So I’ve finally put some pictures up from our trip to St. Kitts. I have Jen to thank for many of them as I was somewhat lazy in the picture-taking category. I also quickly discovered that most of our pictures were taken when the clouds were out and we weren’t out trying to soak up the sun. I suppose it’s not so easy to keep the mind on taking pictures when it is gorgeous, hot and the water is inviting.

On other news fronts, I finally got my table tennis robot and Heidi and I are playing all the time with each other and the machine. I went to gym near here that I found online and played with some of the folks. I was properly and smartly whipped by a 13-year-old with a 1700+ rating … whatever that means. It must mean that he’s good because I didn’t have a chance. Smile!

I was waiting to put my update on when the pictures were all ready, but Heidi tells me that I shouldn’t wait … that way there are two things to put up. Perhaps’tis true.

So before we left for St Kitts, the weather forecast was rain for every day we were there. Heidi was just a little less than impressed because we’ve been away before (in supposedly warm places) when it did nothing but rain. It was an absolute answer to prayer. Every day was gorgeous and warm (around 85 degrees) with only a few cloudy periods the first day. Landing there on Saturday reminded me of both Brazil and the Azores with the hot humid wind.

I suppose I should back up a bit and say that Jake was absolutely wonderful. When we landed in St Kitts, we had four people come up to us and say that they never saw such a good traveller. I’m not sure that he even cried at all during either the flight down or back. Lots of laughs and smiles … but nothing that made us cringe.

One of the reasons we chose that island is because it sounded like it was so quiet and beautiful. Most tourist sites say that it is more like the islands in the South Pacific with its rainforests and lush vegetation, rather than those in the West Indies.

Because of an issue with Heidi’s luggage (arriving the last day), we didn’t get to do one of things we wanted to – take a horseback ride in through the rainforest and to the rim of the volcanic crater. I guess that was OK though because we got to do lots of other things.

We could have easily spent the whole time at the resort as it definitely catered to that mindset. But I guess we’re not that mindset. Seeing as the accomadations were free, we didn’t really feel tied to the place and we wandered around the island, through towns and to the ocean bottoms.

Guess one of the interesting things there is that they drive on the left side of the road. I had done that before so it wasn’t exactly new, but it still took a day or so to stop turning on the windshield wipers when I went to make a turn. The island itself was pretty small and we could drive around it in about 2.5 hours. I’ll leave some of the description to the pictures later, but it would be a typically “poor” island, mostly english speaking, with very friendly people. Wandering through the village markets was lots of fun and bartering with the folks.

I did some diving there in the absolute best conditions of my life. Visibility was well over 100 feet and the color and vibrancy of the coral and fish was unbelievable. Definitely a highlight and a reason to smile. Pictures to come …