Sint Eustatius? Statia? We don't know.

Oranjestad with volcano in background as seen from our anchorage

We left St. Barth's and came to tiny old Sint Eustatius or maybe it's called Statia - I seriously have no idea. Either way what a lovely island. It's the kind of place where people give you directions like this: "turn left at the barking dogs, not the first barking dogs but the second barking dogs"! It's not the typical Caribbean island of miles of sandy beaches and shallow aqua blue water. The beaches are tiny, grey and few and far between but the rest of the island is so great who cares!?

Town of Oranjestad

Apparently said island has some of the best scuba diving in the world and if our short snorkel is anything to go by I would say that's correct! Just offshore at Oranjestad is the remains of a submerged wall on which a reef has grown and is teeming with fish of every shape, size and stripe.  We finally saw a hawksbill turtle up close who seemed unperturbed by our presence so we got to watch it for quite a while. Of course this is the time I didn't bring the camera!

Museum, Oranjestad

We walked around the town, went to the fort and took in the beautiful views below.

Fort

We went to the local community based museum to learn more about this small but historically important island. As with the rest of the Caribbean it was "discovered" by Columbus (who deemed it unimportant) and settled by white people in the 1600s who proceeded to import slaves from mainly Ghana. The island switched hands from English, to French to Dutch at a dizzying speed. It was so sought after because it has the deepest natural harbour in the Caribbean and it's location is convenient to receive good from Africa and ship to both Europe and America. It's a Dutch island and we learned that since Holland was one of the last countries to abolish slavery, that slaves on this island were held captive for an additional thirty years after every other colony in the Caribbean had abolished slavery! I can't imagine being able to see Saba, St. Martin, and St. Kitts and know that slaves were free there. Apparently a lot of escaped slaves either trekked up to hide out in the crater of the volcano or attempted to swim to St. Kitts and many were successful! The basement of the museum housed a skeleton of a 60 year old man who had a full set of pristine straight teeth - what teeth look like BEFORE the advent of large scale sugarcane farming! After the museum, we went to a tiny Swedish coffee shop and had the best iced coffee ever. James ordered something from the "dessert" section we couldn't pronounce and was described as warm pastry roll with some spiced meat - it was a sausage roll!

It's a volcanic island and in the center is the dormant volcano "The Quill", which is considered by volcanologists to be a "prime example" of a volcano. The thing seriously looks like how a kid would draw a volcano or even mould one out of chicken wire for a science fair: it goes straight up to a conical point with a crater cut out of the top. It's magnificent and we hiked it!

View of the Quill en route to Statia

Considering it's elevation is over 600meters and it's humid as all hell in there I'm pretty impressed with us. We only went to the crater rim and didn't descend into the volcano as the park advises you need a guide and we were only making a quick stop on the island.

Baseball sized hermit crabs

As you hike up the volcano there are huge red hermit crabs who have lost their footing that come barreling down towards you like bowling balls! We even saw an endangered Red Belly Racer snake. After sweating and puffing away to the top of the crater we were rewarded with the serene view of the rainforest growing inside.  The walk up is so peaceful and we were treated to some incredible earthy smells of the remnants of coffee, cocoa, cinnamon, almonds, and other crops that were leftover from farmers farming in and around the crater.

Sweaty hikers

As you ascend there are information boards telling you about the animals and the volcano and in addition to being very informative they gave me a great chance to stop and catch my breath since James didn't seem to be finding the trek particularly strenuous! At the very last information board they spring on you the fact that the forrest has tarantulas!!! WHY save that until you're at the top - that's something I want to know going into the forest not when I'm stuck in the middle!!! And if the presence of tarantulas wasn't enough they tell you all about the Hawk Wasp - the nemesis of the poor old tarantula. The awful wasp, which is about 2 inches long and bright metallic blue, stings the giant spider paralyzing it so it can drag it into its creepy wasp lair. The wasp then precedes to lay an egg inside the alive but paralyzed spider. The egg hatches and the baby wasp eats the tarantula from the inside out and the spider is alive for all of it!!! Sorry but somethings are too gross not to share.  I never thought I would feel sorry for a tarantula. We saw many of said wasp and every time I saw one I was terrified it was going to lay eggs in me!!

