Rumble: The fortune we had... (16)
A morning at Oranjestad - Statia (2007).
Showing posts with label Statia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Statia. Show all posts
Rumble: Statia
We had a lovely 35 miles sail from St.Barts to St.Eustatius (or Statia for short), in a broad reach, averaging 7 to 8 knots in a 25 knot wind.
The Dutch settlers arrived here in 1636 and set up sugar and tobacco plantations, but it was the trade which made the island flourish in the eighteenth century. At that time, over 3,500 ships would visit Statia every year, trading in anything the world traded in, then. Slaves, gold, silk, embroideries, weapons, you name it. For a while it was the commercial center of the Caribbean. Even nations at war would trade with eachother here, with one selling to the Statian traders and the enemy buying from the Statians.
By mistake, Statia was the first ever to give an official canon salute to a rebel American ship in 1776, thus indirectly recognizing the United States as a souvereign state. The English were not amused and it is said this salute to an American ship contributed to the English-Dutch war, during which Admiral Rodney occupied and plundered the island. An amusing anecdote was that he could not find much gold, but observed the Dutch-Jewish settlers sure held a lot of funerals. On Rodney's orders, one of the coffins was opened and they found it was full of gold and valuables: the settlers were burying their valuables. Rodney confiscated all of the treasures on his personal account, and was almost court-martialed for this theft, were it not that at that time, he won a sea battle near Les Saintes, off Guadeloupe. And he was pardoned for his theft.
When he exiled the Jewish settlers to neighbouring St.Kitts, he got suspicous again and had the coats of the prisoners examined. Once again, he found their coats were stuffed with gold...
There is only one main village on Statia: Oranjestad, whose lower town used to be the main trading post of the Caribbean, before it eroded and was washed away by hurricanes. In the pictures, you clearly see the dominant volcano, Upper Oranjestad and the lower town, below the cliff. Some walls of the old town can still be seen underwater, just 20-30 meters from the shore, making it an excellent diving and snorkeling area.
Statia is off the beaten track for the tourists. Most come here for the diving, but for the rest, there is not much to do. It is a very laid back island. Very, very laid back. The first evening we were here, we asked which fresh fish they had, and the answer was: "None. All is frozen". We did not think much of it, until the next 
evening, we asked for fresh fish in another restaurant. Once again, the answer was: "None, all frozen". "But how come", we asked, "there is plenty of fish in the ocean here?". The expat waiter sighed and asked "How long have you been on the island, sir?". "Two days". "And in those two days, have you seen any of the fishermen on the water?", the waiter asked. "No", we said. "Right", was the answer, "To fish means to 
work. There is a saying here: 'If you see someone working in Statia, he ain't from here'. So rather than fishing, the people here prefer to import their fish frozen from St.Martin.". Go figure.
And somewhere this attitude reflected on the island as a whole. In a positive way: there is no crime, people just go about their business, they are friendly (the more for us, as we speak Dutch!). But also in a negative way: What could have been made into a nice marina, the harbour was just a pile of rocks and a short pier for the tugboats working on the oil tankers. Once you step off the pier, you see rubbish and junk everywhere. People said plastic bags are the island's state flower, as you used to see them flying off the trees everywhere. Once again, a pity.. An island paradise with a lot of junk. Still you could see some beautiful houses. In the end, every island in the Caribbean has its own charm.
The Dutch settlers arrived here in 1636 and set up sugar and tobacco plantations, but it was the trade which made the island flourish in the eighteenth century. At that time, over 3,500 ships would visit Statia every year, trading in anything the world traded in, then. Slaves, gold, silk, embroideries, weapons, you name it. For a while it was the commercial center of the Caribbean. Even nations at war would trade with eachother here, with one selling to the Statian traders and the enemy buying from the Statians.
By mistake, Statia was the first ever to give an official canon salute to a rebel American ship in 1776, thus indirectly recognizing the United States as a souvereign state. The English were not amused and it is said this salute to an American ship contributed to the English-Dutch war, during which Admiral Rodney occupied and plundered the island. An amusing anecdote was that he could not find much gold, but observed the Dutch-Jewish settlers sure held a lot of funerals. On Rodney's orders, one of the coffins was opened and they found it was full of gold and valuables: the settlers were burying their valuables. Rodney confiscated all of the treasures on his personal account, and was almost court-martialed for this theft, were it not that at that time, he won a sea battle near Les Saintes, off Guadeloupe. And he was pardoned for his theft.
When he exiled the Jewish settlers to neighbouring St.Kitts, he got suspicous again and had the coats of the prisoners examined. Once again, he found their coats were stuffed with gold...
There is only one main village on Statia: Oranjestad, whose lower town used to be the main trading post of the Caribbean, before it eroded and was washed away by hurricanes. In the pictures, you clearly see the dominant volcano, Upper Oranjestad and the lower town, below the cliff. Some walls of the old town can still be seen underwater, just 20-30 meters from the shore, making it an excellent diving and snorkeling area.
