Cory's Parents Visit St. Kitts!

FRIDAY
On Friday February 23rd, Cory's parents finally arrived in St. Kitts. They had been looking forward to visiting (not to mention getting out of the -10 degree weather back home in Wisconsin), and the time had come. I even got a picture of their plane making its final approach to St. Kitts


Since they were bringing so much stuff with them (their own clothes plus 2 suitcases of stuff for us), I looked forward to joking that I had noticed the back of the plane dipping down a bit as it flew by, all because of their luggage. But that joke didn't really work out when only 1 of their 4 bags made it here with them (especially since the one bag that arrived was all stuff for us)! The airline told us to come back later that night, and the 3 missing bags would be on the 9:30pm flight from San Juan. And what do you think we found when we returned to the airport that night?......Only 1 of the 3 missing bags....and what was in it?....All of our stuff, and none of their clothes!!! But we didn't have any time to waste, since Cory and I had a volleyball game to get to. So we packed up the one bag, and headed to the game.



And after volleyball, we enjoyed dinner at Fisherman's Wharf along with Justin and Brad




SATURDAY
The next day, instead of planning a trip to the beach, (since they didn't have swim suits), we did an island tour instead. Our first stop was Cory's surf spot, which is a remote location on the north end of the island (the surf wasn't up that day)





Then we stopped for lunch at the Golden Lemon. The Golden Lemon is a very small, secluded resort that Cory and I had never visited before. What a great place...it was beautiful!




We ate lunch on their little outdoor patio


Next we stopped at a required stop for anyone visiting the island....Black Rocks




As we continued around the island, we decided to stop at another secluded resort that Cory and I had not yet visited. We took the designated turn up the hill, and found ourselves at the beautiful Ottley's Plantation




Too bad we had already eaten lunch because the restaurant at Ottleys, the Royal Palm, looked very nice, and was located right next to the scenic pool




We also found a great spot to relax, in the shade of a huge tree




As we finished our circle around the island, we were right next to the airport as the next plane from San Juan was landing. And lo and behold, the last 2 bags with Marlin and Judi's clothes finally made it!! So they finally got to change into fresh clothes, and we went out to dinner at PJ's.




SUNDAY
On Sunday, since Marlin and Judi now had their swim suits, we made it a beach day. We started out with breakfast at Sunset Cafe, then made our way to Whitehouse Bay for snorkeling. When Marlin and Judi arrived on St. Kitts, they brought with them one of my birthday presents from my Grandma and my parents....an underwater casing for my Sony digital video camera!!


So this snorkel trip at Whitehouse Bay was my first chance to use the new underwater casing with my video camera. The quality is always dimished a bit when I have to convert the video to memory card to put online, so the real thing is a lot more clear. But this isn't too bad. Check it out:


We also caught a cute little crab on the beach



On our way to Turtle Beach, we made a quick stop at Gong Beach so Marlin and Judi could check it out



Like always, Turtle Beach was warm and beautiful


This visit was quite different from others, because we have heard that monkeys hang out there and get drunk from people's drinks, but every time Cory and I went, there were no monkeys! This time, there were monkeys everywhere!!



(If you want to see the video of the monkeys, it is posted somewhere below this post. Or you can click here: http://lifeonstkitts.blogspot.com/2007/03/video-i-have-been-waiting-to-takedrunk.html)

After Turtle Beach, we headed over to Lion's Bar on Cockleshell Beach for lunch




And who was there to join us for lunch?.....Brian and Joleigh!



Joleigh was quite the model. She seemed to enjoy staring right into the lens!





Lion was happy to pose with us after we finished the delicious lunch he had prepared for us


On the way back to town, we stopped to take some scenic pictures

And here is a picture Marlin took of me taking the picture above


That night, we took a break from the restaurants. We went to the Marriott to watch a Wisconsin basketball game, and ordered pizza to take home afterwards. While we waited for the pizza, Judi visited the casino to gamble, and Marlin, Cory and I visited the Cigar Bar for a few drinks




MONDAY
On Monday, it was back to Ross for work and school for us, but Marlin and Judi had the day to explore on their own. Since the OTI is pretty close to town, they walked to Basseterre and toured around. Here is Marlin in front of the Circus clock


After Cory was done with class, he went with Marlin and Brad to play 9 holes at the Marriott golf course (which they said was beautiful...I wish I was there with a camera!). For dinner, we decided to try a place that is known as one of the top rated bars in all of the Caribbean, but we had never even seen it before, called Stonewalls. We found it on a quiet little side street downtown, and we were pleasantly surprised at how cozy and nice it was. I can't even count the number of times I have eaten ribs for dinner on St. Kitts, but the ribs I had at Stonewalls were by far the best...they just fell off the bone...so good! Unfortunately, this is the only photo we have from that dinner, me and Marlin making goofy faces:


On the way back to the car, I got a picture of Marlin and Judi standing on the Circus clock together


After dinner, we went back to their room at the OTI and played cards. I should mention that when Marlin and Judi first checked into the OTI, they were given a room that was alright. It didn't have much of a view, and was pretty small, but we all figured it wasn't a big deal since they probably wouldn't be in the room much anyway. But the next morning, Marlin asked about switching to a nicer room, and it turned out to be very cheap to switch, so they moved to a room with this view:


Much better!!



TUESDAY
Tuesday was another day that Marlin and Judi had to explore on their own while we were working hard at Ross. This time, they borrowed our car (since we got Marlin a drivers license the night before), and went much further than Basseterre! They headed out down the Southeast penninsula towards Lion's and Turtle Beach, and stopped along the way for pictures



They went back to Turtle Beach for lunch



Unlike last time, Wilbur was sleeping out in the open, and they had a better chance to get a good look at him



After lunch, they visited Lion again to say hi and enjoy some drinks at his bar. They were enjoying themselves so much that they almost forgot that it was time to pick me up from Ross! So they said bye and sped away to Ross, arriving just in time!


