Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Departure day for St. Eustatius; Arita departed about one hour before me, and by the time I’d left the sanctuary at Colombier they were no longer in sight. I thought I saw their sails but it was a boat heading in a different direction, many degrees off the planned path. The wind was 15-20 knots constant, usually closer to 20 and with both sails set and course for the east end of Statia set I was doing over 7 knots all of the time, most of the time over 8 knots. It was a fast and comfortable sail yet Arita, who had sailed around the leeward end of Statia, still beat me to the anchorage. The port captain had asked Arita to anchor and then asked them to move further away from the dock, so both of use were in 20 feet of water but far enough away from the dock (and breakwater) to catch a bit of swell. We cleared in at the dock and then proceeded to explore the island, walking up the old Slave Road to the top of the bluffs and sightseeing at the old fort, the old Catholic and Jewish churches and otherwise just walking around Oranjested. While the country doesn’t have facilities for yachts, it is wonderfully well kept and clean; plus they have put up descriptive signs at many if not all of the old ruins and attractions from years gone by. We tried to find a place to rent a car or scooter but despite the city seeming empty of tourists there were none to be had. Rob had spoken with someone at the tourist office and he’d arranged some mopeds for us that we picked up in the late afternoon. With these we could make it to the trail head for the hike up to the caldera of The Quill the next morning without tiring ourselves out before getting there.
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