Two More DWI’s: Saba and Statia

The last two of the Dutch West Indies (DWI) islands are quaint, beautiful, tranquil…and boring.  We didn’t have enough time to stop in Saba, so please enjoy the “flyby” photos. We had an awesome sail from St. Maarten to Statia, enjoy the video!

Approaching Saba

From our guidebook by Chris Doyle:  “Saba looks like a fairytale picture of a forbidden land.  A mere 5 square miles, it reaches a lofty 3,000 feet.  Houses sit perched in seemingly impossible positions on the edges of precipices.  Ashore, it lives up to its image, for, if there was ever a hidden Shangri-La in the Caribbean, it is Saba.  

Saba flyby

Until the early 1940’s, Saba was almost inaccessible.  Everything had to come and go via Ladder Bay.  This extraordinary landing on the leeward shore provides scant shelter from ocean swells.  Some 800 steps are cut in the rock.  

The Customs house on Saba is half way up the hill.  400 steps done, 400 to go!

The steepness of the steps and their elevation can be appreciated from the sea by looking at the old customs house, which is only half way up.  Boats could only land when the sea was calm and even then men had to stand waist deep in water to handle the cargo.  Everything from the outside had to be carried up, including, at different times, a piano and a bishop.  The Sabans were able to prevent unwanted invasions by keeping piles of boulders stacked behind wooden supports that were cut down when attackers were half way up the hill.”

One interesting tidbit about Statia:  On November 16, 1776, St. Eustatius was the very first nation in the world to recognize the fledgling nation of the United States of America, when the guns of Fort Oranje fired the first naval salute to an American warship, the Andrew Doria.  The Brits weren’t too happy, and took serious vengeance upon Statia in retaliation.  Statia played an important role during the War of Independence as a transshipment point for a good part of the weapons, ammunition and supplies needed by the Americans.

Approaching Statia

The only industry in Statia is a transhipment oil terminal.  The sailors keep the bar at the end of the runway in business. 

Hiking the trail up to town.

Note the sign - 1492 miles to New York. Kevin isn't homesick at all.

Intrigued by the New York city street sign, we knocked on the door and met Stan’s daughter. Stan is a retired New York civil servant.

Some of you may appreciate this sign.  They have to count money everywhere!

The center of town.  The library entrance is on the left.

The road down from town in Statia

Saba glistening in the sunlight

Saba as seen from Statia

The Two that Got Away…and Karma off the Starboard Bow.

Marlin Sighting!

Full tilt Boogie….destination DWI!

Kevin is a serious fisherman.  You may not know that for two years he was the Skipper of a 100 foot  commercial long-line fishing boat.  The line was 25 MILES long and held 100 hooks at a time.  They caught a lot of big fish!  Not surprisingly, Kevin insisted we add serious fishing capabilities to Kai Kanani, and contributed greatly to West Marine in the process.  We’ve been so busy we didn’t put out the fishing line until this trip from Anguilla to St. Maarten.  First opportunity, bite!  We hooked a Bonito Tuna!  Kevin was working the line…when a big fish…a Marlin?... started circling the hook.  This was one crafty fish, as he spent a good two minutes checking out this tuna.  Kevin saw the fin and then his beak before he left us.  You can see he enjoyed a half-price meal.

We split this one with the Marlin

The 17 mile sail was as good as it gets.  As we told our Canadian guests, Bill and Jackie, “If you don’t love  sailing today, fuggetaboutit!”  We started on a beam reach averaging eight knots, then headed up to close hauled for some action coming into Simpson Bay, where the bridge operator faked us out.

Apparently they changed the opening time of the bridge from 5:30 to 5:00 just a few weeks ago.  The sign still says 5:30!  We were monitoring the radio, fortunately, and while Kevin and I were getting the dinghy ready, believing we had 35 minutes left, Bill and Jackie caught the warning:  “The bridge will be opening in five minutes!  Get in line please”.  We hauled anchor and got in line with about 45 seconds to spare.  Whew.

Bridge Over Troubled Waters - Island time, mon!

Cuban Cigars, Duty Free Liquor, Battleship Row

Megayachts, megayachts, megayachts everywhere.  More testosterone than a hundred battleships, but no guns.  It’s like the Las Vegas of the Caribbean.  Megayachts stacked in like oversized sports cars in the valet parking lot of the Miami Boat Show.