Rainforest inside the crater

Now for a feel good story. Checking into customs was a bit of a drawn out process since their hours are nothing like what they post - "island time" is serious. However, us waiting around for customs meant we got to help out a tiny, fluffy baby chicken.  James had gone to shore to check-in while I packed our volcano hike lunch. He returned shortly after he left with the news that yet again customs was closed but that my favourite activity of helping animals was going to replace the check-in. He told me that a baby chick made her way down the steps to the dock but couldn't get back up and became separated from her family. The chick couldn't have been more than a few days old and with all the stray cats and dogs wouldn't have lasted long alone.  When we arrived back at the dock the poor little black fluff ball was just screaming her little lungs out - she was so scared. After James and I spent a few minutes running around after the little thing who tore around the dock with her useless 2 inch wings straight out to the sides I was able to throw a sarong over her. She instantly stopped and became quiet. I gingerly scooped her up and we walked her back to the rest of her siblings and her mamma. I briefly toyed with the idea of having a supply of fresh eggs on the boat but she seemed to really want to make it back to her family. I laid the sarong-wrapped chick on the grass and let the wind blow the sarong off - as soon as her head was clear she began squeaking away again which mamma heard immediately. Our little rescue chick heard her mom and her siblings and both parties ran toward each other as fast as they could - it was absolutely adorable.  Unbeknownst to us a group of burly construction workers had been watching the entire performance and erupted into applause when babe and mom ran toward each other and were reunited! I guess that's our legacy to Statia - one more chicken.

Shore of Oranjestad

"July Tree"

Endangered Red Belly Racer

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous (vs a day in the life of a sailor)

Anse de Columbie 

After St.Martin we sailed a few miles over to the island of St. Barthelemy, another French island. We had only intended to spend a couple of days here but when some strong winds moved in we ended up spending closer to a week. We originally came to a small inlet called Anse de Columbie. A serene nature reserve full of sea turtles and with a lovely beach.

Anse de Columbie

After a few days at Columbie we sailed over to the capital of Gustavia. As you pull into the town of Gustavia you are greeted with a mini Champs-Élsées: Prada, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Hermes, Tiffany's, etc. etc. The town is full of very glamorous people sipping espressos and nibbling expensive treats. Now remember we wear clothing washed by hand, stained with motor oil and marked with sea salt - saying we stuck out like a sore thumb is a massive understatement! There was however, free public showers (maybe they can't stand anyone in their town to be dirty?) and free potable water - hurray! So despite the many looks we returned time and again for a shower and some water. The town even had our favourite grocery store from St. Martin "Super U" so we made the long walk to get some of our new favourites.

View of Gustavia Harbour

On our last visit to the dock in Gustavia we encountered a small problem. We had locked our dingy to the dock with our shiny new rustproof lock and cable we purchased in Puerto Rico. When we returned to the dock with our grocery bags full of food our key got stuck in the lock! Neither of us could get the key in far enough to turn the lock nor get the key out. James thought the best plan was to turn the lock upside down and lean on the key as hard as he could and before I could stop him the key snapped off. It was almost sunset, most shops close in the afternoons, we were WAY to far from the boat to swim back and out of curiosity we had looked online at what hotels were like in the area and there was NO way we were affording a night in a hotel there. Just as I was envisioning us

camping out in our dingy overnight, we both remembered walking past a moped repair shop. We speed walked back and the doors were open! We begged the use of a hand saw from a surly Rasta and came back to the dingy. We cut through the "impenetrable" cable in about 1.5 minutes and no one questioned what we were doing - makes us wonder what's the point locking it to begin with?!? Thank god we found that mechanic otherwise we might still be sleeping on the dock!

We sailed the boat back to the little bay of Anse de Columbie and since we were waiting on weather we decided to explore. We had read about a hike into the next small town of Flamandes. After we clambered to the top of the point overlooking the beach there appeared to be only one path, which we followed. Turns out this was the long way! We spent hours walking up and down very steep hills before reaching the town. The hike was supposed to be less than an hour.

Flamandes beach

Once in Flamandes we found the beach and it was one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen.! The water is crystal clear with every shade of blue and green and the beach is miles of white powder. It was lovely, quiet and unpopulated and for only €800/night you can get the "basic" room at the local hotel. After a nice long swim we began the arduous journey back. We knew there had to be another way - we found some other hikers who pointed us in the right direction. There was a small "path" skirting the edge of the cliff and sure enough within 40mins we were back to our little beach!

