We moved to St. Kitts and Nevis from Michigan and yes, it is quite a change! Michigan has some very hot days in summer, some very cold days in winter and some winters are blessed with wintery mix. Wintery mix is not a refreshing cocktail but a miserable combination of snow, ice, icy rain, sleet, sleety snow that makes that warm throw and fireplace inviting. Houses have insulation – lots of insulation – and furnaces and thermopane windows and are built to withstand snow, wet, heat and cold.
Nevis rarely gets below about 68 and I don’t think any houses have furnaces or thermopane windows or much insulation in the roof. Instead houses are built of steel-reinforced poured concrete to withstand hurricanes. Roofs are peaked with wooden ribs and slats on the inside and galvanized metal on the tops that are attached securely to the walls.
The temperature seldom gets above 90 here and it’s breezy, making hot weather more bearable as long as you are in the shade. I find the afternoon sun almost intolerable even now in late June and friends tell us it gets worse in July, August and September. Our screen porch is a Godsend and we spend almost all our time enjoying the breeze and watching the view.
The view is spectacular. We live on the northwest side of the island, high enough up that we look over the sister island St. Kitts, the Caribbean sea and the narrow channel between the two islands called The Narrows. When it’s hazy or rainy St. Kitts disappears or appears rising out of the sea in profile and at night we see the lights of Basseterre, the capital. We took this photo when there was seaweed in the strait, the lighter streak on the right.
Nevis is peaceful and quiet and the people are friendly. Everyone says “Good Morning” or “Good Afternoon” when they pass by whether or not you are acquainted. When we needed passport photos to apply for residency a customer at the drugstore walked me down to the photographer because the studio was hard to find. Would that happen where you live?
Nevis is small, only about 6 miles north to south and about the same east to west. The beaches on the west front the Caribbean and to the east is the Atlantic. Nevis peak, which is over 3200 feet high, is in the island center and affects the weather, rainy on the west and dry to nearly arid on the east. The east side of Nevis reminds me of central Colorado where my folks lived. The peak is steep and the government forbids building about 1000 feet elevation; the higher you live the cooler it is overall. Usually the peak is cloudy and we can watch the fog and clouds roll down the side.
Beaches are all around the island. The clean sand ranges from goldish tan to almost black due to the black volcanic rock that makes up the island. I’ve never seen the beaches crowded. In January, the peak of the vacation season, the primary beach had about 30 people, while last Sunday afternoon there were 5 other people on the beach just north by a beachfront condo/restaurant/bar complex. Often we are the only people on the sands. All beaches are public although the access to the beach may be down the sands a bit.
The Atlantic is rough with plenty of waves and although the beaches are lovely they often have heaps of dead seaweed which smell. If you live on the east side high enough to see the ocean the view is spectacular watching the surf pound the rocks and sand.
Caribbean sea is usually calm – although there is a current – and the water is warm and lovely to swim. I have not seen the rafts of seaweed on the Caribbean side as are on the Atlantic. Few shells wash up on the beach but if you go out about 30 feet there are quite a few. The beaches slope down and you may be well over your head 20 feet out although some spots have more gentle inclines.
The bugs are not too bad here in the daytime but at night, once the sun goes down, the no-see-ums pop out especially along the beach. No-see-ums are tiny insects that bite voraciously and the bits itch for a week or more. Always use bug repellent after dark on the beach!
Nevis is a wonderful place to live as long as you enjoy quiet. There is some nightlife, bars and restaurants, but this is not a place with lots of action and bright lights. Most bars and restaurants are either in Charlestown or along the beach; almost every road that dead ends on the Caribbean has a bar. If you enjoy calypso or reggae music there are several places that feature this type of live entertainment.
There is little or no opportunity to hear live classical music, no orchestras, and although there are artists on the island there does not seem to be an art show as we know them in the US. With the help of The Republic of China/Taiwan, Nevis built a new, large and attractive park that often shows movies and hosts fireworks. The park is up from the beach a bit and has restrooms and playgrounds, a water spray park and many people go there.
Living in an island paradise is wonderful but there are downsides, some of which are specific to this tiny island. On Nevis the main concerns we have are:
- Limited health care
- Lousy roads
- Limited shopping
- Food is imported, meaning Nevis is not food secure
We’ll cover these in future posts.
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