We just rode around a Caribbean Island!
The two-island nation of St. Kitts & Nevis is conveniently located southeast of the Virgin Islands, just west of Antigua & Barbuda. The mountainous islands are home to lush rainforest interiors and paved coastal roads that are ideal for an awesome Caribbean cycling experience. Nevis, the quieter of the two islands, is small enough to bike around in a few hours and offers stunning views of the island and the endless blue surrounding the island.
While we’ve enjoyed many hiking and snorkelling excursions in the Caribbean, we have never gone for a bike ride before. So, on our recent trip to Nevis we were excited to be heading out on our very first Caribbean cycling adventure, although unfortunately some things just don’t work out as planned. We were visiting Nevis for the day and had planned to go for a nice bike ride in the morning, followed by a unique rum experience in the afternoon. Problem is, the bike rental shop opened about 2 hours after we had hoped to have been on the road. As a result, we didn’t have much time to enjoy our cycling event before we had to get back in time for our scheduled rum tour.
Anyways, while we were getting our hybrid bicycles adjusted to our height, I talked with the shop owner to get some recommendations on where to bike. He repeatedly stated that the island is “tiny” and that we can’t get lost. He suggested riding into Nevis’ capital Charlestown and exploring some backroads, but that sounded kind of boring, so we decided to heed his other idea… to undertake the much more strenuous and time-consuming ‘around the island’ route. The shop owner told us that the record time for riding all the way around the island is less than sixty minutes, so we figured we could do it comfortably in a couple of hours. Well, we were about to find out the hard way that that was not a good assumption.
We were advised to bike clockwise around the island, to avoid having to cycle uphill on a long stretch of road just south of Charlestown. So off we went under the midday heat. Starting from the Oualie Beach area we headed east along the main road. It was a nice leisurely ride along the north end of Nevis where we encountered many sheep (that look like goats) at the side of or just as often, on the road. These critters displayed interesting behaviour. While they barely moved when cars drove past, they seemed to be absolutely terrified when they saw us coming. I don’t know why, but they nervously scurried into the bush whenever we approached – Perhaps they thought we were trying to round them up or something. Comforting views of St. Kitts across the channel started to fade as we passed Nevis’ Vance Amory airport and headed south down the east coast.
It was cool to see some monkeys scavenging around some fields, however we had to stay focused on our cycling as we were encountering a number of hills. We know Nevis is a mountainous island and had expected some hills, however they were starting to test us. We stopped once in a while for a break and to observe a small wind farm as well as a small island way off in the distance. After riding for about 45 minutes or so, we passed the Nevis Raceway – I have to say, I was not expecting to find a dragstrip on this small Caribbean Island. We didn’t see any race cars that day, although the cattle, donkeys and sheep were enjoying grazing on the fields surrounding the asphalt tracks.
Rounding the southeast corner of the island, the road headed inland and we encountered a beautiful green mountain landscape along with some much bigger and steeper hills to take on. Being we just left a snow-filled winter wonderland at home, we hadn’t ridden for a few months, so our biking muscles were a bit rusty and were starting to get fatigued. We ended up dismounting and walking up two or three of the longer, steeper sections of road. We were falling way behind schedule and were stressing that we wouldn’t make it back in time for our scheduled pick-up. While I’m sure it was less than an hour, it seemed like it took us forever to travel across the southern end of Nevis.
The worst part of being so time-sensitive was that we were not taking the time to enjoy the local attractions and gorgeous Caribbean sights that this magnificent Caribbean Island had to offer. If we would have had more time, I would have liked to have checked out the Nevisian Heritage Village and one or two of the old plantations. This would have also given us some much-needed rest breaks. Eventually, we rounded the southwest corner of Nevis and were elated to realize that we were finally seeing the Caribbean side of the island. About 2.5 miles (4km) or more outside of Charlestown the road was on a near-constant downhill, so we enjoyed the glide, which included a few steep sections that provided an exhilarating ride. We were flying down the roads, braking to stay in control around the corners. We quickly reached the capital, but again we didn’t have the time to wander around the quaint town to take in the sights.
At this point, we found our second wind, and with the clock always on our mind we bore down and finished the final 5 miles (8km) or so in business-like fashion. In different circumstances, I would have really enjoyed cycling alongside a donkey that was scampering wild down the street, but at this point, I was just focused on finishing the ride. About half an hour later we made it back to our starting point, and fortunately, our afternoon ride was still there, even though we were more than an hour late – Thank goodness for ‘island time’…
In summary, we enjoyed the unique view of the mountainous interior, including the wonderous Nevis Peak and its surrounding rolling ridges. We got an awesome workout, although we felt a little weak after cycling in the heat and humidity. FYI – The ‘around the island’ route is just over 19 miles (31km) long, with over 785 feet (240m) of vertical to climb along the southern stretch across Nevis. A route that avid cyclists would probably enjoy and may even consider a bucket list activity! In hindsight, we tried to do too much in too little time and hence failed to enjoy the experience. It would have been better to have planned for 4-to-5 hours, including stops at various beaches, historical attractions, maybe even a restaurant or two along the way. Alternatively, we could have spent a couple of hours with a loop route at the north end of the island, or just ridden down to Charlestown and back.
ACT Staff
For more information on cycling in the Sister Islands, including a list of local tour operators and bike rental shops, take a look at our St. Kitts & Nevis MTB & Cycling page
If you’re looking for some other adventures that will raise your pulse rate a bit, check out the recommendations in our St. Kitts & Nevis Adventures blog
If you’re looking to slow-it-down a bit, maybe take a tour of the island to see some attractions, check out our recommendations for Things To Do in St. Kitts & Nevis blog
For an overview of the Sister Islands, check out our St. Kitts & Nevis Vacations page
