Well about 3 hours later, after starting our descent, the plane began to rise. The pilot came over the intercom and gave us the message that the weather was not so great on the island (it was raining heavily) and we were running low on fuel and could not circle about in the air. So, we flew up to St. Maarten (about 50 miles north of St. Kitts) to refuel. We landed, they refueled the aircraft, and after about an hour we were ready to go again. So with the announcement that we were going to be landing in St. Kitts in 20-30 minutes we took off from our detour island.
Again as we approached St. Kitts, you could feel the plane descending and as we got just below the cloud line the pilot took off up into the air again... This time he came over the intercom with the message that due to the heavy rain, the runway in St. Kitts is very wet. And, because we were in a large aircraft at full capacity of people and cargo, not to mention fuel... he would not be able to land the plane in the current conditions. He listed several other excuses and then said we will simply fly back to St. Maarten and wait for the weather to clear up so he could land. Once we landed this time we were allowed off the airplane to grab a bite to eat and stretch our legs.
Another 2 hours later, we boarded the plane with the intention of going to St. Kitts! The pilot once again came over the intercom and said something about a "hopefully non-stop flight to St. Kitts" (which would take about 15-20 minutes) and then mentioned that if the runway was still too wet we would be redirected to San Juan, Puerto Rico...... 30 minutes or so later we were still in the air with no hint of landing when the announcement is made that we will not be able to land in St. Kitts and were now in route to San Juan! We landed not too long after this and then because we had landed and deplaned in St. Maarten we were required to go through US immigration and customs, even though it seemed to us as though we had never left the US... so line after line we finally ended up with hotel, taxi, and meal vouchers from American Airlines and a promise that we would be leaving at 10am the next morning for St. Kitts!
Unfortunately, when we arrived at the hotel (at 10:25pm) the manager told us that there was only one restaurant that accepted the meal vouchers... it was down the streets a ways and it closed at 10:30 and even though he called the restaurant and asked if they would stay open a little later, they turned us away saying they were already closed at 10:40.... :( so we ended up eating at Lupi's Cantina which was pretty good.
After a short night's sleep, we woke up and headed back to the airport... we dropped our bags off at the ticket counter and went to our gate. Just after noon we landed in St. Kitts!! The weather was a nice 77ยบ and mostly sunny. We were greeted, after going through immigration and customs, by Ross University students and staff and off we went to find our new homes and go grocery shopping. After a "relaxing" afternoon of unpacking we went to dinner at Mr. X's Shiggity Shack on the beach near downtown. At dinner we got a real feel of "island time" as it took about 2 and a half hours from start to finish, but fun was had by all with the good company and conversation!
My mom and I rang in the New Year here at my new apartment and watched the fireworks over and across the bay! Now it is time to have a good's nights sleep!
-until next time- kp
