Nevis

Today is the day we went Nevis. We had learned that Thrifty does an exchange program whereby we could take the water taxi to Nevis and then pick up another rental car on Nevis for no extra cost. We could have taken our rental car on the ferry, but the water taxi is faster and cheaper and it was super convenient. We timed our morning perfect and didn’t feel rushed. We pretty much parked and walked to the dock and right onto the boat. As we got out of the car we saw a really nice rainbow. We took the 9:00 water taxi from Reggae Beach and got to Nevis a quick 10 minutes later. Thrifty thought the taxi left at 9:15 and arrived at 9:30, so they said there would be someone waiting for us with the car at 9:30. At 9:28 the representative pulled up with a newer (and redder) version of the same car we have on St. Kitts.

The island is super small and my plans for the day was to geocache around the island and hang out on the beach. Tom agreed to get the geocaching out-of-the way first thing in the morning, but since we wanted to drive around the entire island anyway it worked out nicely. The first place we stopped was an old ruined church. My GPS coordinates were off, but I was able to make the find with the hint. The information on the church and the restoration of it were interesting. It seemed like it would have been in ruins longer, but the sign said when the restorations began, there were still people alive who remembered walking into the church when it still had an organ inside in addition to all the walls and roof. It’s amazing how quickly nature takes over when things are not maintained.

Next up was another church, but one that was still fully standing and in use. The last time someone had found the cache there was in April 2023. Nobody had posted a Do Not Find log, so I’m not sure why people have not come to find this one. I had my doubts, but since it was right on the main road we stopped. I was pleasantly surprised when I found it!

Next was a cache that took us down a rocky bumpy road. With about .3 miles to go there was a decent place to park the car, so I chose to walk the rest of the way. Tom wasn’t feeling adventurous and opted to stay in the car and enjoy a view of the ocean. This was another cache that hasn’t been found in a while (April 2024). Again I wasn’t originally planning on stopping, but I am glad I decided to. I found the cache no problem and the ruins were interesting to look at.

As we made our way around the island the next cache was at Golden Rock Estate. It was a cache hidden in the mouth of a cannon in which the cannon was barely visible amongst the plants. As we walked the grounds I realized there was a restaurant here that had been recommended to us. It was only 11:30 but we thought this would be an excellent place to have lunch. Tom enjoyed his burger and I had ribs that were also very good. The grounds were really pretty and Tom actually said he was glad that geocaching had brought us there.

After lunch we continued to geocache around the back half of the island with a cache in an old cistern at the Hermitage Estate. The nearby house is believed to be the oldest wooden house in the Lesser Antilles.

The next stop was a geocache at the ruins of an old bath house. Nevis has natural hot springs that you can still currently take a dip in. The location of the cache was at some ruins of what I believe were an original bath house. I didn’t realize that the current bath pools were right nearby as Tom and I had discussed going to them, but he said since it was warmer out that we could skip them.

From the Bath House we went to Pinney’s Park for another cache in a new park. The cache was hidden underneath a neat curving boardwalk. I enjoyed my stroll on the meandering boardwalk. At this point it had begun to mist/rain. The second part of the plan for the day was to hang out on Pinney’s Beach for the afternoon, but since it was raining Tom agreed that I could do a couple more geocaches.

The next geocache was at another church. This one took me a little longer to find because I was looking for a bigger type of cache container before I got on Tom’s phone and realized that it had been replaced by a tiny geocache. Once I had read a previous cacher’s log I made the find no problem.

Since I was having luck finding some of the other lonely caches, Tom agreed that we could go back around the loop a couple of miles to go back to a cache I had originally skipped on our first pass. I didn’t originally include it since it hadn’t been found since April 2023, but it also didn’t have any Do Not Find logs posted. I should have quit while I was ahead. I didn’t have any luck at this location, but I only gave it 20 minutes before I figured Tom had suffered enough. By this time it was already 2:40.

We headed back to Pinney’s Beach but it had really started to rain when we pulled in the parking lot. When it cleared up to just a mist I went down to the beach so I could get a look at it. The clouds certainly did not look like they were breaking up and I felt that a downpour could happen at any minute. The weather did not really provide us with the beach afternoon we had anticipated. Instead we decided to go to the Nevis Peak Brewery that we had passed on the road to the beach. We were going to share a flight, but 2 of the 4 beers we wanted to try were not available so instead I got the Nevis Pilsner and Tom had a mojito (at a brewery . . I know but he said it was actually a very good mojito). While sitting at the bar we talked to the bartender about things to do on a rainy day on Nevis. She said there wasn’t much but she mentioned the hot springs. Funny that we had talked about going there earlier ourselves. She told us it was free and open 24/7! We made a plan to finish our drink, head to the springs, and then catch the 5:45 taxi back to St. Kitts. We were originally planning on eating dinner on Nevis and didn’t think we would leave the island till after 8:00, but with the weather being a downer and us still full from lunch, and then remembering that the Marriot has Bingo on Thursday’s night we decided to go back early.

I ended up parking for the hot springs almost next to where I had found the cache earlier at the old bath house. Like I said earlier, I had no idea how close I had been to them. The water was way hotter than we keep our hot tub and it didn’t take long before I was sweating and ready to get out, but the water did feel good on our still sore muscles from yesterday’s hike.

After stopping to top off the gas tank, we made our way back to the water taxi terminal. We had plenty of time to park and get our return tickets. Another nice thing with the rental car exchange program is that I just had to leave the key with the taxi terminal folks. Too easy!

We were promptly back on Reggae Beach at 6:00 and back at the Marriot at 6:15. Bingo didn’t start until 8:00 so I had time to shower and get ready. At this point neither one of was hungry so we had just decided that we would gamble then grab a bite to eat. Bingo only cost $20 for 8 cards and 6 games. I thought it was a reasonable price. The dauber, however was $5! I have 3 Bingo daubers at home and I never thought about bringing one on vacation before. I guess in the future if I see we will be near a casino that I should pack it just in case. The first five games we played were each of the letters in SWIPE for a prize of $150/game. I was 2 away in each one of these games! It was enough to get my heart pumping a little fast. The last game was a coverall and I was 3 away when Bingo was called. Most of the people playing were locals, and I have to say they all called Bingo in the softest voices I have ever heard. I’m sure if I would have won I would have given more than a few a heart attack.

While I played Bingo Tom played blackjack in the casino. He was still playing when Bingo was over, but he was down. He wasn’t done playing so I hopped on a couple of slot machines. After I lost my first $20 I checked back in with him and he was still down but still playing. This continued a few more times until finally at 11:15 we were both down and we had our fill of gambling. I couldn’t believe how late it had gotten and how hungry we were now! Food was no longer being served anywhere in the hotel so we hopped in the car and went back down to the Strip. The first place on the Strip, The Shiggidy Shack, was still open and was serving pizzas. They smelled really good. We probably could have shared a personal pizza, but I got a mushroom and Tom got a pepperoni. They were both really good and hit the spot. There were 4 total pieces leftover that I know Tom will gladly eat for breakfast.

I can’t believe tomorrow is our last full day and we just plan on relaxing on the beach. Let’s hope the weather cooperates.

Stats of the Day

Steps: 12,555
Geocaches: 8/9
Cost To Fill Gas Tank on Nevis: $6 (probably only needed a gallon)
Amount Lost In The Slot Machine: $100
Amount Lost On the Blackjack Table: $250