A Caribbean feast for the senses

To say the sun shines brightly in the Caribbean is an understatement.  But to see it reflect off the Basseterre Bay on a warm Sunday morning when you're on holidays?  Well, that's just the thing to convince you that you've made an excellent life decision.

Sunday - Sights to See
The roosters woke me up on Sunday morning, bright and early.  I have never heard fowl quite so chatty.  Rather than just simply herald the day and get on with it, the roosters in our neighbourhood seemed to have had an awful lot to say to one another.  They constantly crowed back and forth, and I'll admit for this City girl it was a very strange noise indeed (but it sure beat the conventional alarm clock!).

Our view over Basseterre Bay

Bleary-eyed but otherwise very well rested, I padded out to the living room and took in the sights that the previous night's arrival had denied me.  From Kitty's balcony, I could see right across Basseterre Bay - and I fell in love with that calm blue water and the welcome cool breeze coming off it.  I remember asking Kitty how he could ever leave all this to come to New York, but then I laughed at myself because Australians who travel get asked that very same question all the time.

Kitty's mum was busy in the kitchen and so I popped my head in the door to see what was going on.    Breakfast preparation was in full swing and again, Kitty's mum was on a mission to delight my tastebuds with all things local.  Rather stupidly I passed on the super-fresh papaya and mango (not home-grown, though the tree outside would be heavy with mangos around April).  Instead, I waited for the saltfish, the national dish of St Kitts, which Kitty's mum served with toasted "long bread" from the local bakery (which looks like a baguette but I'd say tastes more like brioche).  I'm much more a savoury fan anyway, and I think I pleased Kitty's mum when I told her I liked the spice of the dish - garlicky, peppery, and just the thing to get my heart started on my first full day of holidays.

Sunday really is a day of rest in St Kitts but it was a great way for me to relax into island life. Once we had enjoyed our light and leisurely breakfast and had got ourselves all ready, we piled into the car and drove to The Ocean Terrace Inn (or "OTI" for short), a hotel and resort not far from Kitty's home whose restaurant offers guests and visitors a fantastic buffet of local foods.  The salad bar was fresh and tasty, but everybody knows that you don't visit a buffet and fill up on salads - what a rookie error!  So I put some lettuce and tomato on my plate, but I loaded up with the corn pudding (so creamy!), beans and rice, and the fall-off-the-bone chicken.  I regretted bypassing the pork dish, but a girl without stretchy pants has to have her limits.

As we walked through the immaculate grounds of the OTI resort to explore (and let our lunch settle), I was struck by how similar the Caribbean and Australian heat feels.  The biting sun was just like back home, and although I was taking some time to adjust to it, I was really enjoying the experience.

As I mentioned in an earlier posting, this holiday came off two heinous weeks at work and I'm almost ashamed to say that I was averaging about four coffees per day by that stage.  When I found myself in St Kitts I didn't realise (at the time) that I was signing up to live in a no-coffee household, but by late afternoon on Sunday the decaffeination had hit me full-force and I had the requisite splitting headache to prove it.  Combine that with the heat, sunshine, and full belly, and I was ready for a nap back at home.

Several hours later, I was feeling fit and fabulous and fortunately Kitty and S-West felt likewise.    Hard to believe, but we were also ready for our next feed.  So come nightfall, off we went to the locally famous (and delightfully named) Mr X's Shiggidy Shack on the Frigate Bay area known as "The Strip".  While there was no music at our bar, we benefited fully from the ice-cold Carib beers, the steel drum band next door, and also from the crazy screaming DJ further down the beach.  Feeling a little too world-weary to face the DJ party, after our meal we retreated next door to the Sunset Cafe at the Timothy Beach Resort, where the steel drum band had regrettably packed up for the night, but the beers were still on ice.  Blissful.

When we retired for the night on Sunday, the Strip was still buzzing and full of people.  How do these party-hard Kittitians possibly get up for work on Monday mornings?  The mind boggles.