September 23rd, 1999
Monday, July 19th, 4:00 in the blessed a.m. The alarm goes off; we oblige its siren call, bleary-eyed and begrudgingly. We have to be at the airport for 5:30am to ensure our leaving when our flight does.
The day before, we did our final chores before leaving, including water changes on the 2 aquariums. Lisa inadvertently mixed 2 agents that do the same thing for the water quality yet react harshly when combined. This went into the tiger barb 20 gallon tank.
Fast forward to 4:30am or so. Lisa goes to feed the barbs, finds them all dead or dying from the toxic mixture mentioned above.
Not a good omen, what?
We get to the airport on time, despite my having a wife feeling extremely guilty for nuking her fish. Away we jet aboard SkyService airways, off to the Leeward Islands. The flight was long enough for us to watch two movies – Shakespeare In Love and Never Been Kissed. We had a one hour stopover in St. Lucia, then flew up the Leeward Island chain.
It was fascinating to fly along the string of islands – Martinique, Dominica and such. We even flew over Monserrat, with its active volcano. I wish now I had taken some pictures of it from the air. You could see where the lava flows were, and where new coast line had been formed when the molten rock reached the sea.
We land in St. Kitts around 1:30 in the afternoon and by jeez it was hot and humid! After clearing customs, we were loaded into the Signature Tours van and trundled off to the resort. On check-in they gave us a yummy fruit punch beverage to cool our thirst. “Room 486 is yours,” they tell us as they give us our room key, tv remote control, towel cards and safety deposit box lock. Off we go, on a quest for our room and a chance to sit and rest our weary bones.
Five minutes later we finally find it at the outer fringes of the resort, away from all the noise of the pools, bars and dining areas. Flake-out time! The rest of our first day is fairly quiet; we have a nap then head for dinner around 7:30 or so. After dinner, we sit outside, have a couple of drinks, and r-e-l-a-x as the realization that We’re here sinks in.
We also have our first of many encounters with St. Kitts’ infamous 2 minute rainstorms while sitting there. Lisa and the others sitting outside all ran for cover when it hit. I was too relaxed to move, so I sat and let the rain water my Carib beer down for me. Around 9:30 we head for bed. A king-size bed! A comfy king-size bed that’s big enough to let us both flop and roll in our sleep as we please, and yet not disturb the other persons slumber.
Next entry: Tuesday and onwards…