The last stop on my June #FitInParadise tour was St Kitts. To get there, we took a propeller plane from St Thomas to Puerto Rico and then a second propeller plane to St Kitts. The resort was a convenient 15 minutes away. Getting through customs and passport control was easy as we were the only plane that had recently landed.
As someone who travels a lot, these things matter. We stayed at the St Kitts Marriott Resort and Royal Beach Casino – although I didn’t step foot inside the casino.
It was only the second resort to offer us a delicious beverage upon arrival. We quickly fell in love with the laid back attitude of the island and friendly staff. These pictures are from the top of the hotel overlooking the property. I was challenged to run to the top of Timothy Hill. You can kind of see the path the road takes in the photo below by following the ridge between the large hill on the right and the smaller hill on the left. The little indent in the middle is the top of the road. It’s a lot more steep than it looks in this photo.
After arriving, we were starving. We grabbed lunch at Cafe Calypso where I had the best salad of the entire trip. It was appropriately called the Superfood Salad and I added grilled salmon. It came with edamame, mango, carrots, cashews and avocado. I would later order this again it was so good.
After digesting, I took the challenge and attempted to run up Timothy Hill. I got half way before I had to walk. The incline felt like a treadmill at a 15% no joke. My heart rate stayed at 160 BPM walking the second half. There were many locals walking along the side of the hill as well. I hadn’t seen people exercising outdoors at any of the other destinations besides vacationers so it was nice to see I had discovered something the locals enjoy. This view is from the top down the opposite side of the island. Nevis is to the right.
The trip up and down the hill took me a total of 30 minutes and left me very sweaty. The resort had a really beautiful gym as well with tons of natural light looking out on to the pool area but I decided to stick with the hill challenge and later a yoga class taught outside.
Dinner at one of the hotel restaurant’s Blu was outstanding our first and second nights. We tried the Taste of St Kitts prix fixe menu on the first night that came with local lobster with mango salsa, local salad greens with pineapple and a delicious banana bread pudding dessert.
This was one of my favorite dinners of the trip because I love mango so much. It is the start of mango season in St Kitts where they are abundantly grown. I was told there are so many mangoes on St Kitts that people just give them away! Our guides couldn’t believe that 5/$5 mangoes was a good deal back home.
Our first full day in St Kitts was dedicated to shooting two videos. A 15 minute real time workout by the pool using exercise bands and then a fun lifestyle video featuring 5 ways to eat mangos since they are used in everything in St Kitts. We didn’t include it but putting mango slices on your face even helps clear up acne!
I wore my beloved Lilly For Target Romper for the mango video which felt appropriate given the bright colors.
On our last full day, we decided to explore the island of St Kitts. First, I ran/walked up Christopher Hill and then took a yoga class at the resort. The hour long class runs every day at 8am. It was more athletic than typical resort classes which I liked! There were advanced options for people like me but also modifications too. While there was plenty to do on the resort, the public relations manager insisted we get out and explore what the island had to offer. After one of my instagram followers suggested Spice Mill a beach bar/restaurant on Cockleshell Beach which was made famous by online videos of drunk monkeys, we decided to give it a go.
Spice Mill is a very nice restaurant during the evening and a fun beach bar during the day. Their beach bar food was also unexpectedly delicious. I think this partially due to the fact that everything here is basically organic. They don’t call it that because they don’t know any different. It also was visibly made from scratch right down to the tortilla chips. Oh how I wish our food was like that! We ordered jerk chicken nachos and tacos. We could see the women making the items just feet away.
This picture below was taken at the end of the day before they switched over to dinner service. You can rent a chair for $3 and an umbrella for $5. Some reviews suggested the beach is crowded with cruise ship guests but they all left around noon and it wasn’t overly crowded ever. It was quite relaxing and didn’t feel touristy or over crowded. It was peaceful and gorgeous. The drinks and good food helped too. For kids, there were different water activities offered including tubing, jet skis and more.
As we drove home up over Timothy Hill, we got out to take a few last pictures. To the left of my head is the atlantic ocean and to the right is the Caribbean. The water on the Caribbean is much more noticeably clear. It is one of the few points on the island where you can see both at the same time.
It was a long business trip and I was happy that we were able to at least relax our final day in paradise after working the other 11 days straight. I know it looks like this whole trip was an extended vacation but trust me, it was a lot of work. I’m excited to show you guys the final videos when they come out! While I certainly ate a lot, I also felt like I was constantly moving. I ate so much healthy food that when I came home, I kinda wanted pizza when I landed back in Boston! There were plenty of unhealthy options at each resort but all the fresh seafood dishes sounded so wonderful why pass up the opportunity?
You can read about my other wellness travel destinations below: