Now I’m offiially ready to hit the gorgeous Nevis Beaches.

Here is a REAL look at Nevis West Indies!

You can search for a Nevis Vacation and Nevis Flights HERE!

After more than 500 years of rich history, the Confederation of St. Kitts and Nevis is entering a new chapter as the hottest second-home destinations in the Caribbean. - USAtoday reported.

Discovered by Christopher Columbus, St. Kitts was home to the first French and British Caribbean colonies and is known as the region’s “Mother Island.”

Always flush with sugar cane, it has remained relatively wealthy and undeveloped. Along with smaller Nevis, it gained independence in 1983. Now, these Caribbean islands are trying to become independent from agriculture.

Brian Kassab, owner of the nation’s largest real-estate company, Brian Kassab & Associates, said:

We always had very high yields of sugar cane until two years ago, when the government ceased the industry and decided to focus on golf and eco-tourism. So this is a turning point in our history.

Most of the land is untouched, lush and tropical. Nevisians take pride in preserving its beauty. It consists of rain forests, waterfalls, volcanic peaks and vast stretches of pristine Nevis beaches.

In selected residential development zones, buyers are exempt from the nation’s 10% foreign ownership fee. The confederation is a tax haven with sophisticated banking, a stable government, very low real estate taxes ($400 a year on a $4.5 million house) and no income or rental taxes. A current plan offers expedited citizenship for foreigners who spend more than $350,000.

Go scope out the territory and check out pricing on a Nevis Vacation HERE!

Nevis Island Lover ~ Becca Briley

The United Nations elected 18 nations on Wednesday, October 23rd to serve on the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Nevis and St. Kitts was among them!

ECOSOC is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and membership is for three-year terms starting 1 January 2009. INTERESTING STUFF!

Four new members were chosen to replace Cuba, Guyana, Haiti and Paraguay.

These four are from Latin America and the Caribbean: Guatemala, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Venezuela.

Eleven new members were chosen for the 54-member body, which coordinates the economic, social and related work of the various UN specialized agencies, regional commissions and functional commissions, and seven others were re-elected.

ECOSOC members are chosen by secret ballot and according to geographical grouping, and its overall membership is divided between 14 African countries, 13 nations from the Western Europe and Other States grouping, 11 Asian States, 10 countries from Latin America and the Caribbean and six from Eastern Europe. This year none of the races for open seats were contested.

They are as follows…

In the African category, Guinea-Bissau was re-elected while Côte d’Ivoire, Mauritius, Morocco and Namibia were chosen to succeed Angola, Benin, Madagascar and Mauritania.

Japan and Saudi Arabia were re-elected to the seats allocated as part of the Asian contingent, and India replaces Sri Lanka, which is retiring. In the Eastern European category, Estonia succeeds the Czech Republic.

France, Greece, Liechtenstein and Portugal have been re-elected from the Western European and Other States category, while Germany was chosen to succeed Austria. Iceland is also relinquishing its seat for the remainder of the term – not due to end until 31 December 2010 – to Norway.

ECOSOC’s membership includes 18 members whose terms expire at the end of next year: Algeria, Cape Verde, Malawi, Somalia, Sudan, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Belarus, Romania, Barbados, Bolivia, El Salvador, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United States.

Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Niger, China, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Republic of Korea, Poland, Moldova, Russia, Brazil, Saint Lucia, Uruguay, New Zealand, Sweden and the United Kingdom are slated to end their terms as members at the end of 2010.

SKNVIBES IS MY FAVORITE NEWS SOURCE to stay up to date with Nevis when I cannot be there!

UNITED ARE THESE NATIONS! I LOVE TO SEE COUNTRIES WORKING TOGETHER! You can visit the UN’s Website at www.un.org

The Nevis Government seems to have it together as they are giving assistance to Hurricane Omar victims. Nevis Beaches are being tidied up too!

Read more about the cleaning up HERE!

There are many Nevis Ministries and Departments that can be looked up here as well!

Becca Briley

All is well once again as Air and Sea Ports return to normalcy on Nevis Island and it’s sister St. Kitts. Nevis Travel is not at a stand still any longer.

The tourist flow is not much affected. Just a little set back one could say.

Persons in and out of the Federation of St. Kitts-Nevis has largely been returned to normal after Wednesday night’s (Oct. 15) passage of the Category 3 Hurricane Omar.

SKNVibes spoke to Delcia Bradley-King, Head of Corporate Affairs and Public Relations at SCASPA. She reported:

“The Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport and Vance Amory Airport have both returned to full service at this time, as have the ferry services between St. Kitts-Nevis”.

Having mostly been spared the torrential rains and high-speed winds of Omar, air and sea travel to and from St. Kitts-Nevis has returned to a state of normalcy on both islands, the St. Christopher Air and Sea Ports Authority (SCASPA) reported today (Oct. 17).

Also impacted by the rough sea conditions was the expected arrival of the first cruise ship of the 2008/2009 season, the MV Marco Polo. The cancelled 850-passenger vessel came as a blow to taxi-drivers and vendors planning to make their first substantial earnings of the season, with one such entrepreneur calling the cancellation a “bad omen for the year”.

I really don’t think that will be the case at all. I don’t believe in bad omens myself. I can see where Taxi drivers are bit on edge as far as worries about when tourists will begin flowing in consistently now that the hurrican season is pretty much over… But I’m an optimist. So is Prime Minister of St. Kitts-Nevis, Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas.

He also remains optimistic despite a minor tourism setback when he delivered his post-hurricane address on October 16.

“There was no damage to the cruise pier in Port Zante. There is no doubt that the redesigning of the berthing facility…secured this very important infrastructure. The Marco Polo is somewhat of a setback but, with God’s help, we can look forward to the arrival of the MV Carnival Miracle next Saturday, Oct. 25 because our cruise infrastructure remains truly intact.”

The Ministry of Public Works in Nevis reported that “everything is back to normal and there are no major road issues to speak of” on the island.

Other islands impacted by Hurricane Omar have not fared as well as the Federation, however, with Antigua, St. Vincent and Dominica all reporting significant flooding damage that continues to choke vital transportation routes.

You can check out this link for live Hurrican Omar action from THIS GOOGLE VIDEO on the Charlestown Ferry Port!

Safe Travels ~ Becca Briley