17:28.845N 062:59.406W
Whisper
Noel Dilly
Wed 3 Apr 2013 00:14
|
"28th March -
Statia (St Eustatia)
Yesterday we woke up to rain! The surrounding hills looked just like Scotland completely shrouded in a damp mist. We are now out of fresh foods and need to shop, we had the last of the fruit salad and Yogurt for breakfast. We left our pleasant anchorage and headed back to Nevis, where we could do some shopping and 'Clear Out' at Customs in preparation for continuing our journey north. It rained most of the way back to Charlestown but by the time we arrived we had dried out and the sun was back. The concern 'on the block' is that the weather on Nevis is far hotter than it should be for this time of the year and whereas there should have been plenty of rain during the past two months they are actually suffering drought conditions and it has been the driest February in about 70 years. It was also voiced that there could be a possibility that as the hot weather is here a month early, the hurricanes could start to build up sooner. Either way we shall be away from here before they start. We arrived in town and found 'Teach' who offered us a free ride to the supermarket as he had a fare already and was going that way. We planned to order a taxi to take us back to the harbour at the checkout. But an American lady in the queue in front of us heard us asking and offered us a ride back in the taxi waiting for her. She was the Operations Manager in a three masted charter vessel and had come solely to buy beer, she had six crates of it and was returning to the harbour too. When we came to pay, she said that it was her treat. We returned to Whisper, thinking how lovely people are to us, stowed everything away and then went back in the dinghy to visit the farmers undercover market by the harbour for vegetables and fruit and to complete the paperwork at Customs. By now it was lunch time, the Cafe des Arts on the waterfront beckoned. The kitchen and bar is a lovely little shack in a pretty garden full of flowers and various garden furniture with sun brollies, a hen with six chicks and a very handsome cockerel with his golden and green feathers and bright red comb roam the garden, it is possible to pick up Wifi there, it is popular and the food is good! As we checked our emails whilst waiting for our sandwiches, one of the four black guys on the adjacent table called out that he had to toast us as he recognised our Tesco's bag! The two of the four brothers are from Peterborough, one is from Australia and one lives on Nevis. They were enjoying their reunion but saddened as they were all together because their father is very ill and not expected to recover. I could relate to this situation and felt sad for them. However, we had a fun chat with them and parted company with handshakes and best wishes for a safe journey home. We then went to the market, where I bought various items from different stalls. All the women help each other and obviously watch what is bought at each stall because my last purchase was some bananas and I was asked where were the tomatoes and before I could answer the tomatoes (near the bottom by now) were fished out of my bag and placed on the top! We had a long chat with one of the ladies whose mouth fell open for several minutes whilst she grasped the idea that we had sailed all the way from England in a small boat. We had to answer her many questions until she old us that she does not like the sea. She finally wished us a safe journey home and told us to keep safe! Irene and Steve dropped by for a quick chat after they had returned their day charter group on Star. They will be moving up to Bermuda with Star soon, but not until after we have departed for the Azores so farewells and best wishes ended our last day on Nevis. We departed for Statia after breakfast and had a long event free day, arriving at about 3pm. The mooring is somewhat rolly, but we hope to survive the night rocked in our bunks and explore the island tomorrow. "29th March - Oranje Baai, " There is plenty of activity here not yachting but oil tankers, gas tankers, barges, tugs and other maritime vessels. This small island used to be the Trade Capital of the West Indies and one of the worlds biggest harbours, it could have up to 300 sailing ships lying at anchor at any one time. It is hard to imagine a sea wall protecting the row of shops and warehouses with fine fabrics, silver, gold, household supplies, guns, sugar, tobacco, cotton and sadly slaves. Thousands of tons of commodities were traded daily with small boats going between the ships and the shore. This has all gone the beach is lined with stones and the remains of buildings. One of the warehouses has been restored and several restaurants nestle under the high cliffs. The town is now high above the beach, quaint colourful wooden houses with patterned shutters and corrugated metal roofs line the streets behind the fortress protecting the island from invasion, whilst the magnificent green forest covered cone of Quill volcano towers above it all. We have chosen to explore this historic island on Good Friday, everywhere is closed! So imagining it as a hive of trade in the 1700s is impossible. The dead end road which comes down to the harbour from the town above was exceptionally busy but slow moving, we could not understand why so many people were driving down a dead end road lined with a couple of dive shops, the Marine Park Office, a souvenir shop, Customs, Harbour office, three restaurants and little else when everything was closed. All became clear when we walked back, we had failed to notice the petrol station, a somewhat tatty shed with a couple of pumps in front of it. We walked up to the town via the old cobbled slave road, this is protected and kept for pedestrian use only. A cotton tree towered over the lower parts it's puff balls of silky fibre each carrying a single seed blew everywhere on the breeze. It was quite a steep walk but the view out across the harbour was glorious. The entire town was closed, all the picturesque wooden shops with their prettily painted shutters were firmly closed. The fort, which houses the tourist information office, was open but the office closed. All around the fort were plaques announcing that during the American War of Independence this Dutch island was the first country to recognise the United States by firing a nine gun salute in response to an eleven gun salute from an American ship in the harbour. A few months later, the British Admiral Rodney and his fleet revenged this insult by robbing and pillaging the island of all its wealth . We had intended to walk up to the Quill volcano some 1970 feet high but it was just too hot a day for such exertions. We wandered back down to the beach road and as it was lunch time and the Gin House restaurant had just opened, we wandered in for a long cool drink and then enjoyed a leisurely lunch sitting on the cool terrace above the beach in amongst the old ruins, listening to the ocean roaring up the beach, watching Whisper bobbing about on the swell and the work boats and tugs coming and going between the harbour and the leviathans out at sea. It was a very pleasant and enjoyable afternoon. We returned to Whisper and hoisted Rustle back on board ready for our departure in the morning. Photographs "Fleet in Oranje Baii" "Tugs &
Barge"
|