Thai Som Tom

I’ve been eating Thai food all over the world for the past eight years.  Our friend Sammy at Aroy Thai has even taught me how to make some pretty good Som Tom and Po Tak.  Palaan Thai has now entered the record books as one of the top Thai Restaurants that I have visited.  Kevin loved it too!  The PoTak and Green Curry Shrimp was so good that we convinced John, the proprietor, to prepare off the menu Som Tom for lunch the next day with the fresh green papaya we acquired from Farmer Duke in Anguilla.  Kim was a most friendly waitress from Toronto, extending our Canadian friend streak. 

In this series of Megayachts, each photo is a different set of boats.

Megayachts 2

Megayachts 3

Megayachts 4

Megayachts 5

Megayachts 6

Megayachts 7

Megayachts 8

Megayachts 9

Budget Marine…the boy’s candy store.  No pot at the end of the rainbow, though, as they didn’t have everything we needed.  We still managed to part with about $400.  

Cuban Cigars and Duty Free Liquor –DWI in Paradise (Dutch West Indies).

Kai Kanani in Simpson Bay lagoon.

South shore of St. Maarten on the Dutch side of Simpson Bay

Karma

After two days we moved on to Phillipsburg, only 2.7 miles away.  Expecting a brief easy sail….wrong!  Holy big waves, we cleared the bridge and moments later found ourselves in 10-12’ seas and wind blowing 25 knots.  Perfect time to experiment, right?  We played around with jib sheeting options to see if we could do better pointing into the wind.  Kai Kanani is a stubborn old lady, nothing we did improved on the standard.   

Karma.  Can you believe it?

Phillipsburg is a delightful town, and we had a couple of really nice days playing tourists with Kai Kanani anchored in the bay.  We even shopped at a new mega supermarket, and tied up the dinghy “temporarily” to unload the groceries.  Three hours later, with the wind howling and the boat rocking and rolling, we were ready to go out on the town!  Not, as there was no dinghy!  Uggh.  Pitch black with each of us scanning with binoculars we couldn’t see a darn thing. 

At the crack of dawn we hauled anchor and went searching.  There were three options:  out to sea and gone forever, a very rocky shore, and a nice soft beach.  Dinghy chose Door #2, and we found her still afloat and intact bashing up against the rocks, as she had been all night long.  Now how do we get to her?  Ahh, The Universe works in mysterious ways.  As if written into the script of a B movie, enter Karma and her crew, stage right.  She was anchored off our starboard bow, and Francis and Junior from Saint Vincent were up and about and agreed to help us out. 

Francis and Junior counting the money we gave them for helping us out.

You can imagine our joy when Junior jumped into the water, swam about ten feet, scrambled up the rocks into our beloved dinghy, started the trusty Yamaha, and drove her back to Kai Kanani.  Damage Report:  one three inch crack in the hull, easily repaired with epoxy, a bottom mauled as if by a Siberian tiger, and 200 gallons of water to be pumped out by hand.  Epilog:  two days later, after spending more than an hour cleaning the carburetor and still fighting with our not so trusty Yamaha (or so we thought) Kevin insisted we check the fuel.  Lo and behold, we had about 10% water in the fuel tank!  Apparently the waves crashing over the dinghy all night managed to seep in to the tank through the vent.  I was reminded of my days at Scaltech cleaning up refinery hazardous waste, as we upended the tank to allow the water to settle to the bottom and drained it off.  We’ll never know if the knot Craig tied failed, or the line chafed through at the knot.  Strangely enough, Junior easily cut the line with a sharp rock, because it was trapped in the rocks…at the same length where the knot would have been.  And to top it all off, the brand new line that was purchased that same day (because the old one was in bad shape) was still lying on the deck, waiting to be installed the next day.  That’s Karma.  The Universe intended for Craig and Kevin to stay with Kai Kanani that night!

Our neighbors in Phillipsburg.  They flew over in their helicopter for some Grey Poupon.

Juggie's saleslady used the bait and switch to lure us in, with the promise of two beers and a cigar for $2.99.  We spent a hundred bucks.

The Phillipsburg hood, courtesy of Smally our taxi driver.

Top of Smally's hood, he lives nearby.

Cruise ship dock in Philipsburg.  Note the Stadt Amsterdam, followed us all the way from Norman Island.

Another pretty photo of Philipsburg.

Moored only a hundred yards away, the famed Stars and Stripes 12 meter racing boat that won the America's Cup with Dennis Conner onboard.  The 12 Meter Challenge is a very popular cruise ship excursion.  Tourists actually operate the boats in real match racing.  It's a hoot, I was fortunate to race True North against Stars and Stripes years ago.