I love the Caribbean. Who doesn’t? Gorgeous beaches. Inviting ocean waves. Nothing but palm trees for miles. But I am especially attached to the island of St. Kitts.
That attachment is for two reasons really. One, because of the number of amazing adventures I’ve had there and, two, because St. Kitts where I did my PADI SCUBA certification dives.
I did all of my bookwork online, and I did my pool dives at International SCUBA in Texas. (Special thanks to my amazing – and incredibly patient – instructor, Rich Thomas.) But the idea of diving in a quarry gave me the heebyjeebies. So I opted to do my open water dives in St. Kitts.
(Note: I brought all my own AquaLung Details gear along, which is designed and sized just for women, because I’m kind of a small girl and masks and fins and even BCDs don’t always fit me just right. But you can absolutely rent everything you need on island if you want to travel light.)
Learning to dive was a huge challenge for me. I’m not a strong swimmer and I was insanely afraid of the idea of breathing underwater, which is exactly why I did it. Over the past eight years or so, I have been challenging myself to do anything and everything that scares me.
I completed my open water dives with my awesome instructor, Terry Crookes, at ProDivers St. Kitts and can now say I am a certified diver. It wasn’t easy. And I definitely had my freak out moments. But it was certainly worth it, especially since it allowed to me dive the Great Barrier and Ninglaoo reefs in Australia just this past spring.
Of course, this wasn’t the first time I did something scary in St. Kitts. On a previous visit, I hiked the volcano, Mount Liamuiga, with the island’s most famous guide, O’Neil Mulraine, who told me once we reached the bottom that he never thought I’d make it. Truth was, I didn’t either. It was one hell of a hike. But the view was totally worth it.
And that’s the point of doing all of these scary things – discovering the views and the depths and the adventures that I would never get to experience if I let my fear get the best of me.
Of course I am equally as happy to spend my time doing not so scary things when I’m in St. Kitts like laying at the pool, walking the beach, and indulging in insanely fresh, local seafood. I always stay at the St. Kitts Marriott when I’m there because the staff are insanely sweet and the property is lovely.
They have gorgeous rooms, an award-winning bartender, and five great restaurants, including a high-end steakhouse and an equally swanky seafood restaurant. And I always end up making great friends and contacts there and there is nothing I like more than expanding my circle!
But be sure to leave the property for at least one night on the town though for dinner at the Spice Mill, the most glorious restaurant right on the beach, and bar hopping on Frigate Bay, also right on the sand just feet from the lapping waves. It is an incredibly unique experience to bar hop barefoot with the sand between your toes. Not to be missed for sure.
Oh, and rumor has it, that if you get up early enough and go for a run on the St. Kitt’s Marriott golf course, the local monkeys – more of whom live on the island than people – will join you!
People always ask, “What’s your favorite place to travel?” Answering that is almost impossible and the list is certainly very long. But it will always include St. Kitts.
