Statia

After bypassing Statia for years, we finally made a stop here to see the island. Officially, it's St Eustatius, also referred to as "The Golden Rock" for it's unique position as a center of commerce in the 1700's. Nations that were forbidden to trade directly with each other conducted business through this tiny island and when we visited Fort Oranje we learned that there might be a few hundred ships anchored out in the harbor all at once waiting to load or offload goods. I sincerely hope that the hundreds of ships anchored here back in those days did not experience the same roll coming in that we did in the few days we were here! It helped that we spent the days off the boat, but nights were pretty rough. 

VERY rolly anchorage in Statia

Fort Oranje with Saba in the distance

Fort Oranje is the historic centerpiece of Statia's capital, Oranjestad - it's a well restored 17th century fort with killer views and a gorgeous mango tree in the center. The guide there asked us where we were from and when Skip told him we'd come by boat from Rhode Island, his eyes widened and he said "Holy s***, that's a long way." Funny!

Statia is home to a large oil transfer and storage facility, and while we were there at least a dozen or so tankers were either anchored out waiting their turn, or at the dock loading or offloading their crude oil. Powerful tugboats and pilot boats zoomed around the harbor to help move the tankers, creating wakes that added an entirely different dimension to the already present roll in the anchorage. Busy spot. 

Tankers and sailboats coexist in Statia's harbor

Loading/offloading?

Storage tanks on Signal Hill at the island's north end

The same guide that was surprised at the distance we'd traveled by boat, told us proudly that Statia was the first to recognize the sovereignty of the new American colonies. In 1776 when the Andrew Doria, an American ship that had come to Statia to purchase weapons to be used in the Revolutionary War, fired a 13 gun salute (one shot for each colony), the governor of Statia fired a return salute, thus officially recognizing the sovereignty of our new country. We could spend ages here just absorbing the history of the island, but we wanted to wander the streets to see the old architecture and wander the trails to take in Statia's natural beauty too.

A little piece of Statia for sale

Statia architecture

The building with green shutters is the office the Statia Monument Restoration group.... made up of one very dedicated and knowledgeable young Statian man.

Cemetery overlooking the harbor

We started off early one gorgeous morning to hike The Quill, the dormant volcano that occupies the entire southeast end of the island.

Walking up the old slave road early in the morning

A long way from NY

Um... start here?

Hot and sweaty, and only half way up the trail

Oddly, this chicken was at the top of the trail where we stopped to look down into the crater

Who's photobombing here? Skip or the chicken?

The chicken was unusually friendly - and was happy to accept whatever snacks and water we offered

Sodas with fun swizzles at a local cafe - refreshing after our sweaty hike

As in Nevis, there was a small Jewish population in Statia and we walked up to see the remains of the old synagogue which was called Honen Dalim, meaning "she who is charitable to the poor". It was built with yellow bricks that were used as ballast in some of the trading ships that came to the island.

Ruins of the old synagogue

Standing inside the synagogue, imagining the small congregation that met here back in the early 1700's

There was also a Jewish cemetery that we looked and looked and looked for, but never did find. We got some interesting directions to it though.... one guy told us to take a right at the corner by the 'talking place' and then turn up a dirt path. The 'talking place'? "Yes," he said impatiently, "the place where everyone goes and talks." "Oh, the talking place. Thanks!" we said, as if we knew what he meant, and wandered off still confused. Sure enough, we came across a corner with old rugs covering patches of dirt, and tattered sofas and chairs strewn about with a few people sitting on them.... talking. So we found the talking place, but never found the cemetery.

We loved this little island but the roll in the anchorage was too much to take so we said our goodbyes to Statia and sailed for St Martin.

Getting a rare cloud free look at Saba's peak off our port side

We've been in St Martin for a few weeks now but the wifi here is so random and unreliable that another blog post will just have to wait. Next stop.... the BVI?