Statia

Our Second Volcanic island – Saint Eustatius - Statia

A short run from Saba brought us to Statia as Saint Eustatius is known. 

It is another independent island country under the Dutch umbrella, but one with more level land area than Saba.  Statia has several volcanic structures joined by relatively flat land.  This small island nation has a special relationship with the United States since it was the first to recognize and salute our new country back in 1776? 

Orangested is the main town and has two distinct parts – Upper and Lower. The lower town hugs the edge of the harbor between the water and a prominent cliff. It is joined to the upper town by the ancient slave road as well as a more modern road for vehicles. Along this thin strip of lower town are dive operations, restaurants, and a few hotels as well as the busy harbor where freight is regularly off loaded. 

ruins of lower town recently uncovered

old gin house - hotel

Restored Warehouses

The upper town sprawls up the gentle slope of the volcanic hills. The highlight of the old part of upper town includes a restored fort perched on the cliff over the harbor from which that famous salute was fired to recognize the US ship. This formal salute may have been an unintended action and one that eventually drew the wrath of Great Britain, in the end it forged a long-lasting friendship with the young United States that has persisted over the years. The airport is named after one of the Roosevelts

entrance to old slave road

Statia sees far fewer tourists than many of the islands we have visited. There is a large fuel depot operation which seems to sustain the economy more than the tourism. There are two small hotels in lower town – the boutique Old Gin House Inn and the Orange Hotel.  Both seemed to cater to the divers who kept the two dive operators busy.  Steve was also able to get a dive in and saw the Grand Canyon – reputed to be the best dive site on the island. (Not up to Saba but close!)

Our big excursion on Statia was the hike up the Quill – a part of the national park system on the island. This trail was not as manicured as our hike on Saba, nor was it as steep or as long. (This is probably why far more hikers on this trail than on our hike up Saba.) Steve also ventured down into the crater which Julia’s knees refused to do. The views from the rim were worth the effort as was the walk through the rainforest portion of this volcano in the cloud.

land crabs on the path

down in the crater

A highlight of our walk was meeting Brooks, a lovely lady who offered a lift to the start of the track with a stop to tour her garden.  She is a transplant from Dominica and has a major green thumb.  Interestingly most of her garden is in raised planters or pots – she was transporting soil from the lower areas to enrich her planting medium. 

A few boats did join us in the anchorage each night – we spent a week here – but most only stayed overnight or two days at most.  Why so long in this tiny island country? Well Mother Nature dictates often our schedule and then sometimes it is a problem with the boat.  The anchorages at both Saba and Statia were rolly so we deployed our flopper stopper to ease the roll.  For some reason she took to tangling herself and twisted up enough to bend some of the essential parts resulting in a failure of the flopping blades!  We did not want to leave if we could get repairs done in Statia and also we had a great deal of seven nights in the harbor for a mere $30!  So Steve made several trips to the local hardware store and managed to make friends who had friends in the fuel depot machine shop.  Needless to say, our flopper is back in business thanks to the help of Terry and Steve’s ingenuity.

Since Statia has an easy and handy dinghy dock we managed to visit both parts of town and tried several of the restaurants.  The Harbor Club porch was a favorite for the good eats, breeze and view. They also provided the largest loaf of bread we have ever seen and chocolate croissants. Local food was tasted at Franky’s in upper town – recommended by the dive master.  Iced Cappuccino at Para Mira was a reward for the hike up the old slave road. Statia is not a shopping stop – we found one cute shop in the lower town – more notable for the building in which it was located – twin restored old warehouses put to modern uses. However, a week here flew by away from the more touristy bustle of some of our previous stops. For the laid back authentic Caribbean experiences, we can highly recommend both Saba and Statia.

On to the Volcanoes - SABA

On to the Volcanoes - SABA

Our first stop was the Dutch island of Saba.  Very few cruisers visit here since getting to shore can be challenging as well as finding a comfortable anchorage.  The volcanic island comes straight out of the water giving the residents precious little level land and almost zero on the calmer lee side. For hundreds of years cargo had to be ferried to shore in small boats on the rare calm days and then carried up the steep “ladder” steps carved into the hillside. 

