At sea between the islands of Nevis and Saint Lucia: Today we visited Nevis, and weird coincidence, Prince Harry arrived on the island today. We missed his arrival but heard of it.
Unlike St. Thomas which was overrun with tourists of of 4 cruise liners, we were the only cruise ship at anchor off Nevis. My sense is Nevis is more "authentic" or less touristy than many islands.
The island looks very much like any volcanic tropical island, although the people here are of African origin whereas those in the Pacific are of Asian extraction. Still the vegetation is very similar and the architecture is too, although more things here are made of volcanic stone cut into building blocks.
The roads are extremely narrow, mostly have no center line or shoulders and are perhaps 1.5 cars wide. The lack of width doesn't keep people from parking right on the road, so dealing with oncoming traffic is a matter of driving wherever there is room. Most vehicles are of modest size but I saw one full-size dump truck and thought how difficult that monster must be to drive here.
The island is the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton, a talented fellow whose portrait graces the $10 bill and who was our nation's first Treasury Secretary. The home where he was born is now a museum about him, and another museum features lore and artifacts about Horatio Nelson, famous admiral from the iron men and wooden ships era of the Royal Navy.
Nevis has a very attractive and well-done botanical garden featuring tropical plants from many lands. Particularly striking was a Rainbow eucalyptus tree with particolored bark.
Islanders proudly tell you that Princess Diana and two of her children spent one of her last vacations here at an attractive hotel upon a hillside overlooking the coastline. It seems the Brits are trying to turn Diana into an Evita-like figure, with some unfortunate success.
