Nevis, West Indies

First of all...I just want to say hi! As you can see, this is my first post...I've peeked in and out of this site for awhile now, and have finally made the leap in creating a site for my own photos (using smugmug) and joining the community here. I've seen some incredible work on here, and am excited to join in!

So, as for my first thread...my family and I ended the summer by taking our traditional family vacation to a new place, a small island in the Caribbean called Nevis. I was extremely excited, considering I had taken a one week sailing trip in the British Virgin Islands the previous winter, where my camera had broken on the first day (just my luck, eh?). I was eager to get back to the Caribbean and be able to take in its beauty once again, and maybe capture a bit of it on film as well. So here are a few shots, and a little bit of commentary along the way.


Yes, it was indeed a Four Seasons...the most expensive vacation I have ever taken/will ever take in my entire life! But pretty much the only spot to stay on the island (aside from maybe one or two small hotels, which were pretty 'local'). Nevis has quite the interesting history, actually--the natives were all killed by yellow fever when Columbus landed there, so the locals who live there now are all descendents from slaves. The Four Seasons is the largest employer on the island, and those who live on the island are entirely dependent on St. Kitt's, the sister island about a 40 minute boat ride away. Because it's bigger, everything is shipped there, and in the words of several locals, "Nevis gets screwed" by it. The islands used to be considered part of the British Virgin Islands, but together formed their own country when they gained independence.


Most flights land on St Kitts, so a boat from the resort meets newcomers there and shuttles them over to this dock, where about 10 members of staff are usually waiting to greet them with smiles and a week of impeccable service


My dad managed to con me into a few golf lessons, so by the end of the week he was equipped with his own golf partner. The course was spectacular, and I'm actually really glad I got out there a few times--I hadn't golfed in a few years, and found that I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. The family that told us about the island happened to be vacationing there the same week we were, and we bumped into them on the golf course--this is their youngest, Stephanie, mesmerized by the family of monkeys enjoying the sand pit just to the right of this frame (they were all over the golf course--apparently it's mango season, which means you can see them everywhere looking for something to snack on!)


Night photography has quickly become a passion of mine...one particular night on our trip I couldn't sleep, and decided to head outside with camera in hand to see what I could find. I ended up staying out for nearly 2 hours, just walking around the resort and attempting to get some decent shots (I didn't have a tripod, and had to make do with the ground and a couple of rocks I found to steady the camera in order to come up with at least a few decent pictures)








The sunsets were amazing! I took hundreds of photos...here are a few, but I feel like no matter which ones I choose, they can't do the place justice. Nevis was by far the closest I've come to paradise.











Well, that's my trip to Nevis in a nut shell...hope you enjoy the photos, and I also hope to be around more often! :wave