QUARANTINE BLOG # 124

August 1, 2020

Yesterday I read an article on Yahoo! News about possible opening of borders around the world.  The authors immediately reminded me that Europe is still closed to Americans (Editorial Comment: The way things are going here, can you blame them?).  Canada and Mexico, too.  There is more than a little irony that Mexico is keeping US out.

Since it’s probably going to be 2021 until Bonnie and I can go back to Venice (and as soon as you possibly can, you should go – it is an incredibly beautiful city), I looked at islands in the Caribbean where we have a cruise scheduled to depart in 119 days – November 27 – for St. Croix, St. Kitts, Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada, St. Vincent, and Antigua.  Unless there are some dramatic changes in the next 4 months, that cruise won’t sail.  Right now, every island requires a COVID-19 PCR Antigen test 48-72 hours before arrival, and that – by the nature of the time requirement – excludes the Celebrity Equinox sailing there out of Fort Lauderdale.  As the Bro says, “Oh well.”

But I am not going to take that lying down, or more specifically, as the loose nut between the chair and the keyboard.  I have 9 cruise talks on the Caribbean islands, 12 on stops in Europe, and 8 on New England and Alaska (plus 32 special interest talks).  So over the next several weeks, I’m going to dip into the archives and take you to some special spots so we can enjoy them together from home until we are able to travel again.

I’ll share some of the slides from the talks, and some of our photographs.  Be sure to watch the posted videos I made for the presentations.

We are supposed to dock at Basseterre, St. Kitts on December 1, so let’s start our travel there (my title slide is from the promenade deck of Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas). 

On November 12, 1493, Christopher Columbus sailed along the coast of the island he christened San Martin, but which we know as Nevis.  The larger island that now lay off his starboard beam, Columbus thought resembled the shape of St. Christopher carrying the Christ child on his shoulder.  In the picture below, that’s St. Christopher on the left and St. Kitts on the right (BTW: St. Kitts is the nickname of the island, and it is used on all official documents).

Well, with all due respect to Christopher Columbus, I think it looks like an escapee from Col. Harlan Sanders.

The history of St. Kitts, like almost every island in the Caribbean, is one of indigenous people being slaughtered – either by military conflict or diseases – by European invaders.  St. Kitts had the Spanish, then the British and the French (the later two divided the island between them when the locals were gone).

In 1648 Dutch refugees from Brazil brought a new crop to the island which would change everything.  The introduction of sugar cane brought about a complete social upheaval.  At first the sugarcane fields were worked by indentured European laborers, but soon slaves were stolen from Africa and forced into the fields.

Planting at intervals ensured that all the cane did not ripen at the same time.  The workload rarely eased off.  As the sugar industry grew, the number of slaves increased constantly.  The institution of slavery was the greatest disaster which befell the people of St Kitts; it influenced every aspect of life on the island for some 200 years, until emancipation in 1834.

The production of sugar declined throughout 19th century, nearly ceasing altogether on several occasions.  The industry was saved in 1912 by the opening of a central sugar factory, capable of processing the whole of the island’s crop.  In 1910 a light railway line was laid to deliver cane.  The last “sugar train” rattled into the yard and factory machinery shut down on July 31, 2005 – 15 years ago yesterday – bringing an end to over 350 years of sugar production on the island.

Ten years later the track was repaired and rolling stock was converted for passenger use.  The sugar train is a major tourist attraction today.  Enjoy a virtual ride on the train – much of the countryside you’ll see was formerly sugar fields https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5waCx8SV4-0.

Basseterre, the capital of St. Kitts, has a total area of about one square mile.  Nearly half of the entire population of the island lives in the town – 15,000 out of 35,000.   Because of the destruction brought about by hurricanes, earthquakes, fires and floods during the last 250 years, nothing now remains of the original city.

The oldest buildings are those around Independence Square – it was known until 1983 as Pall Mall Square.

Pall Mall is a game played with a ball and a mallet (and it’s named for Latin for “ball and mallet”).  The object was to hit a ball through a metal arch in as few strokes as possible.  One Pall Mall alley in London was 800 yards long.  The game is a forerunner to croquet.

There are three major churches in Bassettere: St. George’s Anglican Church (built in 1869), the Methodist Church (erected in 1825 and extensively remodeled a century later), and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (which dates from 1928).

Today the Brimstone Hill Fortress is the island’s main tourist attraction.  The smell of sulphur – the odor of bad eggs – which gave Brimstone Hill its name can still be detected.  This is the only indication left of the volcano that created the island.

The fort was started shortly after 1690, when the hill was used to launch an artillery attack by the British on the French fort near its foot.  Plans to build more defense works were halted by the start of the Napoleonic Wars, and then never implemented.

At the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1853 the British Government withdrew and relocated the garrison.  It is now a protected site, part of the Brimstone Hill National Park, and since 1999 has been a World Heritage Site.

There is so much more to the story of St Kitts, like the Citizenship By Investment program which allows foreign investors to acquire citizenship – invest in the rebuilding sugar industry or buy property and receive a passport and tax benefits – but those stories will have to wait until we can sail together.  For now, enjoy “The Beauty of St. Kitts” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbDvRGYcYMg.

👉  “We know that God works all things together for good for the ones who love God, for those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28 CEB).

This Scripture brings comfort, direction, and hope to Christians every day.  Sadly, it’s also one of the most misquoted and misunderstood verses in the Bible.

You may never have noticed that Romans 8:28 doesn’t mean we can live any way we choose, and God will fix our messes.  “All things . . . for those who love Him.”

You may never have noticed that in Romans 8:28 God doesn’t say all things are good – there is nothing good about cancer, or child abuse, or racial hatred.  But God can use all things for good.  I don’t know how He can, but I know He will.  His Word promises it!

God is able to redeem and restore anything for our good and His glory.  When we cannot comprehend why trials come and struggle to imagine that anything good can come from them, we can rest in the security that God is in control.

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