For many years now, we have taken a trip to the Caribbean around the November 11th statutory holiday. As with many people, September and October are jam-packed and stressful months in our world. We find that a short getaway to the sun and sand in November goes a long way, in terms of a breather before the crazy Christmas-related push of later November and December. We have been able to cover a good portion of the Caribbean with these annual November visits, but there are still many islands to go! This year, we decided that St. Kitts would be a good one to add to the list of Caribbean nations visited.
“YELLOW FEVER SHORT VERSION”: At 2:30PM, we left for Halifax Airport. We had a close call and almost missed the flight out of Halifax, due to the need to show a Yellow Fever vaccination certificate, which we were unaware of. In the end, it all worked out, as Air Canada issued us boarding cards at the last minute.
“YELLOW FEVER LONG VERSION”: At 2:30PM, we left for Halifax Airport. Back in May, we purchased our ticket to St. Kitts from Air Canada, who offered a convenient 5AM Halifax-Toronto departure, connecting to a Toronto-St. Kitts flight that was to see us arrive mid-afternoon. A few weeks after buying the ticket, however, Air Canada notified us that they were cancelling their service to St. Kitts. They offered us a Halifax-Toronto flight on the day before we had planned to travel, connecting to a Caribbean Airlines flight from Toronto-Trinidad, followed by another connection to Antigua and on to St. Kitts. It meant four flights instead of two, but it was the only other means of reaching St. Kitts, so we accepted it. Fast forward to the night before our trip, when I tried to check-in online and couldn’t. I called Air Canada reservations, who called the Air Canada desk at Halifax Airport, who explained that we would have to show proof of our return ticket (on American Airlines) in order to obtain our boarding cards. That made sense. So off we went to the Halifax Airport this afternoon, only to find that, no, that wasn’t the reason we couldn’t check in. The reason was that we had to show proof of a Yellow Fever vaccination in order to be issued boarding cards, since Yellow Fever is now present in Trinidad. We had received our once-in-a-lifetime Yellow Fever vaccination in 2007, but we had no proof of that with us. Despite arguing that we were only stopping in Trinidad for a 90-minute transfer, they would not budge. It took almost 40 minutes for Air Canada to work out the issue with their national help desk. They agreed, in the end, to issue us boarding cards. But what a stressful thing! It was really looking like we would not be permitted to board.
In the end, the four flights (Halifax > Toronto > Port of Spain > Antigua > St. Kitts) went very well, except for a 45-minute delay on the outbound Air Canada flight.
We arrived in St. Kitts half an hour early, at 10:30AM, rented a car at Avis and - after stopping for a snack at a Shwarma shack - made our way to the Marriott. We spent two hours on the beach, then took a 2KM walk up and down the beach. Dinner was had at the hotel.
The Airbus 220 is a Canadian-made beaut of an aircraft. It seats just over 130 people in an economy class layout of 2+3. Super modern and comfortable. The flight was 45 minutes late leaving and was completely sold out.
Neither of us slept much the night before the trip, and poor Pam had an intense workshop with her boys choir today up until the time of leaving for the airport - she was exhausted. So when we finally slipped into our seats to Toronto after the Yellow Fever vaccination issue, we breathed a huge sigh of relief.
The sunset was quite beautiful upon take-off from Halifax Airport. That’s the Highway 102 above, with all its 5 o’clock traffic heading north out of the city.
The sunset was nearing its end by the time we were over the Minas Basin. If you look closely, you can see the sliver-like Long Island, which leads to Brier Island, in Nova Scotia’s southwest.
The crescent moon was shining bright.
I am not exaggerating when I tell you that the mac ‘n cheese on Air Canada is shockingly close to
homemade tasting. The meat you see there is teriyaki beef jerky chunks - they were a side dish that didn’t come with the mac’n cheese, but wow, were they ever good; they complimented the mac ‘n cheese well.
The flight path of our overnight Caribbean Airlines flight from Toronto to Trinidad & Tobago.
Every seat on the Caribbean Airlines Boeing 737-800 was taken. It left Toronto on time at 11PM and landed in Trinidad & Tobago 30 minutes early, at 5:10AM. We weren’t expecting any sort of a meal enroute, but they served Chinese noodles and dumplings, which didn’t taste too badly at 1AM!
Pam, upon arrival in Trinidad & Tobago after a sleepless night, cooped up in an Economy Class seat.
After a two hour wait in Port of Spain and a strong cappuccino, we boarded another Caribbean Airlines flight — this time it was an ATR-72 turboprop.
Trinidad & Tobago is literally on the edge of South America. It is the hub for Caribbean Airlines. Our connecting flights took us north, over several of the islands in the chain known as the Lesser Antilles, to Antigua. After a brief stopover there, we continued due west to St. Kitts.
Highlights of our flight path over the Caribbean’s Lesser Antilles
This is the view of Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad & Tobago, just after take-off. With a population of 545,000, Port of Spain is a huge city for a small island nation.
The northwest coast of Trinidad. The island is very mountainous and forested. A few years ago, we spent a few days in Trinidad and saw the most amazing flocks of red ibis birds in a swamp. It still stands out as an impressive memory for us.
After Trinidad, the next islands we saw were the nation of Grenada (one island) and the nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (comprising many small islands). In 1979, there was a coup d'état in Grenada, leading to the USA’s controversial invasion and overthrow of the government.
The next island we got a glimpse of was the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe.
After Guadeloupe, we descended into the lush, mountainous island of Antigua.
St. John is the capital of Antigua.
And finally, our destination nation! St. Kitts & Nevis is comprised of two islands — the largest and most populated being St. Kitts. The smaller and less populated is Nevis, shown above, which has a large volcano at its centre. The entire population of the country is a whoppin' 47,000!
Upon final descent into St. Kitts, the capital city of Basseterre and the island’s highest mountain - Mount Liamuiga (1155 metres tall) - lay before us.
Pam walking from the aircraft towards the modest airport in St. Kitts.
Riding down the escalator from passport control to customs, this impressive welcome display greeted us.
The beautiful Atlantic coast, along St.Kitts’ western coast, sports from high waves and dangerous surf conditions.
The Marriott St. Kitts is a sprawling property and one of the nicest on the island.
Our room overlooks the pool area, with the beach in the distance.
Goofy! But, actually, highly accurate.
The hotel’s beach is huge, with lots of sturdy and spacious cabanas. We hit the beach at 2PM and spent two hours there - I slept most of that time, trying to make up for last night’s lack of sleep.
Another view of the spacious beach at the Marriott, which overlooks Sugar Bay.
Looking south from the Marriott beach on Sugar Bay.
Our afternoon beach walk route overlooking Sugar Bay.
We ate dinner at the Marriott, enjoying a nice charcuterie plate and some of the best pork ribs we’ve ever had.
This wall-sized historic map of St. Kitts & Nevis in the hotel lobby shows the original name of the island — Saint Christopher & Nevis. St. Kitts is the upper island, which we think looks like a whale. Nevis is the fairly round island southeast of St. Kitts.
Comments
Post a Comment