Oualie Beach Resort takes second place in the Caribbean Rum Punch Festival's competition in collaboration with Restaurant Week!

After making it into the top six of all competitors from Saint Kitts and Nevis, it placed second in the final held at Spice Mill on Sunday, July 28, 2019.

Come taste our award winning rum punch recipe for yourself!

St. Kitts and Nevis is a small Caribbean island country in the Caribbean Sea, located between Antigua and St. Maarten. Its lush landscape is dominated in the island's center by Mount Liamuiga, a long-extinct volcano. The shoreline ranges from steep cliffs to fine white sandy Caribbean and curious black volcanic sand, while the lush rainforest is rich in tropical flora and fauna. Old plantation houses, beautiful beaches, lush vegetation, and historic towns like the capital Basseterre make a visit to St. Kitts and Nevis a true delight.

According to a recent report published by UNICEF in 2017, 26% of school-age children in St Kitts and Nevis were obese.
Unhealthy diet has played a vital role in children’s obesity.
 
As a result, the Health Promotion Unit has launched the MyHealthyPlate campaign at all primary schools on Nevis.
This program has taught children how make healthy lifestyle choices. Children have learned about food groups and portion sizes during the first term.
We will also measure their BMI (height and weight) and see how this will change over 3 years starting with Grade 4 students.
 
To reinforce these lessons, the Health Promotion Unit is going to host MyHealthyPlate Junior Chef Competition on 15 April 2019.   
Taiwan ICDF (International Cooperation and Development Fund) has also shown their strong support towards this important initiative with funds. 
 
The MyHealthyPlate Junior Chef Competition will be the very first kids cooking contest in Nevis.
Two students along with a parent from Grade 4 of each school will enter this cooking competition to make a healthy delicious meal on the spot (similar to the televised MasterChef Junior). 
The aim of the competition is to see how the MyHealthyPlate sessions have inspired families to prepare healthier meals at home.
 
We look forward to making this competition into an annual contest in Nevis and encourage more families to pursue a healthy lifestyle.
In the long term, we hope to see this movement not only bring a positive impact to families, but also inspire local businesses and restaurants to create a healthier environment for everyone.

Oualie Beach Resort is proud to offer a prize of two nights stay at the Resort.

Oualie Beach Resort, Nevis The tiny island of Nevis may be best known for its historic plantation inns (and, of course, the Four Seasons), but it’s not without its great little beach hotels. The family-owned retreat has 32 rooms on Nevis’ beautiful Lovers Beach, with the kind of warm hospitality for which the island has become famous.

On December 19th – Oualie Beach Resort was honored by the Ministry of Health with an award recognizing Oualie’s dedication to the Nevis Eye Care Program (NECP).

General Manager Faith Bertie accepted the award at the annual Alexandra Hospital Christmas Program. “For the past 12 years,” she explains, “the Resort has given free accommodation and lodging to volunteer ophthalmologists, optometrists, anesthesiologists, surgical assistants, and other personnel who come from throughout North America to provide preventive screenings for vision impairment, surgeries, and follow-up care for the people of Nevis.”

The NECP was launched in 1996 by Dr. George Bresnick and his wife, Geraldine Hendriksen, following a vacation to Nevis. During their trip, the couple learned about the significant vision health problems facing many of those living on the island: untreated issues like cataracts, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy often led to preventable vision loss, and there was a need for diagnosis and treatment services that did not require travel to St. Kitts or to other countries for care. The Nevis Eye Care Program was born. Bresnick and Hendriksen led the program until 2008, at which point Dr. Raymond Hubbe took over as the program’s director.

By Grace McQuillan

With a quick glance through the pages of a DIY craft book or web page, anyone who has a few empty wine bottles around the house can find countless ways to turn them into something decorative or practical. What might it look like, though, if this kind of recycling and repurposing were initiated on a larger scale, in a place like a restaurant or hotel? Those curious to find out may want to stop by Oualie Beach Restaurant for a meal or drink by the beach.

Reggie Yearwood, older brother of Oualie’s director John, says it all began with ashtrays. The hotel prides itself on its TripAdvisor GreenLeaders Platinum Level award and green practices, so when the bar needed a new batch of ashtrays a few years ago, management’s first instinct was, naturally, to find a way to repurpose something that might otherwise be seen as merely trash.

The bar, it turns out, was the first place Reggie decided to look for material. The empty wine bottles appeared to have a base the perfect size for an ashtray, so he decided to give it a try. Using only a hot wire held in place by a washer on either side of the glass, Reggie cut each bottle and then sanded the rims for a smooth, frosted finish. After seeing how simple this process was, and after much positive feedback from customers about the ashtrays, another question presented itself: rather than being sent away with the plastic and trash each week, could even more glass bottles find a permanent home in the bar and restaurant as functional and attractive items?

The answer was yes. Instead of sourcing new drinking glasses, Oualie Beach decided to turn its attention to replacing all of the glasses used in the dining room and at the bar with ones made from recycled bottles.

As they soon discovered, the rosé bottles’ playful curves worked perfectly for serving Oualie’s smoothies and signature cocktails, and smaller glasses cut from beer bottles or mini sparkling water bottles were just right for serving liqueurs. When you enter the restaurant today, you may see customers sipping a tamarind juice or soft drink from green glasses that represent the dozens and dozens of wine bottles that the hotel has recycled. What about the top of the bottle, you ask? Those are kept and used as votive covers on dining tables and as light fixtures!

The most amusing part of the whole endeavor, John says, is that many people don’t even realize at first that they are drinking out of what used to be a wine bottle, which must be a testament to how attractive the glasses are. In fact, the glasses are growing in popularity, and after numerous requests from guests about how to purchase them, the hotel is looking forward to expanding its recycling efforts to be able to offer this “green” item for sale at the gift shop.