Saint Kitts

Feb 3-5, 2024
AC1856 YYZ-SKB, AA318 SKB-MIA, AA1246 MIA-YYZ

As we are not cruise ship people, and Caribbean holidays are typically built on one week resort holidays, which are of zero interest to me, we’ve been to a relatively small number of the relatively nearby islands. I’d heard wonderful things about Saint Kitts, and they do have a lovely Park Hyatt Resort which I was able to secure with points, so I found a way to make the flights work for a long weekend stay. Saint Kitts would now officially be our 104th country.

Feb 3

The Saint Kitts flight left on the typical Saturday morning bank of Air Canada vacation flights. It is a premium, passenger-heavy destination, but we were lucky enough to have secured some upgrades to business class on the almost five-hour flight. With the time change, lengthy flight, and customs line, it was late afternoon by the time we had our car rental and were on the way to the Park Hyatt.

Heading across the main highway to the southern end of the island shows off the lush hilly terrain

Beach resort on Banana Bay, with Cockleshell Beach beyond

Although we never made it there, we had a constant view of nearby Nevis

One of the resort pools

Happy hour with a view

Although new, they incorporated historic brick elements into some of the resort areas, including the adult pool

Dusk over the beach

For our first night, we had lovely seafood dinner with an ocean view.

Feb 4

Although the resort had a relatively small number of guests, the suites were quite large and spread out, so the grounds had a lot of space. I got up early, explored the grounds, and found my way to the gym for a nice exercise class, and when it opened, checked out the spa area and pool. Although I know I’d tire of resort life in a few days, it is great to enjoy in small chunks. Like in Fiji, we also needed to explore the island on our own, so after breakfast, we braved the narrow roads and cruise-ship-driven tourist traffic.

Breakfast view from the hotel

Downtown Basseterre

Wingfield Estate Sugar Plantation

Old Sugar Plantation machinery and ruins

Best preserved plantation elements

Looking into the interior mountain at Brimstone Hill

Brimstone Hill Fortress where fortifications have stood since 1689

Remains of the latest fortifications abandoned by the British in 1853

Looking back up the coast from Brimstone

Cannon view with the Dutch island of Oranjestad in the near distance

The best preserved portions of the interior fort with exhibits

A sense of the scale of the fortifications from the interior

Central courtyard

Cannons with a view

Aptly named "Blackrock" volcanic rocky beach on the north side as we round the corner to complete our circling of the island

Having successfully navigated the narrow and windy coastal roads through most of the villages and towns of Saint Kitts, we felt quite fine to spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the resort, and capped the night off with another nice dinner.

Feb 5

As most of the people that arrive on our Air Canada flight were here for the week, we had to navigate our way home on American Airlines through Miami. It was an early afternoon flight, so we had a bit of time to take advantage of the gym, enjoy breakfast and the ocean views.

Cockshell beach, very popular with the cruise ship crowd

Great salt pond just off the beach

Our goodbye shot as we leave the resort

After lunch, we headed to the airport, and as uncomfortable as it was, did as instructed and left the rental car in the parking lot with the keys inside to be processed later. The terminal was typical island-small,and we walked right out to the plane, made our way to Miami, and after a relatively short connection, were back in wintery Toronto quite late, but ready for work on Tuesday morning.