SEA BEAR

 

A sailing blog about a skipper and his yacht

Statia Craziness 5th-6th April

by | Apr 12, 2015 | Voyage Logs

The morning I left St Kitts, Terry came aboard, gave me a St Kitts cap and a book, and we motored, it being calm, the 2 miles to Frigate Bay where we anchored. Terry thought I should experience a breakfast at Shiggy Shack, so we went ashore and had the full monty, that is full English breakfast. Seemed a bit incongruous eating a full breakfast on a Caribbean beach, was my first cooked breakfast for maybe 8 months and I haven’t missed them but this was nice for a change and proper set me up for the day. Back at the boat I had a gentle breeze so made sail northwards along the St Kitts coastline. I’ll go back some day to see more of this lovely island. Departing from the northern tip we had calm for a while but then the breeze was back and the shortish passage to Statia was made. The proper name for the island is St Eustatius but the locals call it Statia. Arriving of Oranjestad, the main town and port I anchored off the beach. It seemed that Easter holidays were in full swing as lined along the beach under the cliffs were sound systems, bands, barbecues, kids on the beach. They certainly like their partying do the Statians. Ashore next day all seemed to be shut up, the Port Office, the National Park Office so I couldn’t complete formalities. I decided to walk up the volcano, called the Quill which dominates the town, you are supposed to buy a hiking permit but as the offices were shut I decided to go anyway. The way up from the old town, situated on a narrow strip between the beach and the cliffs, mostly destroyed since its heyday in the 18th century, was up the old paved slave road which led from the beach up to the old slave market on top of the cliffs. One wonders what would lead western society to treat Africans in this way, and we called ourselves civilised.!!!! Passing through the outskirts of the town there was a huge tortoise in someones front garden, must have been a foot and a half long. Higher the track led through woodland, here were purple clawed hermit crabs, they used large snail shells for homes. We are used to thinking of crabs as seaside creatures not 800 ft up a mountain. Arriving at the crater rim you could look down into the crater itself which is full of forest, silk cotton trees and strangler f The morning I left St Kitts Terry came aboard, gave me a St Kitts cap and a book, and we motored, it being calm, the 2 miles to Frigate Bay where we anchored. Terry thought I should experience a breakfast at Shiggy Shack, so we went ashore and had the full monty, that is full English breakfast. Seemed a bit incongruous eating a full breakfast on a Caribbean beach, was my first cooked breakfast for maybe 8 months and I haven’t missed them but this was nice for a change and proper set me up for the day. Back at the boat I had a gentle breeze so made sail northwards along the St Kitts coastline. I’ll go back some day to see more of this lovely island. Departing from the northern tip we had calm for a while but then the breeze was back and the shortish passage to Statia was made. The proper name for the island is St Eustatius but the locals call it Statia. Arriving of Oranjestad, the main town and port I anchored off the beach. It seemed that Easter holidays were in full swing as lined along the beach under the cliffs were sound systems, bands, barbecues, kids on the beach. They certainly like their partying do the Statians. Ashore next day all seemed to be shut up, the Port Office, the National Park Office so I couldn’t complete formalities. I decided to walk up the volcano, called the Quill which dominates the town, you are supposed to buy a hiking permit but as the offices were shut I decided to go anyway. The way up from the old town, situated on a narrow strip between the beach and the cliffs, mostly destroyed since its heyday in the 18th century, was up the old paved slave road which led from the beach up to the old slave market on top of the cliffs. One wonders what would lead western society to treat Africans in this way, and we called ourselves civilised.!!!! Passing through the outskirts of the town there was a huge tortoise in someones front garden, must have been a foot and a half long. Higher the track led through woodland, here were purple clawed hermit crabs, they used large snail shells for homes. We are used to thinking of crabs as seaside creatures not 800 ft up a mountain. Arriving at the crater rim you could look down into the crater itself which is full of forest, silk cotton trees and strangler figs. Here too was a feral rooster and feral chickens, one rooster followed me to the rim, quite a bold beast would eat out of your hand. I went some down into the crater but the thought of the climb back out deterred me from going to far, beside I had left my full water bottle on the boat and was feeling a little parched.There were lots of little geckos too but I did not spot one of the Statia iguanas. Back at the beach the party was just warming up again and in the evening things were really hopping. The sound systems all blaring out vying with the bands and the motor bike boys revving their 1000cc bikes up to the full. Mind you there are not that many roads for a burn up on an island that is 4 miles long and 2 mile wide. Crazy crazy Statia, a lovely gem of an island. igs. Here too was a feral rooster and feral chickens, one rooster followed me to the rim, quite a bold beast would eat out of your hand. I went some down into the crater but the thought of the climb back out deterred me from going to far, beside I had left my full water bottle on the boat and was feeling a little parched.There were lots of little geckos too but I did not spot one of the Statia iguanas. Back at the beach the party was just warming up again and in the evening things were really hopping. The sound systems all blaring out vying with the bands and the motor bike boys revving their 1000cc bikes up to the full. Mind you there are not that many roads for a burn up on an island that is 4 miles long and 2 mile wide. Crazy crazy Statia, a lovely gem of an island.

Anchorage at Statia

Anchorage at Statia

Purple clawed Hermit crab

Purple clawed Hermit crab

Quill Crater

Quill Crater

108-rooster

Rooster

 

113-gecko

Gecko

 

Beach Party

Beach Party

Recent Posts.