So we found and rented a small one bedroom apartment a stone's throw from the marina and moved in mid-March, furnishing it entirely with a shipment we had organized from IKEA. After putting together over 30 pieces of furnishings, I felt justified in dubbing myself the Queen of IKEA and Patrice, who helped with the bigger items, my Prince Consort. It was a lot of work, but for the sake of efficiency, expedience and innovative space solutions for a very small apartment (think rabbit cage), it was perfect. Her majesty is pleased with the result and needless to say, we are both enjoying the creature comforts of a land-based abode namely air-conditioning, a decent fridge/freezer, a proper shower and a toilet that doesn't need pumping to flush.
Our wish came true as due to weather conditions we ended up spending three nights there moored off Pinney's Beach near Charleston just opposite Sunshine's, one of our favorite beach bars in the Caribbean. We were delighted that our friends, Ann and Steve of Receta, were also moored there.

I knew that Greenland and Iceland had been misnamed by the original cartographers, but I did not know that Christopher Columbus originally christened Nevis as San Martin. It appears that in the confusion of numerous poorly-charted small islands in the Leeward Island chain meant that this name ended up being accidentally transferred to another island, Sint Maarten/Saint Martin.
The indigenous Amerindians (Caribs and Arawaks) were wiped out as it was first conquered by the Spanish and then passed to British hands with the usual blood-letting. Sugar-cane madness and exploitation of slaves followed before it gained independence together with St. Kitts, her sister island, in 1983.
Today it is a sleepy little island relying mainly on tourism to survive. Its claim to fame for the Brits is that Admiral Horatio Nelson met and married his wife there and for the Yanks, it's the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the USA and chief of staff to George Washington.
With Ann and Steve as our cohorts we strolled through the charming town of Charleston (the only town on Nevis actually), provisioned our boats with fresh produce from the local market and took a leisurely drive around the island visiting the botanical gardens and and several charming restored plantation inns in the Gingerland district in the south east part of the island. For highlights of our tour click on the arrow below: