Nevis Hot Springs
🇰🇳Nevis

Nevis Hot Springs – Where to Bathe to Cure What Ails You

The Nevis Hot Springs have provided a natural way to cure whatever ails you for generations. Lucky for the wife…

Of Caribbean Adventures and Bites

Traveling the Uncommon Caribbean way is always fun, sometimes sexy, and quite often thrilling, but there can be a few drawbacks. One of the big ones: bites. The wayward angry shark or over-sauced harlot aside, I’m talking here about insect bites.

Mosquitoes are the most notorious offenders, of course. Gnats, no-see-ums, sand flies, or anything else you want to call these miniature menaces from Hell, though, are WAY worse in my book. Red ants can be a problem too, as my wife was reminded of on a recent trip to Nevis.

It was our first full day on the island. A bright, shining sun lay overhead, its heat-tempered lovingly by a gentle sea breeze. We had just finished a fantastic breakfast at the equally fantastic Nisbet Plantation and were heading back to our bungalow in advance of striking out to tour the island.

Along the way, we stumbled off the main path to check out some exotic-looking wildflowers. No sooner had we stopped, though, than the wife started hopping and crying over a vicious attack perpetrated by a few red ants.

That’s right, there were only two or three of ’em, but they definitely had a serious ax to grind with mankind. A red ant bite is not a pleasant thing to receive anywhere on your person. When they go for your feet, though, you know they’re just plain mean. Crazed, even!

Thankfully, the ants only got her in a handful of spots. Her discomfort, though, was plainly evident throughout our island tour. At varying stops she applied aloe, took Advil, and even poured rum on the bites. Nothing worked.

The Nevis Hot Springs

Then, we arrived at the odd little shelters pictured above. Beneath the roof is a super steaming-hot, nicely tiled pool of spring water warmed by the island’s volcano. Our guide, Calvin Klein (seriously, that’s his name!) told us that locals bathe at the pools regularly as the ultra-warm waters have therapeutic healing powers. History shows they’re not the only ones who’ve felt this way.

Nevis Hot Springs warning sign
This sign above the pool could use an extra line or two about nudity…

The pools are part of a larger estate known as the Bath Hotel and Spring House. Originally built in 1778, the Bath Hotel is reputed to be the first hotel ever built in the Caribbean. There’s no vacancy at these historical sites these days, The Bath stopped welcoming guests in 1940. In its heyday, though, it was among the world’s most prominent playgrounds for the rich and famous. The thing that drew such a distinguished crowd: the hot spring baths.

The spring water, which gets up to 108°F, is said to contain minerals of medicinal value with some claiming that bathing here cured them of rheumatism, gout, and other chronic illnesses. Aristocrats, noblemen, and other dignitaries would sail to Nevis from other islands, mainland USA, and even as far away as Europe to avail themselves of these magical waters.

As Calvin Klein noted, these days you mostly encounter locals here. He also had a warning: this place is not for the squeamish.

It’s not uncommon for folks to bathe here completely buck-naked. Never mind that the main road passes a few yards away and it’s quite an open and public place. Nevisians do their thing here every day as they’ve done for centuries.

So, of course, we did too.

Trying to take a dip for ourselves

That is to say, we went and tried to enter one of the pools while keeping most of our clothes on. True to Calvin’s word, though, full-frontal nudity was observed. That, however, was not what kept us from fully entering the pool. Instead, the main deterrent was heat.

That water was too damn hot for us to enter beyond our knees! Meanwhile, local Nevisians splashed around in it like it was a lukewarm bathtub.

Everyone professed to the healing power of the hot springs with one elderly lady saying that she bathes there twice each day and has never been sick. I might not have believed her except that immediately upon exiting the water my wife noted that her painfully itchy red ant bites weren’t bothering her anymore. The redness, itching, and swelling that defied all other treatments that day was no match for the volcano.

If you’ve got an ailment that nothing seems to solve, a trip to the Bath Hotel and Spring House might be worth a shot. Even if it doesn’t work, you’ll be in Nevis, which in and of itself provides a great deal of solace.

Last updated by Steve Bennett on .

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