Off to Sint Eustatius

Also known as "Statia"....it's the next island north of St. Kitts.


A nice sail....we deserved it after the rough sails earlier!


Strangely, Statia is a major "oil transshipment depot" for crude oil. It didn't bother us -


All the activity is at one end of the island, leaving the rest untouched.


After a super-easy customs/immigration experience with the Dutch officers we went for a nice snorkel.

We were all a little tired - went to the closest restaurant on shore - The Blue Bead Restaurant. Apparently, in the time of slavery, the locals used pretty blue beads as "money". When they were emancipated, the legend goes that they threw all the beads off the cliffs into the bay. So now, they do scuba dives to search for the beads in the sand - and actually find them quite often!

We enjoyed the meal - lots of pasta and some really good pizza! Mine had yummy cheese - sundried tomatos, red peppers, regular tomatoes, and black olives.




Back to the boat - up early the next morning, as usual.

The agenda today was to climb to the top of the volcano! We paid for our park passes and headed up, up up!!

Rooster on the way....


We walked thru the town, to the outskirts, then up the "Quill Path" (Quill is the name of the dormant volcano).

Strangely, we saw large hermit crabs all over the pathway - so many that we had to be careful where we stepped. We were a good couple of miles from the water at this point.


One of them got tired of waiting on us hidden in his shell - and scampered away...

Interesting to have "automatic lawnmowers!"


Hot and sweaty on the trail to the top!



Orchids hung all over the place in crooks and crannies. Too bad none were in bloom.


We were cautioned to look out for snakes. Dick spotted this one. We actually saw two more.



Almost to the top. Here you can actually see the ancient crater of the volcano.

It was extremely steep in places - they had provided some ropes to help in some of the steepest areas.



Ahh the view from the top. Overlooking the harbor where our boat is anchored.



An hour or so later, we were back to the quaint little town of Oranjestad. Very friendly people.



View of the harbor from the top of the cliffs.


Back on the boat - snack of French sausage, a French cheese and some Finish caviar.


Here's a nice view of Quill - the volcano we hiked to the top point on the left, I think!

Relaxing on the boat.....



Dinner was some spaghetti and salad - a nice change that we all enjoyed.


Relaxing after the meal on the deck....lots of star gazing and a little singing (and you know mine was quite off-key!!!)