St. Kitts

March 28th
St. Kitts

I was excited for today, not only because it was our first Caribbean port after a lot of sea days, but because I was signed up for a tour. I’d gotten on good terms with the tour people and was on the escorting list, and had been set up with a bike tour of the island today, which went really well!
The tour escorting works the same as all the other ships, I simply hang out with the tour and make sure nothing bad happens, and in return get to do expensive tours totally free. This was a mountain biking tour that covered about 12 miles over the course of 3-4 hours, which considering the age group of the passengers on the ship, I was curious to see who actually was brave enough to sign up, of which there were six, five of which were in good condition for a bike tour. I can’t say the same about the 60 year old obese man that tried to keep up.
The bikes we were given were proper mountain bikes, the nicest I’ve ever seen on this type of tour, which was a nice surprise. We rode around the island with a guide on a bike and a chase truck incase anything happened and to help control traffic at intersections. The highlights of the tour for me were probably the old sugar factories we saw and riding through the sugar cane fields. The guide was great at explaining the history of the island and how sugar cane was key in that role, and being able to bike from place to place was great (for the majority of us). The bigger gentleman was able to keep up, but at the slow pace we were going, it’d be hard not to. I was slightly worried about whether or not he’d actually be able to complete the tour, but the guide really didn’t take us up any terrible hills, except one...
We were given an option half way through the tour of either climbing a really steep, long hill on our bikes, or getting a ride in the truck to the top to see the lookout planned on the itinerary. 5 of the 6 people thought they could take on the hill despite the warnings from our guide. Maybe one of the 5 made it half way, and even myself, who’s been on an exercise routine this contract, failed to reach the top without getting off the bike (however, I did get within 50 yards, then my legs failed and I basically fell of the bike). But after a couple hours of excruciatingly slow bike riding, it was nice to get a challenge thrown at me, despite the hit to my pride at not making it all the way without dismounting once. The lookout was nice, and after a brief recovery period, the group rode back down the hill, which put into perspective what we’d just tried to accomplish, and we made our way to a beach where we were given local fruits, a guava drink, real sugar cane, and time to go swimming. The sugar cane was great, and being a cane, you simply crush the cane between your teeth and drink the juices without actually eating the cane. It was one of those local cultural things I really like about getting on a good tour. We hung out there for a while before riding back to the ship, where we were each given a beer by the tour guide, which was really nice after a hot day on the bikes.
All in all, it was a great tour, the overweight man somehow managed to not die and ruin my day as tour escort, and we all had a great time. I finished up the day in port by walking through the city and trying to find some internet, where I did manage to get a weak signal and attempt a skype call back into the states. Then it was back to the ship for the usual couple shows that night.
But it’s great to be back on land doing tours! I’m hoping for a few more great ones this cruise! Thanks for reading!