St Kitts, St Eustatius and Saba

St Kitts, official name St Christopher, has Basseterre as its capital, the same name as the capital of Guadeloupe. We had to go to Basseterre to clear out with Customs and Immigration. We chose not to spend a night in Port Zante marina and anchored for free near Deep Port, the commercial harbour. A week before our visit two local men in a small boat, who handle the dock lines for the cruise ships, were drowned when they were sucked into the bow thruster of a cruise ship. As there was a strong wind and large waves in the bay when we were there, someone official had deemed the cruise ship dock unsafe and “Thomson Dream” was tied up in the commercial port. We struggled to find a place to land our dinghy ashore, using a rope ladder to the Coastguard dock at first and then being told we must go into Deep Port to see Customs. We had a bag of washing with us as the laundry was just up the hill.

Deep Port, Basseterre, St Kitts

We clambered up rocks and boulders and Jeremy secured the dinghy to the remains of a wrecked dock. At Customs we were told that we had to go to Port Zante for yacht clearance. As we could not go in the dinghy the Customs Officer took us there in her car. Well we could hardly ask her to go to the laundry first, so that was how we ended up carting a bag of washing around with us while we cleared Customs, did some food shopping, ate lunch and walked about a mile or two back to Deep Port. It was now too late to have the laundry done the same day, so it was carried back to Sal Darago. We spent a rolly night at anchor and left at first light.

Cruise ship versus cargo ship

ST Eustatius, commonly known as Statia, this island is part of the Netherlands and has two currencies – the Netherland guilder or florin and US dollars. We chose US dollars. We motorsailed the 18 miles from Basseterre and picked up a marine park mooring off Oranjestaad. The port authority charged us 15USD and Senapa (the park authority) charged 30USD for using the mooring for a week. Yachts are supposed to use the moorings but they are allowed to drop a stern anchor to keep the bows into the swell. This we did and we were much more comfortable.

Kathy on top of the Quill

Oranjestaad has a lower town and an upper town. The laundry was even higher than the upper town where the original hospital had been built. Jeremy carried the bag all the way to find the laundry closed, although it was meant to be open. Fortunately, we had a phone number but our phones would not work on Statia. A kind man working nearby telephoned for us and the laundry owner drove over and took our bag. It was Friday and we could collect on Monday.

Jeremy showing the width of the roots of a giant silk cotton tree

Over the weekend, we hiked to the top of the Quill and went on a self-guided historical walking tour.  We climbed up to the rim of the dormant volcano from sea level, about 500 metres up. The path trifurcated: one into the crater 240 metres lower, one to a viewpoint 100 metres higher, but near vertical and the last one to the peak at over 600 metres and quite a bit longer. We chose the viewpoint and had a fantastic view of the north of the island complete with runway, and just before we descended a plane came in to land. 

The replacement underwater camera is working well

As it was still early, we decided to go to the base of the crater and this also was a scramble. There were several series of rocks where ropes had been placed to assist ascent and descent. The bottom was jungle with among other things snakes and huge buttress trees. We were back in town for a local lunch of goat stew served outside the defunct theatre by a women’s group for $10US each. We took our takeaway boxes to a point high above the harbour and ate our lunch gazing out to sea. By the way, it doesn’t taste like chicken!

The next day it poured with rain half-way through our tour. All the same, it was interesting to see the variety of historical buildings and the restoration that has been done.

Heavy rain turns the road into a river

SABA

Our departure to Saba, only 17 miles away, was delayed by the laundry. The owner would deliver it to the Senapa office within the hour, she said.  We know about island time, so we were grateful to receive it only 2 hours later. Saba is another Dutch island. How it was ever settled beggars belief! All the villages are way up in the mountains and until the port was built the only way for goods and people to land was at the Ladder, where 800 steps were cut into the rock. It’s still something of a challenge to land. Because the island is surrounded by a marine park, all visiting yachts have to pick up a mooring or anchor off in the designated area. Then you take your dinghy into the harbour. Nothing too unusual about that, except the south anchorage is open to the trade winds and the swell. Sal Darago was bucking like a rodeo horse. Somehow, Jeremy got the outboard on the dinghy and we wore our lifejackets to go ashore in Fort Bay. The harbour master charged us 20USD, Customs and Immigration were free and the marine park office charged us 12USD for 3 nights on their moorings and 5USD for a hiking map. Once safely back on Sal Darago, we motored two miles to the only other anchorage and picked up a mooring in much calmer Well’s Bay.

Windwardside from the top of Mount Scenery

On  Tuesday 15 Apr, we tackled the dormant volcano, Mount Scenery. It is 877 metres high and does not have a recognisable crater. The island goes vertically up from the sea and there are four centres of population. Nearly all buildings have red roofs, white walls and Saba green shutters. It is very Legoland. We took a taxi to Windwardside (a town) and started from there. This meant we only had to climb 477 metres, much of which is uneven steps - 1064 of them. We set off at 0900 and were quickly puffed! However, Cable and Wireless had provided some shelters with a bench for our recuperation. At the inevitable fork, one could follow the defined path to a telecom tower and viewpoint or stretch your legs over a quagmire path to the summit. We chose the summit first. It was very slippery and the final crawl was through a tight tunnel covered with mud from previous grasping boots. The view from the top was misty, but just, occasionally visible. After our descent, where I jumped and banged my knees together painfully, we set off for the telecom tower. Once again the view of toytown below was spectacular. Jeremy found a water tank near the tower and we both washed some of the mud off ourselves.

The intrpid duo standing on the trig point, Mount Scenery

Back at the join in the path was a bench where we had a sandwich and met with a couple who appeared to be an advert for GAP clothing (she being the obligatory bright orange with new, immaculate trainers). We explained about the path to the summit and they decided not to take it. 

Jeremy proves we were there

Setting off down the path with about 1000 steps left to go, I slipped and fell over. Fortunately, I only scraped my hand and was able to enjoy lunch in a restaurant at 1240 hours. We then decided to walk all the way back to the harbour, having forgotten that the road did quite a bit up as well as down. As we finished our ice creams in The Bottom, and started our final precipitous descent by road to the harbour, the heavens opened and we were soaked.

Kathy taking a tumble

So now we’re off to do some snorkelling in this world class diving paradise. We’ve already seen 2 turtles and a huge lobster and swum through a tunnel. Exciting stuff. Tomorrow, we leave for St Martin, the French side (back to Euros). Happy Easter everyone.