Back in the Islands

Once again, I'm back in the islands in pursuit of pottery (no surprise there). It's almost four months since Jan, Ellen and I got back from our Divali extravaganza in Trinidad, and the book is now very much underway and through the worst of its birthing pangs. This writing business is WAY HARDER than you think, particularly when I've got twenty years of endless bits and pieces of wonderful stuff that all really should make its way into print and I just keep collecting more - the other day at the FGCU Library I tripped over what may be the earliest visual documentation of a Barbados monkey jug ! Are you as excited as I am ?? Obviously, the Caribbean pottery obsession is reaching new heights.

For this trip I'm coming full circle. Flying south over all the beautiful little cays in the Bahamas I always think about how much I'd love to get lost there for a while but for right now I'm returning to Nevis to see the wonderful women of Newcastle Pottery. It's been twenty years since I stopped off here on the way to St. Lucia and spent an amazing week trying to wrap my head around the reality of what I was beginning to understand was a regional Afro-Caribbean pottery tradition. Coming back after all this time will be fascinating, but its also quite humbling. Twenty years.

My Miami non-stop took me to St. Kitts (St. Christopher originally), the immigration/customs dance was no problem, I jumped in a taxi and was able to catch the 4:00 ferry to Nevis just an hour after I landed. And there is just nothing wrong with riding a ferry on an absolutely gorgeous afternoon in the Caribbean. St. Kitts is a series of low hills stretched across the sea; Nevis sits just two miles out with its one tall volcanic peak catching the clouds as they go by.

Two islands just two miles apart

Astonishing clouds...

Nevis is a lovely, quiet place, especially late on a Sunday afternoon with the sun shining on the buildings by the dock, so quiet that it took quite some time and lots of help to find a taxi to take me up the island to Newcastle and the Ocean View Guest House. The driver and I talked about how much the island has changed in the last 20 years, and he pointed out lots of new hotels and big fancy houses but apparently the wild donkeys and giant crabs still take over the roads at night just like i remembered.

When you book accommodations online you never really know what you're going to get but you really hope that all those sincere testimonials are actually true and not stuff made up to offset the wildly critical reviews on TripAdvisor. So i was delighted to find that the Ocean View Guest House is perfect - up the hill from the Newcastle Pottery and you really can see the ocean and the room is big and comfortable with an equally big, comfortable bathroom and a ceiling fan and a room air conditioner and a refrigerator and a door to the backyard where a lovely girl dog named Oscar could not have been happier to see me.

A cold local beer and a cheese sandwich with thick sliced local bread and British Branston pickle is the perfect end to a long travel day, with a nice long chat to follow with owner/operators Pearline and Richard Neale. Originally from Nevis and Jamaica respectively, they spent 42 and a half years living and working in England before 'retiring' to Nevis to set up this lovely guesthouse.

Pearline has already been incredibly helpful putting me in touch with potter Almena Cornelius and suggesting heritage sites and tutoring me on the Nevisian public bus system so that I don't have to spring for a rental car. I've got three days, and I doubt I'll be bored. Now its time to turn off the Academy Awards - sorry Katie, but it is an hour later here - and get some serious sleep. I'll be back with the pottery report as soon as may be possible !