And onwards to St. Eustatius

Friday 18 January, leaving Nevis: Leisurely sail to the Dutch island of St. Eustatius.

So much for a relaxing evening, I was up till 1.30am to finish the editing of Nevis video. What a marathon that was!
And while we were waiting for it to render, we browsed through our pilot books and checked PredictWind forecast for the next few days. Which resulted in a change of plan. Instead of going straight to St. Bart’s, we’ll stop first at St. Eustatius (Statia), a Dutch island which lies to the north of St.Kitts. It sounds like an interesting island and we are quite excited to visit it.

We wake up to bright sunshine again, perfect day to start a new adventure! And by 10am we are ready to lift the anchor and head off. Farewell Nevis, we are sad to leave, but there are so many other places to see…
Sails are out almost immediately and we start with a very gentle sail in 10kts of wind. The least wind we’ve had since … I don’t even remember last time we sailed and it wasn’t a blow!

Behind St.Kitts the conditions are very calm so Glen feels brave enough to fly the drone and record Cloudy Bay sailing. This drone seems to have nine lives. How many did we consume already? Two today for sure. As it took off, it so very nearly touched the backstay. And at landing it refused to come close to the boat, because the forward looking sensors kept sensing Cloudy Bay as “an object” and immediately backed off each time we tried to approach. So Glen had to fly it in reverse to be able to land it. I bet even carrier pilots can’t land their planes flying backwards! Even so, it was a rather shaky landing for both the drone and the captain. But the footage was pretty good.

St.Kitts volcano is very clear today, it would have been a brilliant day for a hike to the peak or relax by the pools in Kittitian Hill resort. Two experiences I am quite miffed we missed out on.

As we sail around the back of St.Kitts the wind does its usual: gradually going further and further aft then suddenly sails flap as the new wind comes in from the other side of the volcano and we are hard on the wind for a while until it frees again in the gap between islands.

The south shore of St. Eustatius looms into view with its characteristic shear white limestone cliff on the flank of the volcano. The white rock is former seabed which was pushed up as the volcano rose from the sea.

As we approach Orange Bay on the lee side we start seeing the outline of the town, and same as the previous islands it looks impressive with the volcano in the background.
There are two more sailing boats anchored here in Orange Bay. We drop the anchor next to them in 8m of water and Glen goes for a quick snorkel to check how the anchor is set. Clear sand and well dug in, perfect.
The shoreline looks quite interesting, with few buildings on the water’s edge, that is the Lower Town, and sheer cliff behind them with the upper town at the top.

We dinghy ashore for check in formalities before they close at 4pm. First the Customs office which is in a container, where we fill in hand written forms. For Immigration clearance we’ll have to wait till checkout, as the office is now available only at the airport and we need to announce our departure before hand so that they can send somebody over at the port, and it will be check in & check out done together.
At the Port Authority we pay the harbour fee, $10US/day, then at the Marine Park another $10US/day environmental fee.

Then we are free to wander around. The Lower Town is just few buildings and signs of old ruins. A couple of bars right in the port, Harbour Club as the main restaurant and then The Gin House which stands out by being very nicely restored. It is a small hotel, with a restaurant on the beach, all very well presented.

We head up the hill to the Upper Town on a cobbled road called The Slave Road, you can only guess why. It’s a steep but short enough road, and we find ourselves in a very colorful town with lots of traditional houses, partly stone walls partly colonial woodwork. All with a distinct style in this Dutch island swelled by Dutch Jews. It’s all very nice, but also very quiet. We walk around for maybe half an hour trying to find somewhere to eat. Quiet being the key adjective, there was nowhere in sight where we could have a late lunch or early dinner.

A bit disappointed we descend back to Lower Town and before heading back towards the port we make a small detour to a scuba diving shop. And before we know it, we are booked for two dives tomorrow morning. Statia is renowned for great diving sites, as they worked towards preserving the marine park for more than 20 years now and the marine life is flourishing.
We sit for dinner at Harbour Club, which serves basic food, but good enough. And as we finish our meal we watch a very nice sunset, and at the same time watch how the masts are rolling with the swell. We are going to have few interesting nights here, but hopefully it won’t be as bad as Montserrat.

Just before dark we return to Cloudy Bay for a quiet evening onboard. And the priority activity is to dig out our diving bags which are buried under the V-cabin berth. Not an easy job, as we have two spinnakers and all the fenders to move out of there before we can even lift the mattresses. But after a flurry of activity the dive gear is retrieved and we are ready for an early start in the morning.