Sweet! Find beauty, serenity on tiny Nevis
Travelers seeking to get away from it all need look no further than the tiny island of Nevis.
On most days, the biggest event on this Caribbean isle is the sunrise, with its promise of perpetual solitude in paradise.
Nevis’ is known as the “Queen of the Caribees” thanks to its once thriving sugar industry in the 18th century. Today tourism has replaced sugar as the primary source of revenue, but the island has wisely incorporated its past to sweeten the transition.
Situated a little more than 200 miles east-southeast of Puerto Rico, Nevis and her larger sister St. Kitts gained their independence from the United Kingdom in 1983. They are separated by a shallow two-mile channel known as “The Narrows.”
Most visitors arrive in Nevis by water taxis, which take approximately 10 minutes from St. Kitts, but Nevis does have an airport as well that can accommodate small planes.
For a tiny place, Nevis has a rich history it ingeniously utilizes to promote tourism. Here, British naval hero Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson was married to the 22-year old daughter of a Nevis plantation owner in 1787.
The first United States secretary of the treasury, Alexander Hamilton, was born on Nevis and spent the first years of his life there.
Nevis was home to the first hotel in the Caribbean: the luxurious Bath Hotel and Spa built by John Huggins in 1778. Huggins created his property to take advantage of the small but soothing medicinal waters of a nearby hot spring that is fed by the thermal activity of Nevis Peak.
Four former sugar plantations have been converted into resort hotel properties, each with its own charm and character. The deluxe Four Seasons Hotel is the only chain hotel on Nevis as well as the only Four Seasons hotel in the Caribbean.
Nevis is a place where a chorus of tiny invisible tree frogs will serenade you to sleep. A place where soft breezes caress the palm trees to sound like a gentle rain.
Nevis is an island of eternal summer, where the livin’ is easy.
Details: www.nevisisland.com.
Bob Taylor of Charlotte leads group tours and organized the Magellan Club.
This story was originally published February 12, 2016 at 1:00 AM with the headline "Sweet! Find beauty, serenity on tiny Nevis."