Drive Around de Island

Earlier this month, I went on a semi-spontaneous island tour adventure with two other ladies of lesiure, Daisy and Alicia. We got in the car and drove, and if we felt like stopping, we did. Our first stop was at Wingfield Estate, where we walked the grounds and admired the old ruins that used to contribute to the sugar and rum industries. As many times as I've been to Caribelle Batik at Romney Manor, I've never explored Wingfield Estate...mostly because it's always so full of tourists who are heading to Caribelle, and there isn't ever a good parking spot. Sounds like a terrible excuse, but just know that the roads in St. Kitts are teeny-tiny and the taxis here are actually large-ass vans. Not to mention that there really isn't a designated parking lot. You have to park alongside the road, and that's fairly impossible when the taxi buses filled with tourists are taking up any/all room.

After our short walk around Wingfield Estate, we shopped at Caribelle, (where there actually is a nice area for parking). Alicia was given a demonstration regarding the batik process, which I've actually seen a million times, but I stopped to listen anyway. I just love Caribelle and the pieces they create, so I don't mind lingering and watching the ladies batik the day away.

When Daisy and Alicia paid for their purchases, we walked over to the botanical garden section, so Alicia could check out the beautiful plants, flowers, and trees. Afterwards, we walked back out to the car and realized that none of us had plans for the rest of the day, so that's when we decided to drive Alicia around the island.

Our next stop was at Rawlins Plantation Inn—which was actually closed—but we walked around anyway, and nobody seemed to mind. That's one thing about St. Kitts that I really appreciate. Nobody really cares about what the hell you're doing. While we walked around, we found an art gallery on the grounds, and realized its owner is Kate Spencer, an artist that is originally from England but has lived in St. Kitts since 1978...and is apparently related to the late Diana Spencer, (duh, Princess Diana). We didn't get to meet her because she was off-island, but her husband and their little dog, Abby, (which looked just like my Trooper), showed us around. Kate has such beautiful paintings. I loved all the pieces that represent different aspects of Caribbean life. Her fine art was fairly expensive, but we settled on purchasing a few of her cards. I plan on framing mine and hanging them in our NC apartment. (Can you tell that I'm really going to miss SK?) Anyway, if you click here, you can view the studio and gallery that we visited.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the drive up to Rawlins was le cray cray. Being from Michigan, we know all about two-tracks, but this was intense. Miss Daisy has a Jeep, so we did make it up eventually, but it was quite the bouncy adventure. I'm currently laughing at the memory...

We wanted to pay a visit to Ottley's Plantation Inn next, but it was clossssssssseeeeddddd. Big bummer, because I have never been there before. However, it's definitely on my SK Bucket List. I'll make it there before December.

Instead of exploring Ottley's, we headed to the Snapper Farm, where there's a rehab section for sea turtles. Hanging out with these lovely ocean friends is always fun.

Here are some photos from the day's adventures. Enjoy!

Wingfield Estate Ruins

Jungle vines

Caribelle Batik.

Saman Tree @ Caribelle...400 years old.

Sea Turtle!