View of St.Martin from St. Barth's 

Flammandes beach seen from our hike

Town of Flammandes

Gustavia Harbour

The Accidental Nudist

Marigot Bay, St. Martin

From Anguilla we made the short little 9 nautical mile sail to St. Martin. We anchored in Marigot Bay and spent 5 days exploring the area.  One of the first things we found was a massive French grocery store - we were like kids in a candy shop! Up until now (other than Walmart in Puerto Rico) we have been shopping at tiny, overpriced shops full of tinned goods and some questionable produce which may or may not include a free cockroach. So when we got to this large, air conditioned full-sized grocery store full of inexpensive products shipped in from France we were over the moon! We stocked up on creamy dairy products, big fat brown eggs, fresh and frozen vegetables and fruits, and treats like pickled onions and rhubarb jam. There was a buy one get one free special on cheese so we stocked up in brie, camembert, edam, masdam, blue, gorganzola and swiss. We may have left Puerto Rico with a fridge full of beer but we left St. Martin with a fridge packed full of imported cheeses.

Our favourite patisserie, Sarafina, which we visited everyday!

After a few days in Marigot we headed to Grand Case a few miles away. We did some great snorkelling there and saw the largest Spotted Eagle Ray we have ever seen. The ray was down on the bottom and was kicking up a lot of sand so sadly the pictures aren't very good. It's tail was enormous!

The island is half French and half Dutch and is two different countries. We had read that taking the boat from one country to another can be a bit of a hassle so we decided to ride our bikes to the Dutch side to check it out. It turned into a bit of an epic journey. At first it was nice and flat and we thought by staying on the road closest to sea level we would encounter less hills - we were very wrong. About 40mins in we started hitting some really steep hills and they just didn't stop! My first gear doesn't work and the frames of the folding bikes are too small for either of us to get out of our seats and by hill about 506 I seriously wondered how many seated climbs I had left in me! The biggest rip of is my brakes don't work so I had to ride up the hills and walk down them! We stopped in Simpson Bay for a swim and to rest for a few minutes before continuing on.

Simpson Bay

As we biked near the international airport on the Dutch side we came across a beach bar.

Waiting for the jet

This is where you see all those crazy pictures of jumbo jets passing right over the beach. It has become such a popular attraction that the beach bar lists the flight arrival times!

Exploding Stick Figure

Tourists wait on the beach and spill out over the road to await the jets landing. Despite all the warning signs depicting the blasts from the jets blowing a stick figure to pieces, when we arrived there was a jet due to land in 5 minutes so we figured why not wait and see what all the fuss is about.

Since half of the island is French you don't just get mountains of divine stinky cheese and buttery pastries but you also get nudists! There are several nude beaches in the area and the anchorage is full of people swimming around nude and wandering on deck in their birthday suits. It was so hot and bathing in a swim suit just isn't the same as bathing naked, so as the week progressed I realized how often I was not bothering to put clothes on! I will always remember St. Martin for the great food and as a place where I unintentionally became a nudist. Which makes me think - if we've stopped wearing clothes, why am I constantly doing laundry?!?

Mmmmmm Rotis

Road Bay, Anguilla

All things considered we had a pretty good Anegada Passage. It was a fairly long sail/ motor sail at 30 hours. Right up until the last few hours we still weren't sure if we were going to make landfall at Anguilla or St. Martin as the wind kept shifting. The wind finally declared itself and we headed to Road Bay, Anguilla "The Most Irie Little Island".

We anchored for three nights in Road Bay since there are no fees associated with anchoring there and no cruising permit was required. The anchorage is situated on a long beautiful beach with several beach bars and free showers!!! Which always makes James and I happy ;)

Hammock on Road Bay Beach 

The first day we checked into customs and browsed through a few of the shops then hit up a bar for a Ting (a sparkling grapefruit soda from St. Kitts) and a nice long lounge in a hammock. We then dingyed over to a secluded beach for some sunbathing, reading and swimming.  I blame this extreme state of restfulness on me dropping the anchor pin into the water - oops.

The next day we got out the folding bikes and biked all the way up (ok we might have walked a little) to the main city The Valley. We found a hardware store on the way there and we got a temporary anchor pin so at least we can pin our anchor and be able to leave! We went out for iced coffee then found "The Roti Hut". We have been waiting well 9 months since we started this trip for some roti and this place was worth the wait. We had noticed it on the arduous journey up hill and James said all he heard was the screeching of my breaks when I saw it! It wasn't open when we passed it and we were praying it was open on our way back to the boat and it was!

Delicious Roti's!

The lady who owns it hand grinds the chickpeas for the flour for the roti and it was incredible. We were very happy customers. Next door to the Roti Hut is a fruit and veggie stall and the lady grows all her own veggies - so we happily stocked up. I can honestly say I've never loved bananas, I mean I eat them all the time but I would never say "man bananas are my favourite". That's because I have never had a tree ripened local banana - wow what was that crap I've been eating for 35 years?!?! These were incredible! They didn't even compare to grocery store bananas back home.

