Nevis, by Abi Campbell

The weather during our sail to Nevis was uneventful other than our close encounter almost catching a fish and the nine foot north east swell that merely put a dent in out seven day string of perfect weather. The voyage from Trellis Bay to Nevis, though, was a good time to review all the information we have absorbed over the last week. Nevis is a small island that used to be the center of the British slave trade and was home to the most bountiful sugar cane in the world. We can into port and drove to an old sugar cane plantation called Golden Rock where we met up with Jim Johnson, who lead us through a nature hike.

Alone, this hike may have been a bit banal but for Jim's accumulation of knowledge about the flora, fauna and history of the island along with his sense of humor, which made the three hour hike through the Nevian forest totally rad. We swung on vines Tarzan style, ate leaves that smelled like cinnamon, avoided eating leaves that caused paralysis of the larynx and were introduced to plants that are the basis of many modern medicines today. After the hike we had time to explore the town where we picked up supplies for our Valentine's Day party, bought Ting (a Caribbean soda made form local grapefruits) and admired Charlie's new outfit. We are headed back to Nevis tomorrow after a full night of anchor watch to have lit class in front of Alexander Hamilton's birth place and enjoy history class on the coast line before we set sail for Guadaloupe.