Hello travellers... I am in need of your help now that we are clearing the To Do list for the holidays...I can focus on (sigh) our upcoming trip...But please would you help us with some information?

First - to rent a car here or there? Which would you recommend? We will have our 2.5 year old son with us and my parents and hope to get to as many places and beaches in our two weeks as humanly possible.

Second - the ferry to Nevis...how long? How rough? I had a trip from HELL SXM to Saba and with my 2 year old I can't imagine anything like that again - but being in St. Kitts for two weeks I would be sad to miss Nevis.

We will definelty drive to Caribelle and the Fort and Ottleys...anything anyone feels can't be missed? Beaches?

We leave Jan. 22 and if I can survive until then without going mad then it will be a miracle - we are really looking forward too to just sitting and trying to recouperate..and allow our son to have another wonderful Caribbean experience!!

Thanks for responses I am really keen!

Carib dreamn,

I would reserve a car in advance, just in case. The St. Kitts tourist website: www.stkittstourism.kn under Useful Facts, then Getting around, has a list of rental car agents. We've had cars from Delisle Walwyn, Avis, and TDC over the years.

The ferry to Nevis is about 45 minutes (give or take). Go over on a nice day, and you'll find the water pretty calm. When you rent your car in St. Kitts ask if they have a reciprocal agreement with a rental agent in Nevis. That way you can get a car there for the day. It is easy to drive around the island, and it is much smaller than St. Kitts.

Although to maximize your time on Nevis, you might consider getting one of the local taxi driver to give you a tour.

There are many beaches on the Southeast Peninsula (St. Kitts) that have not yet been developed. Cockleshell and Sandy Bay are two of them. South Friar's Bay beach has some beach bars with refreshments and beach chairs. It is a beautiful beach.

You'll probably want to visit Turtle Beach for its great views of Nevis, its resident pig Wilbur, and the visiting vervet monkeys.

When you tour around the island, you might want to stop also at Kate Spencer's gallery near Rawlins Plantation. She does beautiful paintings and watercolors, and has prints, cards, and placemats for sale.

In Nevis, you can have lunch at a number of places, but if you want to be on a beach, then I'd recommend stopping at Nisbet Plantation or at Oualie Beach.

Sounds like a great trip!

CW

cw's got great advice, dreamin.
Have fun!
And the ferry trip to Nevis, make sure that you take the "Caribe Surf".
The others are noisy and you have to sit inside most often.
On the Surf you can ride up on the open top deck.
In the more than a dozen times that I have taken the ferry there has never been a "rough" day!

With two weeks to explore on St. Kitts you should have plenty of time to get over to Nevis--possibly more than once. I strongly recommend renting a car as the main roads are all well maintained and wider than most other Caribbean roads I"ve driven. You might want to check into rental companies that will let you pick up a car in Nevis for the day while you're there as part of the same rental price. If you're not already traveling with a car seat for your little one, be sure to reserve one in advance.

I'd bet that your kid would like feeding the semi-tame monkeys and the huge pig Wilbur at Turtle Beach, which is located at the far tip of the southern peninsula.

Other beaches that have very calm water and not such a steep drop off are also down that peninsula--check out Cockleshell for a really beautiful beach with gorgeous views of Nevis.

I don't know where you're staying, but if you're not already staying at the Marriott, you might want to swing by there one day for your child to see the 2.5:1 scale model of one of Columbus' ships that is located in the lobby.

Ok - really getting excited now...we are actually staying at Timothy Beach in a one bedroom condo to accomodate the family and eating. Liz Perreira booked us on the whole trip!

Ok so the ferry is ok to take as it seems that we wont be blown away - hopefully I have some strange karmic debt with boats... But Santa when you say the Caribe Surf is the boat to choose do you mean of the regular ferry's or are you referring to a special Catamarn trip? We also considered that option but already are feeling the financial pinch of two weeks in the Caribbean.

Will it be easy to navigate getting off the ferry in Nevis and finding our way to Oualie or such? I have also explored the idea of the rent in St.Kitts and get a car in Nevis too....I willhave to look into that specifically.

CW - you would then recommend the companies you have used for car rental?

Another quick question - does anyone know how many of those little beach restuarants there are on Timothy Beach? I thought only the two but I have begun reading there are more - is this correct or my misunderstanding?

I can't wait - I simply can not even get enough information at this point - as of clearing the season celebrations I am now allowing myself to become totally focused on our trip and yet it is starting to look a bit maniacle on my end - but if there is more information to be shared I am waiting happily - Thanks all so much and Happy New Year!

Caribe Surf is the name of one of the ferries that travel between St. Kitts and Nevis. It's the "newer" of the ferries and as Santa says has an open upper deck. The inside seating areas are fully airconditioned. The fery ride take about 40 minutes and is usually a fairly calm passage.- obviously a lot has to do with weather conditions so it can be "bumpy" once in a while.

As for traveling around Nevis - it's pretty easy. There's one Main Island Roads that circumnavigates the island. From the feryy dock in Charlestown take the main road north to the best beaches one the island. Oualie Beach is about 5 miles or so north of Charlestown. One hint, if you venture off the main road keep in mind that almost all paved roads will eventually lead you back to the Main Road. If you rent a car they will give you a road map.

Yup, driving around Nevis is a piece of cake. As A_Traveler mentions, stick on the main road. And that *is* what they call it.

I would say there are about a half dozen beach bars next to Timothy Beach resort, not including their own cafe. We sampled three of them--Monkey Bay (just okay), Cathy's (our best meal on the island--BBQ chicken), and Mr. X's Shiggidy Shak (very good).

