St. Kitts is just a 30-minute ferry boat ride from its sister island of Nevis in the eastern Caribbean. The islands have their separate prime ministers but operate under a federal Federation government that makes major decisions for both islands.
On his first voyage to what would become America in 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered the islands. Thinking the clouds wrapped around a dormant volcano on Nevis was snow, he named the island Nevis which means 'snow' in Italian.
When I worked on St. Kitts for The Observer, a weekly newspaper, I often divided my time between the two islands. We had an editorial office on St. Kitts where I lived, but the printing plant was on Nevis.
On one of my ferry boat rides to Nevis, I discovered the Hermitage Plantation Inn. It was located in a rain forest halfway up a volcano. While the volcano had not erupted in many years, the hot lava flowed near the surface of the ground and you could feel the heat beneath your feet. In some of the ground fissures, steam seeped from the volcano.
The Hermitage was owned by a retired Philadelphia investment banker named Richard Lupinacci. They had moved to the Caribbean to retire, but couldn't stand not working. Richard and his wife, Maureen, bought a 200-year-old house that sat on a former sugar plantation. Then they built several cottages on the property, giving each of them names, and opened up the Hermitage to tourists.
I spent a number of unforgettable weekends at The Hermitage. Richard owned a riding stable and a race track near the ocean where he would stage horse races 10 times each year. Owners would bring their horses from other islands like Dominica or Antigua and race for prize money at the race track.
The races were more like carnivals than being at Santa Anita or Hollywood Park.
Islanders with their portable stoves would serve jerk chicken or other island delicacies to the crowds. You could buy beer, rum or wine drinks, and you could make bets on the horse of your choice. Sometimes so much money was wagered on a favorite that the ticket seller would return less than $2 on a $2 bet! That's gambling Caribbean style.
Richard and Maureen had a son and daughter who helped them operate the Hermitage. Richie Jr. was a remake of his father. He wore his blond hair in a pigtail like a pirate and had an eye for beautiful women.
He was also an expert on the pirates of the Caribbean and loved to talk about Blackbeard the Pirate.
One evening as we nursed rum drinks in the bar, Richie told me how Blackbeard, whose real name was Edward Teach, died.
'Blackbeard had a ship called Queen Anne's Revenge,' he said. 'He and his 35-man crew would use the ship and their 16 guns to attack merchant ships. As long as they went after certain ships, they would be protected by the governor of the island where they were docked. But if they hit a ship from a wrong country, they got into trouble.'
The British government grew tired of Blackbeard's antics and set a trap for him. A company of 200 British soldiers were hidden below deck in a ship rigged to look like a merchant vessel. Blackbeard and his men followed the ship, attacked it and stormed aboard, only to be met by 200 armed soldiers streaming out of the hold.
Richie said, 'Blackbeard was high on rum and the local ganja. He would stick the weed in his thick black beard, light it, and inhale the fumes. His men were drunk on rum. They didn't have a chance.
'The British admiral slipped up behind Blackbeard and struck him with his sword, nearly decapitating his head. Blackbeard smiled, pushed his head back into place to stop the blood flow, drew his pistol and shot the admiral between the eyes before falling dead on the deck of the ship.'
If you are ever in the eastern Caribbean, be sure to visit The Hermitage, which Conde Nast's Traveler Magazine calls one of the world's 10 most romantic hotels. It will be worth the trip.