A Day in Port: St. Eustatius
It’s one of those insider’s favorites — the intimate Dutch island of St. Eustatius, widely known by its nickname, Statia. You may have blinked and missed it — it’s just two miles wide and five miles long and located about 38 miles south of St. Maarten. With only 2,700 residents, Statia has a dignified “old Caribbean” charm long gone at other islands awash in chain restaurants, cruise ships and casinos.
If you love diving and history, this is a place to revel in both. In fact, Fodor’s Choice recently named Statia’s diving as one of the top ten unforgettable travel experiences. It’s likely to remain that way, thanks to STENAPA, the St. Eustatius National Park Foundation, which manages a protected Marine Park around the island.
While cruising near Saba, Nevis, or St. Kitts you’re in the neighborhood. Pull into Oranjestad Bay on the island’s east side and look for yellow mooring balls installed and maintained by the Marine Park (VHF 17.) The mooring fee for an overnight stay is $10 and you can search on the dock inside a breakwater for the harbormaster (VHF 16) to clear customs. You now need a passport to visit Statia.
How to arrive without a boat? Winair serves the island from St. Maarten daily, and Caribbean Sun Airlines began offering 8 flights a week from Puerto Rico, some with St. Kitts stopovers, in November 2006 aboard 37-seat aircraft.
Tourist facilities are affordable and English is spoken everywhere. There are a handful of small hotels like the 18th century Old Gin House with 20 rooms and a bar/restaurant facing the sea. (www.oldginhouse.com). Or inquire about availability of Two Kerkweg, a two-bedroom gingerbread-trimmed 18th century merchant’s home in the center of Upper Town. Its back yard has a sea view and borders Fort Oranje, a key historic site. (www.vrbo.com/46747) or kerkweg@hotmail.com.
There are several pleasant restaurants along the waterfront, with lunches priced around $5 to $12 per person and dinners higher, and others including Chinese restaurants around the island. A good value is the Ocean View Terrace across from the fort, open for lunch and dinner with entrees around $7.
Credit cards are widely accepted (but ask first) along with U.S. dollars, and small bills are handiest. There are grocery stores for provisioning up at the top of the cliff (Upper Town) but be forewarned that many, owned by Seventh Day Adventists, are closed on Saturdays. Rent a car or scooter to get around—gas is about $5 a gallon—or use taxis and fix the rate before setting off. Internet access is available at the public library in Oranjestad. There is a hospital and even a medical school here.
Also at the top of the cliff is Fort Oranje, built by the French in 1629. Statia changed hands repeatedly from the time Columbus spotted it in 1493 and became a Dutch possession by 1636. Though hard to imagine it now, in the 17th and 18th centuries, this tiny place was a major free port trading center with 20,000 inhabitants and a harbor full of ships—it became known as “The Golden Rock.”
For a while Statia was the only link between Europe and the young American colonies, and Lower Town’s warehouses were full of food, arms, and ammunition for George Washington’s army. On November 16, 1776, an American Brig-of-War called the Andrew Doria sailed into the harbor and fired a 13-gun salute announcing independence. The governor replied with an 11-gun salute from the canons at Fort Oranje—the first official recognition by a foreign nation of the new U.S.A. —and the date is now a major Statia holiday.
The British were not amused by Statia’s tide-turning help to the Americans and Admiral Lord George Rodney swooped in to capture, pillage, and raze the island. The Dutch regained possession within a few years but the glory days of commerce had ended.
A quaint Historical Foundation Museum near the fort is well worth its $2 admission fee. Old maps, artifacts, and furnished 18th century period rooms are on display—there’s even a pre-Columbian Indian skeleton in the basement. One room displays photos of American President Franklin D. Roosevelt who is a local hero — the airport is even named after him. It seems he was so touched by Statia’s role as “America’s childhood friend” that he ordered up a plaque of appreciation.
Be sure to notice the five-sided blue beads in a display case near the museum entrance. People collect these rare tokens while diving or strolling the beach and some have donated their finds for others to inspect. The beads have been traced by scholars to one glass factory in 17th century Amsterdam and are believed to have been worn by slaves transported from Africa to Statia.
Meanwhile, back down at Lower Town, you can swim from the small, black and tan sand beach and snorkel a few feet from shore around remains of the old warehouses and town wall that tumbled into the sea. Dive Statia, a PADI operator, is close by and can arrange dives to see shipwrecks—their shop displays wine bottles, clay pipes, and other underwater treasures of the past. (www.divestatia.com)
Statia’s not a spot for nightlife. But you’ll turn in early anyway if you snorkel, dive, hike any of the dozen nature trails on the island, or climb The Quill, a 2,000 foot extinct volcano—guided tours are available.
You’ll pay a departure tax of $12 (about half that if you are proceeding to a local destination in the Dutch Caribbean.) But you may not want to leave this low-key charmer when it’s time to go—so come back and stay longer next time.(www.statiatourism.com)
Share Tweet