Statia is off the beaten track for the tourists. Most come here for the diving, but for the rest, there is not much to do. It is a very laid back island. Very, very laid back. The first evening we were here, we asked which fresh fish they had, and the answer was: "None. All is frozen". We did not think much of it, until the next evening, we asked for fresh fish in another restaurant. Once again, the answer was: "None, all frozen". "But how come", we asked, "there is plenty of fish in the ocean here?". The expat waiter sighed and asked "How long have you been on the island, sir?". "Two days". "And in those two days, have you seen any of the fishermen on the water?", the waiter asked. "No", we said. "Right", was the answer, "To fish means to work. There is a saying here: 'If you see someone working in Statia, he ain't from here'. So rather than fishing, the people here prefer to import their fish frozen from St.Martin.". Go figure.And somewhere this attitude reflected on the island as a whole. In a positive way: there is no crime, people just go about their business, they are friendly (the more for us, as we speak Dutch!). But also in a negative way: What could have been made into a nice marina, the harbour was just a pile of rocks and a short pier for the tugboats working on the oil tankers. Once you step off the pier, you see rubbish and junk everywhere. People said plastic bags are the island's state flower, as you used to see them flying off the trees everywhere. Once again, a pity.. An island paradise with a lot of junk. Still you could see some beautiful houses. In the end, every island in the Caribbean has its own charm.
Rumble: One Month in the Caribbean
I marked the area we travelled to this year with a red frame:
Zoomed in a bit: 
In the next posts, I want to give my impression of the different islands we visited this year.
Here is a summary of our trip: We flew via Paris to St.Martin (or Sint Maarten as the Dutch call it), and stayed for a few days in a quiet and nice resort. Then we sailed with a bareboat charter to Anguilla. Sailed and drove around the island for a week, and then sailed to St.Barthelemy (or St.Barth for short). Sailed and drove around there for a few days, and continued to Eustatia (or Statia as it is called more commonly). Continued a few days later to St.Kitts (or Sint Christopher, but nobody calls it by that name anymore), to return back to St.Martin via St.Barth's.
We ended the holiday with a few more days in the Esmeralda resort in St.Martin before flying back home.
All in all, one month, of which three weeks sailing. For the sailing buffs amongst you:
Above is the GPS track. We sailed nice and easy, as the purpose is holiday-ing, and sailing is the mere means.. I already had my pure sailing fun 6 months ago when we sailed from the UK to the Canaries, onwards transatlantic to St.Lucia and onwards to the BVI, as you can read in previous posts...
Nevertheless, we still ended up sailing about 190 nautical miles (appr. 340 km). The weather was really great, with only occasional showers and a minor storm (a 'tropical wave' it is called there). The winds were steady trade winds, with an average of 15-20 knots coming mainly from the East, so most sailing trips between the islands were a comfortable reach. The swells were about 2 meters in average, though on our last leg, we were exposed to the Atlantic swell pushing nice long waves of about 3 meters high, in a 25 knots winds under our keel.
Our boat was a 36ft mono-keel, chartered from The Moorings, called "Berengere".. And yep, that gave us a lot of questions in the English speaking islands 'how do you spell that?', 'what does it mean'. Well, it is the first name of the wife of the owner.. Would have been easier if she was called 'Judy' or 'Ann', or something. Anyway... She was not the fastest to sail. The foresail was only a 110% genua, and the boat itself is mainly made for cruising. Still, we did a comfortable 6-7 knots in most passages, and had one trip averaged 8 knots in 25 knots wind 60 degrees off. The GPS said we peaked 14 knots, but I guess that was when we picked up a wave and surfed off it.
The main concern going to the Caribbean in July and August are the hurricanes, even though it is only the beginning of the hurricane season. Still we prefer July/August to the (safer) winter time as 1/ the weather is not that much different 2/ there are far fewer tourists 3/ everything is much cheaper.
We had the tail of one hurricane, and a direct hit of another when sailing in the more Southern part of the Caribbean two years ago. Last year, a really nasty tropical wave hit us in the Virgin Islands. This year, we were spared from all of the nasty stuff. It hardly rained, and if it did, it was for just a few minutes. Phew... Always a worry when sailing with the family, especially as I am the only 'sailor' on board. Tine and the kids enjoy being on the water, but are not particularly experienced sailors.. So it is always a bit of a worry 'if something would happen to me'. So we're extra careful not to take any risks...
All in all, it went well. In the next posts, I will write a bit about the individual islands we visited. A closing picture of our boat anchored in Road Port, Anguilla.
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Peter. Flemish, European, aid worker, expeditioner, sailor, traveller, husband, father, friend, nutcase. Not necessarily in that order.
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