That night, we went to dinner at the Marriott, and went back home afterwards so Cory could get some studying done. Marlin and Judi hung out longer at the Marriott, having fun in the casino, and later took a taxi back to the OTI.



WEDNESDAY
On Wednesday, I took the day off so I could take Marlin and Judi to one of my favorite stops, the Brimstone Hill Fortress.






It was a perfect day for the trip, nice and sunny, and clear enough to see the islands of St. Eustatius and Saba in the distance




We had fun exploring and taking lots of pictures








After we were done exploring the Fortress, we headed back down the main road to a place that I have wanted to visit for a long time, but hadn't yet. It is called Romney Manor, and is the home of the Caribelle Batik.




At Romney Manor, they are well known for 3 main things....

First are their beautiful gardens and well maintained grounds:






Second is the Caribelle Batik they create






And third is the saman tree, which is 350 years old, 24 feet in diameter, and covers 1/2 an acre. It is a breathtaking, beautiful tree






If you want to check out their website, and see more examples of the Batik work, click the link below:
http://www.caribellebatikstkitts.com/


After all of the exploring, we were starving, so we headed to Ross University to get some lunch at the cafeteria and tour the campus. After eating we met up with Cory, and we took Marlin and Judi all around campus, ending up at the Staircase to the Sea. This is a small path on campus that goes right down to the shore of the Caribbean. Cory even tested out the swings that line the path as you make your way down





Once we got home, we all hung out in the OTI pool for a cool down after a long, tiring day



That night, we stayed in and made a spaghetti dinner.



THURSDAY
Once again, Marlin and Judi had the day to themselves, so they took the car and headed to a new spot. They went to a beach bar called Shipwreck, and ended up finding an amazing snorkeling spot, as well as having a great lunch




They also couldn't resist one more visit to Lion's beach bar. After they came back and picked us up from Ross, we all went out for a great dinner at one of our favorite spots...the Italian restaurant Ciao!



FRIDAY
On Friday, Marlin wanted to get our car looked at since it was having a few problems, so he dropped it off for the day and rented a car. I took the day off of work again, so he dropped Judi and I off downtown so we could do some shopping. We explored some of the tourist shops, as well as a really cool art gallery. After a couple of hours, we met Marlin for lunch at Beverly Moore's chicken truck. Mrs. Moore makes these awesome johnny cakes, and makes chicken or saltfish sandwiches on them. It is one of our favorite places to eat downtown, and we got Marlin and Judi hooked too!

When Cory was done with school, we headed out to Frigate Bay for our Friday afternoon volleyball league again. Except this time, no one was playing any league games, there were just a few pick up games instead. So I took some photos while Cory played with friends





After volleyball, we headed home and prepared for our party! We invited all of our friends over for a Wisconsin style party...brats and beer! Lots of people came over, and some of them brought some amazing side dishes and dips...I was almost full before I even ate my brat! It was such good food...I was so busy eating and enjoying the company that I didn't even take ONE picture! I'm so bummed, but we all had a lot of fun.

After dinner, everyone headed out to the Marriott to visit Tigers night club. Let us just say that I had one too many drinks that were made way too strong, and I was dancing the night away at the club, having a great time. That is until Cory drove me home...we'll say that the car made me "dizzy", and I was so sick that night! Now the fact that I don't have any pictures of this is good!



SATURDAY
Yeah, not much was accomplished on Saturday. Everyone was hung over from the club the night before, and we didn't even get out of bed until 11am. Around 1pm, we finally made our way out of the house and down to the OTI pool to hang out with Marlin and Judi. Again no pictures, this time because I was passed out in the chair by the pool all day, recovering.

Later that night, we finally got dressed and made it out of the house. We took Marlin and Judi to another favorite spot called Spratnet. It is a bit of a drive away, but the food is good and the atmosphere is fun. After dinner, we decided to treat ourselves to dessert, so we drove back home and walked down the street right past the OTI to Serendipity. They have some amazing dessert there. Once again, I got my favorite, the Passion Fruit Cheesecake. Yum!




SUNDAY
Sunday was Marlin and Judi's last day, so we went on an all day catamaran trip to Nevis, which included snorkeling and lunch



Once again, we got a beautiful day







We stopped to snorkel at a new spot, since it was too windy at the catamaran's regular spot. We ended up close to Whitehouse Bay, where we had gone snorkeling a week before, but further down the coast in front of the Great Salt Pond. There was a small reef to swim around, and the water was pretty clear:




Just as Cory and I were supposed to head back to the boat, we saw THIS...a beautiful sting ray:



After we snorkeled, we continued on our way to Nevis for lunch





After our stomachs were full, and we had done some exploring on Nevis, we hopped back on the boat





On the way back to St. Kitts, we passed by some pretty amazing boats






And finally, back on St. Kitts. We all had such a great time, it was sad that it was Marlin and Judi's last day


That night, we ate dinner at Bobsy's, and the next morning I drove them to the airport. Oh yeah, Marlin and Judi....you definitely left on the right day! Remember the cruise ship we saw sailing in as we drove to the airport? Well, one more showed up soon after, and there were a million people everywhere that day! Cory and I went down to the port later that day to have lunch at Mrs. Moore's chicken truck again, and this is what we saw!


People everywhere!!!

This time, when we ate at Mrs. Moore's, we thought of you guys and took a picture to kind of "share" the meal with you...ps- Mrs. Moore said hello!



Can't wait for you guys to come visit again sometime!!!