survived.

Somewhere in there is a huge tree and the remains of the gatehouse.

The Baobab tree is pretty overgrown so its immensity is difficult to see through all the trees and vines around it.

Stepping gingerly through the gatehouse we noticed bat droppings on the floor.  Sure enough, wriggling away in the rafters above us were a few little furry bodies having their daytime nap.

The broad path continued straight up to the great house.  You can imagine the work carts and drays driving up and down here when the plantation was in operation.

At the top of the road, we weren't being chased away, just being asked to respect the site even though it is on privately owned  property.

Looking back down to Pinney's beach and beyond that, Mowzer in the anchorage.

The Montravers Estate comprises a quite unusual three-storey great house with the foundations of earlier buildings alongside.  There is a large barn that has been restored and lots of evidence of ongoing work on the other buildings.  The plantation produced sugar for some 300 years and archaeologists have found the site of the slave village, although we didn't see it while there.  Interestingly, a failed experiment saw the plantation owner, Joseph Pinney, bring in six camels to work on the estate.  They didn't prosper in the Caribbean and I guess we can be thankful that Nevis is not currently overrun with camels, although they do have a bit of a problem with donkeys and monkeys.

Great house on the top of the hill at the left and the restored barn on the sloping ground below it.

Old iron feed bracket on the wall of the camel barn.

Checking out an immense boiling pot used in the processing of the cane juice.  Most that we've seen previously are about half this size.

The lower storey of the great house is almost below grade and there's a dry moat surrounding the building.  Doors and windows open into the moat so one assumes it was used as a passage way.

Small bridges provide access to the second level at both the front and back of the house.

From Montravers Estate we carried on up the slope of the mountain along the trail until we reached the Upper Round "Road".  At one time this was quite a well developed road that provided access across the plantations and small holdings at the higher elevation.  However, since the abandonment of donkeys as a primary method of transportation the road has reverted to nature and is now a fairly overgrown single track trail.

Not far up the trail however, we came across a very new and well-installed scaffolding tower, four stories high.  There was no indication of it's purpose other than a lookout tower for something, so of course we had to climb it.

At the fourth level we popped out above the tree-tops and were treated to a panoramic view of the west coast of Nevis.

The tower provided the only real item of interest along the trail.  It's an easy hike as it traverses the side of the mountain with no real elevations changes.  We exited the trail to the roads above Charlestown just below the Hamilton Estate ruins and then continued along to Morningstar.

Wendy and Bill had pointed out the Charcoal-Man's pit when we drove by the other day.  This time we stopped and had a better look at this operation that provides charcoal for grills on Nevis.

Have you ever wondered where charcoal comes from?

Its almost mango season!  Unfortunately none are ready for eating here yet.

The skies opened up with cooling, drowning rain - enough already!  Lunch with Wendy & Bill at the cottage and then before we knew it, it was time to head back to the boat.  We had another fun little tour of some of the distinctive properties of the south end of Nevis as they kindly saved our feet and drove us back to Pinney's Beach where we'd left the dinghy in the morning.

Montpelier Estate with an amazing tree out front.  This place is still in operation as a fancy guest house and touts its history as the place that Horatio Nelson met his wife.

More of Montpelier Estate.

We then moved on to The Hermitage:  the main building is the oldest wooden house in the Caribbean, and it too operates as a delightful guest house with cottages.

The original wooden structure built in 1740 - full Nevisian style!

Slowing down on Nevis and enjoying the gentle charm or this laid back island, it is both difficult and quite easy to believe that Nevis once ruled British Caribbean trade as its largest producer of sugar.  Today the island is quaint and laid-back but the history that you encounter at every turn reminds you constantly of this island's past importance.  I feel you could stay here for months and only scratch the surface.