We visited the island of Sint Eustatius (the locals call it Statia) which is 38 miles south of Sint Maarten.
Diving was with Golden Rock Dive Center and we stayed at the Orange Bay hotel.
Like many of the Caribbean islands its an old extinct volcano and is approximately 8 square miles in size.
The island has been surrounded by a marine park since 1998 and this has considerably reduced fishing and resulted in a healthy fish population.
Old lava flows extend out to sea and form reefs with sandy patches between them. There are walls, drop offs and wrecks also.
Statia escaped the worst of hurricanes Irma and Maria, there was some onshore building damage but from what we saw the reefs escaped largely undamaged. The reefs were very healthy with masses of fish and no sign of any coral bleaching.
The best dive sites are mostly within a 15 minute boat ride. There was no shore diving on offer.
Diving conditions were generally easy with little current. Only on one day did we have to change our dive site and then it was to a site closer in the bay.
The visibility varied over our visit, usually it was good at around 20 meters but on occasion down to 10 meters
Our first dive was at the Chien Tong, an old fishing ship that was sunk as an artificial reef. This was really nice as there were 3 Eagle Rays circling round the wreck for most of the dive.
We spent a couple of days diving Anchor Point, The Ledges, Blairs and Baracuda. All had masses of fish and coral and huge sponges and so so many lobsters.
One day we specifically asked to dive the Charles L Brown (Charlie Brown) wreck. This is an old cable laying ship around 100 metres long down at 30 metres. It's impressive and real fun to visit. It had schools of jacks and snappers, a couple of reef sharks passed by and a massive resident barracuda called Charlie.
On our final day we dived the Blue Bead Hole where I lucky enough to find one of the Statia blue beads in the sand. These are glass beads that were used as a local currency back in the 17th century.
The one day we didn't dive we took the historical tour of the island. It's hard to believe such a small island has so much history. St Eustatius was a major supply point for the US during the American war of Independence. It was also the first territory to recognize American Independence.
We dived with Golden Rock Dive Center, who were really good. Our rental gear was fairly new and well maintained. Their dive guides Celine and Michael seemed to know their way around the reefs and could point out the interesting stuff. Everyone at the dive shop was relaxed and friendly. All in all we were very happy.
We flew Air France from Manchester via Paris to Sint Maarten and then a short hop over to Statia with WinAir. Air France allowed us to check our luggage all the way through to Statia as we had booked the WinAir flight through them. This made the journey really easy. Juliana airport on St Maarten is in the process of being rebuilt after a visit from hurricane Irma. It's busy but we didn't experience any problems in making our connecting flights.
Although Statia is a Dutch island, English is spoken everywhere. The US Dollar is the local currency.
We stayed at the Orange Bay Hotel which was clean and comfortable. Nothing fancy but adequate for our needs. If you book through the dive shop rather than direct you get a discount..
There are some good places to eat next to the hotel and dive shop. The Harbour Club and the Broadwalk Cafe are reasonably priced or if you fancy something a little fancy then there is the Old Gin House. Up in town there is Cool Corner which is a lively restaurant and bar that does excellent Chinese food. For such a small island there are a surprisingly large number of nice places to eat.
So would we go back if we ever had the chance? Definitely yes. The island is friendly and laid back, the diving is excellent. What's not to like.
Diving was with Golden Rock Dive Center and we stayed at the Orange Bay hotel.
Like many of the Caribbean islands its an old extinct volcano and is approximately 8 square miles in size.
The island has been surrounded by a marine park since 1998 and this has considerably reduced fishing and resulted in a healthy fish population.
Old lava flows extend out to sea and form reefs with sandy patches between them. There are walls, drop offs and wrecks also.
Statia escaped the worst of hurricanes Irma and Maria, there was some onshore building damage but from what we saw the reefs escaped largely undamaged. The reefs were very healthy with masses of fish and no sign of any coral bleaching.
The best dive sites are mostly within a 15 minute boat ride. There was no shore diving on offer.
Diving conditions were generally easy with little current. Only on one day did we have to change our dive site and then it was to a site closer in the bay.
The visibility varied over our visit, usually it was good at around 20 meters but on occasion down to 10 meters
Our first dive was at the Chien Tong, an old fishing ship that was sunk as an artificial reef. This was really nice as there were 3 Eagle Rays circling round the wreck for most of the dive.
We spent a couple of days diving Anchor Point, The Ledges, Blairs and Baracuda. All had masses of fish and coral and huge sponges and so so many lobsters.
One day we specifically asked to dive the Charles L Brown (Charlie Brown) wreck. This is an old cable laying ship around 100 metres long down at 30 metres. It's impressive and real fun to visit. It had schools of jacks and snappers, a couple of reef sharks passed by and a massive resident barracuda called Charlie.
On our final day we dived the Blue Bead Hole where I lucky enough to find one of the Statia blue beads in the sand. These are glass beads that were used as a local currency back in the 17th century.
The one day we didn't dive we took the historical tour of the island. It's hard to believe such a small island has so much history. St Eustatius was a major supply point for the US during the American war of Independence. It was also the first territory to recognize American Independence.
We dived with Golden Rock Dive Center, who were really good. Our rental gear was fairly new and well maintained. Their dive guides Celine and Michael seemed to know their way around the reefs and could point out the interesting stuff. Everyone at the dive shop was relaxed and friendly. All in all we were very happy.
We flew Air France from Manchester via Paris to Sint Maarten and then a short hop over to Statia with WinAir. Air France allowed us to check our luggage all the way through to Statia as we had booked the WinAir flight through them. This made the journey really easy. Juliana airport on St Maarten is in the process of being rebuilt after a visit from hurricane Irma. It's busy but we didn't experience any problems in making our connecting flights.
Although Statia is a Dutch island, English is spoken everywhere. The US Dollar is the local currency.
We stayed at the Orange Bay Hotel which was clean and comfortable. Nothing fancy but adequate for our needs. If you book through the dive shop rather than direct you get a discount..
There are some good places to eat next to the hotel and dive shop. The Harbour Club and the Broadwalk Cafe are reasonably priced or if you fancy something a little fancy then there is the Old Gin House. Up in town there is Cool Corner which is a lively restaurant and bar that does excellent Chinese food. For such a small island there are a surprisingly large number of nice places to eat.
So would we go back if we ever had the chance? Definitely yes. The island is friendly and laid back, the diving is excellent. What's not to like.