We caught a mooring just off this ladder but fortunately nowadays there is a tiny harbor on the south-side with some protection from the surge where the dinghy, ferries and cargo ships can safely dock.  

Much of the water around this steep volcanic island is a protected marine preserve.  Diving here is controlled and must be done with one of the local dive shops.  We lucked into some relatively calm winds and Steve arranged to be picked up for a couple dives.  Since most of the good dive sites are on the lee side, Steve did not have to make the relatively rough run into the harbor, the dive boat picked him up from our mooring!   Steve reports that the pinnacles here are the best diving he has done in the Caribbean. These tall structures are alive with fish and the corals were spared the damage from recent hurricanes.

We did brave the longish, damp dinghy ride to the Fort Bay dock for a tour and hike.  The killer hike is not long in miles but steep – over 1000 stairs – to reach the 2800+ peak. Fortunately, with our hiking sticks to help, we made the 3 hour round trip and returned for lunch and pastries at the Busy B shop in Windwardside.  

The island has two main towns – the Bottom and Windwardside. The Bottom is a steep run up from the docks at Fort Bay and is the first hint of the charm to be found here on Saba.  By law, all buildings on Saba are painted white with green trim and have red roofs. This creates unique and pleasing views from the twisty road. 

This is “The Road Which Could Not Be Built”. For hundreds of years there were only tracks on Saba connecting the villagers here. Back in the mid-1900s engineers from the Netherlands told the residents that a road could not be built for them.  However, one resident, Joseph Lambee Hassel, did not take that answer and taught himself the engineering skills needed to build a road for Saba. Today it is THE ROAD which still twists and turns as it winds around the steep sides of Mt Scenery. 

These intrepid islanders also built an airport when again the Dutch thought it not possible, so today Saba has both a road and an airstrip. The population is small here but the people were very friendly and we enjoyed our road tour with Cornelius and his Cool Cab.

Although scenic beaches are rare here, excellent hiking paths offer endless (if sometimes strenuous) entertainment.  There is also a large medical university in the Bottom which brings students from all over the world to study here on this charming island.

Many years ago, one resident brought the art of lace making back from a trip to Venezuela and taught it to her friends.  So, we had to visit the shop selling their lace to support this beautiful island industry.

We also heard that a new breakwater is in the works which sadly may make this another stop for the massive cruise ships which dump tourists by the thousands on so many of these islands. 

For now, Saba is a remote and special place enjoyed by locals, visited by only very small ships, tourists who stay in the small resorts, and the expat retirees who have discovered this island paradise.

Evidence of our track here and why moorings are helpful

Ahhhh Saint Barthelemy

Ahhhh Saint Barthelemy

Our next stop was Saint Barthelemy, better known as St Barts. We spent a night off Ile Fourchue a private island whose waters are part of the St Barts marine park.  Moorings there are free and limited access to shore for hiking is possible.  Steve also checked out the likely reef but found it damaged by the hurricanes of 2017.  

St Barts has a reputation for being a playground of the rich and is indeed a luxury shopping paradise, but yet we found it welcoming and a great people watching feast.  From our anchorage in the outer harbor we watched the Big Boy yachts, smaller sailing vessels and the occasional cruise ship. Being a French Island, things to eat were delicious and readily available plus the clearing in process organized and efficient.  We did pay a fee to anchor in the harbor area, but this small fee was well worth the access to the sights as well as the abundant and well-maintained dinghy docks. 

Even though the island was hit hard by the hurricanes of 2017, little evidence remains.  The main city of Gustavia which clusters around the harbor is fully recovered with fresh paint and new red roofs. A walking tour brochure was provided for our enjoyment and edification. We made almost all the stops but detoured from the last – the lighthouse – in favor of a breakfast stop at the boulangerie. Since hills were involved in our walk, we felt the indulgence had been earned. 

