At 11 square miles, with a population of 3,000 and no major cruise ports, you could be forgiven for not knowing about St Eustatius (Statia), one of the tiniest – and most charming – islands in the Caribbean.
While many holiday destinations in this part of the world embrace an attitude of more is more, lining their shores with mega-resorts, margarita bars and beach clubs, this Dutch municipality tucked between St Kitts, St Barts, and St Maarten hangs fast to its identity as a biodiverse tourist paradise.
Arriving on the island, I was struck by the serenity. Rather than car horns and construction noise, birdsong and faint Calypso music followed me everywhere.
A holiday in Statia is a steal compared with its better-known neighbours. In St Kitts, for example, UK visitors spend an average US$4,680.80 (£3,612) per couple on a 10-day stay (excluding airfare), according to the St Kitts Tourism Authority. Meanwhile, Statia Tourism estimates couples spend $3,800 (£2,932) for the equivalent – yet the island receives fewer than 10,000 visitors a year.
The average hotel cost is around $180 (£139) a night, while most guests spend about $100 (£77) a day on excursions, food and shuttles (shared taxis).
Perhaps because of its laid-back feel and relative affordability, Statia has become an under-the-radar favourite of outdoor adventure lovers.
During my own recent visit, I discovered how the lush island earned a reputation for having some of the Caribbean’s best hiking and scuba diving.
Established in 1988, St Eustatius National Parks manages all conservation efforts above and below water. Today, nearly half of Statia is protected, including 17 miles of marine reserve that contain ancient lava flows, 18th-century shipwrecks and coral reefs populated with marine life that includes four species of sea turtle, spotted eagle rays and Caribbean spiny lobsters, which can grow up to 60cm and weigh as much as 8kg.
During an excursion with Statia Divers, I also unsuccessfully searched the sea floor for one of the blue glass beads that were used as currency for the slave trade. Legend has it that when slavery was abolished here in 1821, a group of emancipated islanders threw their beads into the ocean.
Statia has just as much to offer on land, particularly in Quill/Boven National Park. Most hikers flock to the Quill side, where the eponymous, 600m-high dormant volcano – the island’s best-known landmark – rises above several paths. These trails are well-worn, both by people and an estimated 14,000 free-roaming wild goats.
Walkers can trek to the summit along the Mazinga trail for views across the Caribbean or descend into the verdant crater via the steep Crater Mountain Trail. There, they will find a rainforest full of native and introduced trees and plants, such as wild raspberries, begonias and more than a dozen species of orchids. Used as farmland by European colonisers, the Quill was once the site of a plantation whose remnants remain tucked beneath the overgrowth – a reminder that the past is everywhere you look.
In fact, Statia – which was a thriving economic centre and hotly contested 18th-century trading post, as its port required no customs duties – has more protected historic monuments per square mile than any other Caribbean island. During the 17th and 18th centuries, it changed hands between the English, French, and Dutch 22 times.
During a three-hour walking tour of the capital, Oranjestad, St Eustatius Historical Foundation Museum guide Misha Spanner showed me landmarks that shaped the island’s history, including the Dutch stronghold Fort Oranje, the Bethel Methodist Church with its English-made bell tower, and the ruins of Synagogue Honem Dalin, the third-oldest synagogue in the Caribbean.
Still, the island can’t remain a secret for ever. A new fast ferry service from St Kitts, which launched in late 2023, makes it more convenient and less expensive to get to the island than the flight from St Maarten.
The recent opening of Golden Rock Dive & Nature Resort, Statia’s first truly luxury property, has also attracted the attention of tourists. Just don’t expect a typical all-inclusive with a casino.
Golden Rock honours the island’s natural ethos – less than five minutes’ drive from the Quill volcano, the 40-acre estate has 75 ocean-view rooms; more than 130,000 endemic plants and flowers cover its land, while Bobbie’s Beach Club, an al fresco restaurant with live music and a man-made, ocean-fed lagoon, has become a popular hangout. Here, it is possible to feel at home on an island that mass tourism seems to have forgotten.
How to get there
British Airways offers flights between the UK and St Kitts, britishairways.com.
Winair has round-trip flights from St Kitts to Statia, winair.sx.
Water taxi transfer, St Kitts to Statia, makanaferryservice.com.
Where to stay
Golden Rock has a one-bedroom cottage for $349 (£269) a night, including breakfast, goldenrockresort.com.
More information
This post was originally published on here