On Nevis, Cafe des Arts is a great spot for lunch.
You can see it from the ferry terminal down the road to the left.
Avis is good for car rentals.

What a great time you will have! It's been a few years since my trip but the memories are still great to look back on. We rented a car ahead of time from TDC, they seem to have a lot going on business-wise, on the island. They even picked us up at the Marriott when we arrived and brought us into town to the rental agency to get our car. Plus we just left the car at the hotel at the end of our vacation - very easy and casual. They do have a "share" agreement so you can use a car on Nevis for nothing extra. Plus on Nevis we just had to replace the gas we used! We parked our St.Kitts car at the marina for cheap all day rates.

We each got the temp driving license but my sister did much better with the right-hand drive, so I just navigated. If you've driven in the Caribbean you probably know it's very mellow, lots of goats, the occasional randomly parked vehicles and tooting of the horn to say hello.

We decided to go to Nevis on the spur of the moment one day, so not much research. We had a 5 pm ferry for the return and were stressed about getting around the island in time. What a laugh! It only took an hour. We would have seen much more had we known. I recommend the Botanical Gardens, they are very well done.

There is lots to do and see on St.Kitts. No one has mentioned the black sand beach in Dieppe Bay. You are doing it right by going condo, eating out constantly was a big drain on our finances, although delicious!

On one of our trips around the island we pulled into Ottleys since it's so recommended. It was too early to seat us for dinner, but it was quite obvious that they were not comfortable with our casual tourist clothes (shorts/tees). There is a conservative feeling about the island, so something to think about.

When we were there in '04 there was a happenin' local eating place near Old Road Town (I think), called Sprat Net. (Sprat is a type of fish, again I think). It's very casual, rows of picnic tables, BBQ and beer place. If it's still around, your little guy could cruise around and you could relax a bit there.

I don't know if you can/would want to leave the kiddo with your folks, but the rainforest volcano hike is awesome!

Thank you all so much for the response...

We have been to Ottleys before and loved it for its incredible beauty but arrived in the morning and enjoyed a decadent coffee overlooking the rolling hills to the water...that is all I can imagine affording this time too - but I know they have a small rainforest walk which maybe my son could explore carefully for a bit of the "Caribbean experience".

We are really looking forward to Nevis as after as many islands are our family has visited it is great to get a chance to visit another and one that is raved about. As was already pointed out too I love the idea of going first to Nevis early in the trip to allow for a return!

I think that we may have been to Marshalls the many years ago we visited...is it up on the hill at the end of Timothy beach area...set in a bunch of condo buildings with a view of Nevis?

I am anxious about buying our groceries down there. We went to Grenada several years ago and had a kitchen but when we arrived at the grocery store I was so stunned that we bought hot dogs and chef boyardee - not the stuff dream vacations are made of. So hopefully I can take my time and get it right this trip.

We were also thinking that for the many birthdays that land in Dec and Jan we may pay a visit to the Marriott Spa for a massage...does anyone have recommendations or criticisms of this spa?

Thank you also for the referral to Kate Spencers - I am always looking for this type of shopping opp. but I heard that St. Kitts is NOT known for shopping...so I will take the time to check out the gallery.

Ok - 3.5 weeks...sigh again.

We just returned from St. Kitts last night. Hard to leave.

We had a fantastic time. Did some hotel and restaurant inspections, spent time with family and relaxed at the beach bars.

Since you are staying at Timothy Beach Resort you don't really need a car, since you are walking distance to all the beach bars and restaurants.

The ferry to Nevis is about 45 minutes, depending on which ferry you take. We took the Carib Breeze and the water was chopping in places, but nothing to worry about. In Nevis I strongly recommend renting a car. We spent a small fortune on taxis. We spent the night at Hurricane Cove www.hurricanecove.com and loved it. Highly recommend it.

Nevis is a small island and easy to find your way around.

If you don't want to drive while you are in Nevis you should contact Biddy Weekes. He was our driver and was very friendly and helpful. E-mail [email protected] 869-663-2207
He was waiting for us at the dock when we arrived in Nevis.

For beaches definitely visit Lion's Beach Bar on Cockleshell. He is a great guy and we had one of the best meals there.

In Nevis you must go to Chevy's Beach Bar located on beautiful Pinney's Beach. Delicious food, beautiful sunsets, good music, and try a Stinger or Pink Panties. We enjoyed talking to Chevy and learning more about Nevis.

On Timothy Beach there are quite a few beach bars.

The closest to TBR is Mr. X's Shiggidy Shack www.mrxshiggidyshack.com I had the most delicious lobster dinner there.

Next is the Monkey Bar and grill, farther down is Ziggy's which has recently been renovated, then Buddy's at the end which serves the best ribs I have ever had. The last restaurant is Oasis Sports Bar. There are a few other beach bars between Mr. X and Oasis (some didn't have signs)

We preferred the open air beach bars.

I had my birthday celebration our first night in St. Kitts at Marshalls and it was amazing. The service, food presentation and taste was fabulous. www.marshalls-stkitts.com

It is located in Horizon's villa complex. A short drive from TBR.

Restaurants do add up. We stayed in a villa in Calypso Bay and found it helpful to buy our breakfast and keep it in the villa.

You can read other restaurant and St. Kitts reviews at www.myislands.myeyez.net

Quite a few members have recently returned.

Liz Pereira
St. Kitts Specialist
Marlin Travel

Ok Liz - there you are thanks for your response...did I mention I CAN NOT wait...three weeks today - in fact this time in three weeks we'll be there - Thanks in large part to you!!

Sorry I will stop now as I know how you must be feeling I rarely get on a plane leaving the Caribbean without massive tears...and this will be no easier...I hope you have fun planning for your next trip!