Before leaving St Barts we moved the boat to the lovely bay Columbier at the north end for another night on a park mooring.  Again, Steve was disappointed in the coral, but we met a German couple who came to visit since they had seen on our blog that we had done the loop. We spent an afternoon brainstorming loop options for them with their 7-foot draft sailing vessel.  They also shared their adventures in the Caribbean over the last few months – plus their journey across the Atlantic! Given their level of advanced planning and experience, they will surely have a great loop trip as well. On to the volcano islands.

The Martins(Maarten)

The Martins/Maarten

A little like landing in paradise and returning to a more familiar cruising world – we dropped our anchor in Marigot Bay in French Saint Martin about 17 hours after leaving Virgin Gorda.  Since we are a SLOW trawler – to cover the 95 miles from the mooring field off Spanish Town where we cleared out of the British Virgins to St Martin’s Marigot Bay, we needed to travel at night.  This allowed us to both leave and arrive with good light.

First a couple words about that clearing in and out process.  Fortunately, in the USA we now have a very easy process that uses an APP called ROAM. So, go into the US territories of Puerto Rico and the US Virgins is easy.  The British Virgins, however, require a face to face stop at one of the limited locations that they staff for very limited hours each day to complete the paperwork and pay the appropriate fees. Clearing out is necessary both for the BVI and also since often the next country may require this paperwork to process clearing in! So, Steve made a run in to see the officials at the office in Spanish Town to get our paperwork in order, then he came back to take a short nap before we headed out.

The weather did mostly cooperate. It was not flat, but given our easterly heading against the prevailing current and winds, we were glad to see moderate seas that even flattened a bit as the night went on.  Although we did not see much traffic, we were by no means alone.  At least three big (1000ft plus) cruise ships passed us heading west and a couple joined us for the last hours heading east. Happily, they are well lite up and are visible more than ten miles away. All the cruise ship traffic should have foreshadowed the crowds on some of these islands!)

Arrival in Marigot Bay is straight forward – even in this busy harbor, it is easy to find a spot to drop the hook. There are no obstacles to avoid so navigation is not tricky – a welcome relief after traveling overnight.  Even taking shifts – we are a little sleep deprived on arrival, so our first activity is usually a nap!

Second on the agenda was to officially clear into St Martin.  We dinked into the shore and walked to the Island Water World store to use their computer to complete the paperwork for a $2 fee.  The most difficult part was finding the correct place names in French from the drop-down menu.  Of course, after a few struggles, Steve pointed out the clearly posted BOLD cheat sheet in English, which my sleep deprived brain missed. (who knew that the French for BVI was Virgenes Angeleter?) What is not to love about all things French? Lunch to feed our hungry stomachs was in a chic lagoon side eatery called “Enjoy”. We could have been anywhere in the south of France with the attention to quality and presentation. Then there was a walk through the Super U grocery store with a vast selection of wines, cheeses and all manner of delicacies to tempt our appetites. (A good place to go on a full stomach) Quite a change from the basic choices in beach hot spots of the BVI more interested in selling rum drinks than food.

One of our excursions in St Martin was the monthly nautical flea market. While the wide variety of offerings contained nothing on our list, I was able to get a haircut complete with an Irish Coffee.

The ruins of Fort Louis overlook the harbor and made a nice walk to work off the obligatory stops at the bakery. While the “market” along the dock seemed full of imported touristy items for the cruise ship mobs, it did provide a colorful accent to balance the sad destruction of much of the old part of Marigot.  This area took a direct hit in 2017 and suffered extensive damage much of which has yet to be repaired. 

Moving around to the south side of the island we headed to the Dutch territory and checked in to Sint Maarten. Here the repairs were well advanced and only a few reminders of the hurricanes remained. Although we had visited the Island Water World store on the French side, we also stopped at the main showroom on the Dutch side.  This plus the Budget Marine store rival any marine store we have ever visited explaining why many mega yachts spend a good part of the season in this harbor and several good yards do excellent repair work. 

anchored off Simpson - a mega, mega yacht

We anchored in Simpson Bay which was fortunately calm in the northerly winds and explored by dink the famous Lagoon, of course finding more bakeries and grocery stores.

However, seeing some calm weather we headed over to our next country!

passing the cruise ships on our departure.....