Honeymoon (6/21/09-6/27/09) Days 6 and 7

Friday was probably our most grueling day of our honeymoon. We had signed up for the volcano hike. We hiked up Mt. Liamuiga on the northern end of the island. Liamuiga is an active volcano, but hasn't erupted in about 2,000 years. We had to hike about 3 hours up to the rim of the crater, but the hike was absolutely beautiful the whole way. We hiked through different sections of the rain forest and saw many different types of trees and plants. We were informed of all the different herbal medicines and things the locals use make from the plants, including an aphrodesiac made from one of the plants. Our guide, Mr. Rogers, assured us it worked.

Goats scattering into the wild sugar cane field as we were driving up to the start of the hike.

The view of Mt. Liamuiga and sugar cane fields.

A tree fern seen on the way up the mountain.

Giant buttress roots from some of the trees in the rain forests.

Video of Jenn hiking up the mountain.

Hiking up with Mr. Rogers.

When we finally made it to the top of the crater, the view was absolutely gorgeous. While it was a bit overcast, we could see all around the crater and vaguely see the island of St. Martin or St. Bart (I don't remember which it was). Mr. Rogers told us on nice days you could see three different islands-St. Martin, St. Bart, and Anguilla I think.

Panorama of the crater of the volcano.

Me and Jenn with our fellow hikers, Orrin and

Jenn over the crater.

Crater with the small crater lake, which Mr. Rogers says is not usually there.

The hike back down.

FINISHED!!!

On our trip back from the hike, we decided to take some photos of the local culture. From the bottle shops every block to the side of the road bar-b-ques, it was not exactly as grand as our suite at the Marriott.

Barbeque right on the side of the road.

Typical house along the road.

Government housing being built. Small, but looked in better shape than many of the houses.

When we got back to the resort, Jenn and I relaxed a little at the pool and pool bar. Then Jenn decided to take some photos of the landscaping at the resort to show just how beautiful it was everyday.

The best customer to the swim-up bar.

Fan palms lining the path.

The view of St. Kitts just outside of our front door.

The view from our balcony.

Saturday we got up early to take in one last snorkel. We were both hoping we would find that elusive octopus we had heard about on one of the first days. So we snorkeled out to the rock reef and swam around. This time we went around the edge. We saw many of the same fish, coral, and rays. Right before it was time to head back in, I looked down on a rock and thought I saw part of it move. Sure enough, there was an octopus on the rock with its tentacles curled up into little balls. It was very well camouflaged and it took a minute of pointing it out to Jenn before she saw it. If it had it's arms stretched out, I'd guess it'd be between 3 and 4 feet from tip to tip. Very cool.

After that adventure, Jenn and I headed in to pack up and get lunch before catching our flight at the airport. Let me tell you, it was really aggravating at the airport. I am used to U.S. airports, which have their flaws, too. However, this was RIDICULOUS. It took us almost 2 hours to get through the first line. Then we had to go to another line which took a more reasonable 3o minutes. Finally, when we thought we were through, we had to go through a final line, which took about another 30 minutes. Luckily once we were on the plane, we had no problems.

Final drink at the Bohemian.

Waiting...and waiting...and waiting...at the airport.

Finally going to the plane.

Getting on!

Leaving St. Kitts.