We decided to take the road less travelled. Bypassing the more traditional islands in the area, Antigua, St. Martin, St. Barts, we’ve been on a whirl wind tour of the lesser known Montserrat, Statia, and Saba.
Montserrat is primarily famous for two things. 1) It has an active volcano that continues to wreck havoc with locals and the tourist industry and 2) it plays a supporting role in the chorus of that Beach Boy’s hit Kokomo. Montserrat’s capital, Plymouth, was destroyed in 1995 and it remains abandoned, covered in a thick layer of ash. Eruptions, major and minor, continue today and much of the island is part of an Exclusion Zone and is inaccessible for safety reasons. We spent a day in Little Bay, one of the few remaining anchorages, and then sailed to Plymouth to see it from the water. We were advised by the marine police that it would be fine for us to sail there as long as we kept moving and to radio them if we stopped for any reason as they monitor the volcano at all times. As we moved into visual range we could see the volcano puffing out smoke and ash and the air became heavy with sulphur. As we got closer we could make out some of the buildings of Plymouth but it barley looked like a town; much of the land is now covered in growth though so it looks more like the island reclaiming itself than a volcanic wasteland. Satisfied that we had seen the most interesting thing on the island, that night we got the boat ready and sailed over night to Statia.
Statia is a funny little island that is a “special municipality” of the Netherlands but uses the US dollar. It has one town, Orangestad, which we visited briefly for lunch and some supplies. Oranje Baai was once the busiest sea port in the Caribbean but times have changed and it seems mostly visited by oil tankers now. Statia is home to a large oil depot that apparently stores oil for the US. The way it was described to us by a customs official is that countries whom the US does not want to be seen dealing with bring oil to Statia and then American tankers take it back to the US. He said that Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Columbia, and Brazil are the main contributors but everyone knows that the US gets oil from these countries so it sounded a bit suspicious to us. We stayed one night in Statia’s VERY uncomfortable anchorage with a few other Canadian boats and set out for Saba bright and early the following morning.
What can you say about Saba? We only stayed one night and didn’t go ashore so not much. The sail from Statia was lovely but as soon as we arrived we discovered that the island apparently has its own wind and wave systems that have nothing to do with the world around it. As we approached Forte Bay to check in we could see that the anchorage was wide open and that the NE swell was working its way in and making it a rough spot to be. A lone catamaran was there bouncing on the waves, hulls coming up and out of the water as it hobby horsed. We were afraid that even if we could get our anchor down and managed to row into the harbour to check in, we would never be able to get back to the boat again. We decided to delay checking in and head further up the coast to the other two anchorages on the island. The waves were more manageable as we got further north but the wind picked up to 30 plus knots as it rounded the top of the island and funneled down to us. The first anchorage, Ladder Bay, was not a bay but a small indent in the cliff side and we passed it by. The second, Wells Bay, was our last option so we slowly motored in at full throttle and grabbed one of the three mooring balls. We had a long night as the wind howled and we fishtailed on our mooring ball so we decided to cut and run – literally. The next morning as we tried to slip from the mooring ball a big gust of wind spun the boat and brought it back over the ball and we fouled the prop on the pick-up line. Adam dove in to try to free us but he couldn’t and he ended up having to cut us away. We still have the float, a guilty reminder of our one night on Saba’s shore…line.
Montserrat is primarily famous for two things. 1) It has an active volcano that continues to wreck havoc with locals and the tourist industry and 2) it plays a supporting role in the chorus of that Beach Boy’s hit Kokomo. Montserrat’s capital, Plymouth, was destroyed in 1995 and it remains abandoned, covered in a thick layer of ash. Eruptions, major and minor, continue today and much of the island is part of an Exclusion Zone and is inaccessible for safety reasons. We spent a day in Little Bay, one of the few remaining anchorages, and then sailed to Plymouth to see it from the water. We were advised by the marine police that it would be fine for us to sail there as long as we kept moving and to radio them if we stopped for any reason as they monitor the volcano at all times. As we moved into visual range we could see the volcano puffing out smoke and ash and the air became heavy with sulphur. As we got closer we could make out some of the buildings of Plymouth but it barley looked like a town; much of the land is now covered in growth though so it looks more like the island reclaiming itself than a volcanic wasteland. Satisfied that we had seen the most interesting thing on the island, that night we got the boat ready and sailed over night to Statia.
Statia is a funny little island that is a “special municipality” of the Netherlands but uses the US dollar. It has one town, Orangestad, which we visited briefly for lunch and some supplies. Oranje Baai was once the busiest sea port in the Caribbean but times have changed and it seems mostly visited by oil tankers now. Statia is home to a large oil depot that apparently stores oil for the US. The way it was described to us by a customs official is that countries whom the US does not want to be seen dealing with bring oil to Statia and then American tankers take it back to the US. He said that Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Columbia, and Brazil are the main contributors but everyone knows that the US gets oil from these countries so it sounded a bit suspicious to us. We stayed one night in Statia’s VERY uncomfortable anchorage with a few other Canadian boats and set out for Saba bright and early the following morning.
What can you say about Saba? We only stayed one night and didn’t go ashore so not much. The sail from Statia was lovely but as soon as we arrived we discovered that the island apparently has its own wind and wave systems that have nothing to do with the world around it. As we approached Forte Bay to check in we could see that the anchorage was wide open and that the NE swell was working its way in and making it a rough spot to be. A lone catamaran was there bouncing on the waves, hulls coming up and out of the water as it hobby horsed. We were afraid that even if we could get our anchor down and managed to row into the harbour to check in, we would never be able to get back to the boat again. We decided to delay checking in and head further up the coast to the other two anchorages on the island. The waves were more manageable as we got further north but the wind picked up to 30 plus knots as it rounded the top of the island and funneled down to us. The first anchorage, Ladder Bay, was not a bay but a small indent in the cliff side and we passed it by. The second, Wells Bay, was our last option so we slowly motored in at full throttle and grabbed one of the three mooring balls. We had a long night as the wind howled and we fishtailed on our mooring ball so we decided to cut and run – literally. The next morning as we tried to slip from the mooring ball a big gust of wind spun the boat and brought it back over the ball and we fouled the prop on the pick-up line. Adam dove in to try to free us but he couldn’t and he ended up having to cut us away. We still have the float, a guilty reminder of our one night on Saba’s shore…line.