While it is a tiny island it's a pretty great island - amazing food, beautiful beaches and very friendly people. We're so glad the wind shifted and blew us to little Anguilla!

Puppy Love 

Beautiful BVIs

Sunset at Virgin Gourda

After beating upwind through square seas yet again we arrived in US Virgin Islands (USVI). We motor sailed to make better time and sailed past St. Thomas and into the more sheltered area of USVI and as soon as we turned in it was like being in a different weather zone completely! The seas level out and the wind direction is constant. We learned this is a serious highlight about sailing in the Virgin Islands - you can actually sail! My experience with sailing has been somewhat intense with bad weather, tricky passages, and long, long journeys between ports. Thus I wondered why chartering a boat you don't know was so popular? Now I see why it's the charter capital of the world - the sailing is so easy it's enjoyable and doesn't feel like such bloody tiring, hard, scary work!

The other great thing about having thousands of boats in the area means you can get any kind of boat service. We were able to get our genoa repaired in the same day thanks to Doyle and the snubber we've been trying to replace since The Bahamas, Goldenhind Chandlery was able to make for the next day! We quickly grew accustomed to having a dingy dock everywhere and having everything catered to people being on a boat! 

The islands are all so close together that we got to do short little sails each day and see most of the islands. We spent one afternoon hiking to the peak of Virgin Gorda and were rewarded with spectacular views and burgers and fries at the top :) 

After our hike and burgers

Views from atop Virgin Gourda

We spent another afternoon snorkelling the caves at Norman's Cay, seeing quite a few fish and getting a good workout with the current against us in every direction. 

One of the other highlights was that we got to meet up with my friend Hayley and her husband Bob and their friends who were chartering a boat for the week. We spent the afternoon clambering around the incredible "Baths" (picture 40ft granite boulders balanced precariously and surrounded by fine white sand) and had dinner on their brand new swanky boat and swapped sailing horror stories!

Hayley & Kate

Inside the Baths

One of the things we liked best about the BVIs was that it finally afforded us an opportunity to relax.

First Americano in months!

We have been covering a lot of ground with no auto-pilot in fairly high winds and rough seas and I don't think we realized how tired we were! While we were still in DR we felt like we had to so much ground to cover and so many degrees of latitude to put behind us before the start of hurricane season that our boat was a total mess, we were eating boring quick meals and motoring all day. BVIs really let us relax, sail and cover short distances. We enjoyed beaches, swimming, walks, snorkelling and beautiful sunsets and feel rejuvenated enough to tackle our last long passage - the Anegada Passage.

The Anegada Passage is known to be rough. There are swells coming in from the Atlantic meeting the opposing swells from the Caribbean and when the two swells collide it's like being on a tilt-a-whirl: the boat pitches and rolls at the same time. Add in strong east winds and it can be a long and uncomfortable passage. We'll wait out a good weather window and then head either to St. Martin or Anguilla depending on wind direction. 

The Baths

How to Tell a Cruising Boat from a Charter - Observations by James

BVI has the perfect recipe for sailors and non-sailors to get on a boat for their vacation. So here’s how to distinguish those fine folks from cruisers like ourselves.

1. Charters are clean (and so are their boats). Getting a weekly or daily freshwater washdown works wonders for boats and people. Cruisers just don't have the same luxury and are often a little stinky and more than a little dirty.
2. Check for skin colour. On charters it's either bright white or bright red! 
3. If there are people at the bow dressed in khakis and polo shirts, it's definitely a charter. These snazzy crew members are paid to drive, moor, and clean the boat, make drinks and snacks, get out and put away the toys, hang up clothing and towels, etc. Cruisers have to do all of this themselves - imagine!
4. If the people on the boat are having showers with fresh water that last longer than 60 seconds, it's most certainly a charter.
5. If every light on the boat is on with no sign of a solar panel - charter.
6. We've noticed that charter boats love to get up close to the attractions like snorkelling or the Baths. In fact they will circle around for ages until that convenient mooring ball is free as though they were looking for the best parking spot to do their Christmas shopping. Cruisers will take what is free, as in $0, even if it's a couple miles out of the way.

All this said, chartering has helped to make BVI into a very convenient and boat-friendly country. It's absolutely beautiful and chartering a boat there would be a splendid alternative to the usual March Break destinations.