03 May 2024

Nevis

We offer a wide choice of cheap flights to Nevis together with Nevis hotels, tours and self-drive itineraries.

Other Caribbean Reviews

The island that time forgot

It’s hard to get to. But when you arrive at Nevis you can chat to the monkeys and the fish! And Helen Minsky was pleased to find no trace of Starbucks

1 A local musician 2 The spectacular pool 3 A hammock with your name on it

THE ONLY SOUND to be heard was the chattering of prawns. We knew they were prawns, because our hostess for the day, Barbara Whitman, told us so.

She is a marine biologist and my 27-year-old daughter, Vida, and I had booked her three-hour guided snorkelling safari on the tiny Caribbean island of Nevis.

Nevis (pronounced Neevis), an unspoiled gem in the Leeward islands, is separated by a two-mile strait from its larger sister island of St Kitts and is similar to the Barbados of 20 or 30 years ago.

There aren’t a lot of people, no buildings higher than two storeys, no traffic lights or dual carriageways, no McDonald’s or Starbucks, no floating gin palaces or casinos, and no cruise liners disgorging a thousand shopaholics each week.

Indeed, it has only one meandering main road which takes you gently around the circumference of this lush 36 square-mile island in about 40 minutes by car, or a bit longer if you take a bus.

The buses, glorified people-carriers, are an experience in themselves since they are all privately owned by exuberant locals and are identified not by numbers, but by curious names such as Dutty Habbit, The Advocate or Stress Me.

Full of Interesting Eccentrics

Watch out if you are driving yourself, though, because although the roads are blissfully free of traffic, other road-users include goats, sheep, chickens, cows and donkeys.

Nevis is a whimsical volcanic island that relies on empty beaches, languid pelicans, tiny hummingbirds and chatty monkeys to provide much of the entertainment.

Its former sugar plantations are now ruins or have been converted into elegant boutique hotels, and the island boasts talkative, friendly locals (12,000 in all), panoramic landscapes and a perfect climate.

The place is also full of interesting eccentrics – including Connecticut-born Barbara who, before our snorkelling trip, had introduced us to her pet octopus, Mr Smartipants. She also rescues dozens of stranded sea turtles.

Unlike us, Barbara arrived by accident. She blew in ten years ago when a tall ship she was sailing towards Antigua caught a squall and was washed up in Nevis. She was bowled over by the island and has never left.

If snorkelling is your thing, then Barbara is your girl. She will point out sharks, eagle rays, huge turtles and barracudas. The fish even talk to her, she insists, making a noise like someone rubbing their hand along a balloon.

Understated Elegance

Equally full of information is Quentin Henderson, a tall Englishman whom we bumped into in the island’s open-air public bathhouse. Quentin was to be found lolling in the little-known natural sulphur hot water spring on the outskirts of the island’s laid back Charlestown. He came to Nevis in 1987 with Voluntary Service Overseas.

‘I am a bee expert and the Ministry of Agriculture offered me a job so I set up the island’s bee co-operative,’ he explains. ‘I’ve hurt my back, and the hot springs are great for that. But be careful if you take the waters here — the local men mostly bathe in the nude.’

On the way to the baths we had found another character — Mrs Cone, as we nicknamed her. She runs the Queen City Ice Cream Parlour in Charlestown. But, for some odd reason, customers annoy her and woe betide you if you dare ask for a scoop or two. She huffs and puffs and frowns. But she makes the best guava and coconut ice cream.

If you want good food and marriage guidance counselling, then Lindita, who owns the Double Deuce bar and restaurant at Pinney’s beach, is the one to visit.

Her eaterie has the best gossip in town – and also does the best fish soup, thanks to the new man in her life who was previously a chef at the idyllic Montpelier Plantation, reckoned to have the best restaurant on the island. The Montpelier is a country house- style hotel boasting 18 luxurious villas set in lush gardens.

Its understated elegance was discovered by the late Diana, Princess of Wales, when she booked the entire place for a holiday with Princes William and Harry in order to unwind as her marriage began to disintegrate.

It is now run by Timothy Hoffman, whose father, Lincoln, a former American banker bought the place in 2002.

He went on to renovate its historic buildings, and bought all the land around them so that no one could build on it to spoil the views. Sadly, Lincoln recently died suddenly after seeing his dream come to fruition, but his son and wife, Muffin, are continuing his vision.

Montpelier is also the plantation where some 300 years earlier Admiral Lord Nelson met his wife, Fanny Nisbet. He was then a mere captain and had not yet met Lady Hamilton. Fanny was the niece of the island’s Governor. Nevis is full of Nelson memorabilia, including the hill where he kept lookout over the sea. The silk cotton tree at Montpelier, under which he married Fanny, is still happily spreading its huge branches.

Has Retained it's Charm

The Hoffmans run the hotel with old-style U.S. charm, and you feel like a house guest. If you are on your own, the Hoffmans are quite likely to invite you to dine with them or, at the very least, have a drink.

The award-winning food is mostly organic and home-grown, with tempting dishes such as coconut-crusted shrimp and superb Nevisian lobster.

We stayed three nights at Montpelier and four at nearby Hill Rise House, a plantation house owned by London antique dealer Patrick Hinde. It boasts fabulous sea views and the 3,232ft-high volcano which dominates the island.

Donna, his housekeeper, arrives daily to clean up after you and she also cooks an excellent fish stew. Bernard, the gardener, tends the two-and-a-half-acre garden and swimming pool which is cooled by the trade winds.

Because of its lack of an international airport, it’s not easy to get to Nevis, which is why it has retained its charm for so long.

But there is talk of extending the runway of the small airport on the island’s wild Atlantic side, and hedge-fund millionaires have already discovered its joys. They were apparently snapping up land last year. Let’s hope the credit crunch has curtailed them.

0330·100·2220i 0330 calls are included within inclusive minutes package on mobiles, otherwise standard rates apply. X 0330 calls are included within inclusive minutes package on mobiles, otherwise standard rates apply. X