I’ve been to Statia 3 times; a week in 2004 with a group and on my own May 2014 for 1 week and Jun/Jul 2015 for 2 weeks. I think a week feels too short and at 2 weeks I’m ready to go home. This is a Dutch island with minimal tourist infrastructure, but I like it that way, seems more like a real place than something designed for tourists. It’s a little hard to get current tourist info, like what restaurants are open, hours, etc. Divers are a mix of Americans and a lot of Europeans as well.
DIVING - The diving is very nice. Nothing difficult or too deep. It’s a marine park and doesn’t get the diving pressure of many other locations so the corals are really healthy and the fish are curious instead of frightened. Not a lot of big things (although we did see barracuda, sting rays and the occasional Eagle Ray), but a wide variety of fish and turtles almost every dive. I dove with Golden Rock Dive Center, Glenn & Michele Faires are the American owners, been there over 20 years. They are very accommodating and you can book hotel/dive package through Michele. Gear can be stored at the dive shop. The dive package is for 2 dives a day, but you can always add a third dive after lunch, I did when someone else was diving. Nitrox is available for a fee. Dive sites are close enough that the surface interval is back at the dive shop, except for 1 day when we went to the north end of the island. There’s reef and wreck diving for variety.
There’s another dive shop, Scubaqua. Their dive schedule when I was there was 1 dive in the morning - long SI/lunch - 1 dive in the afternoon. Golden Rock does 2 morning dives 9 & 11:30am and if enough interest a 2:30pm dive. I was happy diving with Golden Rock and prefer my afternoons free if only doing 2 dives, but can’t really comment on Scubaqua since I did not dive with them. They get good reviews and have a lot of customers.
ACCOMMODATION/FOOD - I stayed at the Old Gin House (Garden View Room) in 2014 and 2015. They also have a couple of water front rooms which cost a little more. The Golden Era Hotel is next door but gets very mixed reviews and there’s an apartment available in upper town, but I think a car would be needed to get back & forth to dive shop. The hotels & both dive shops are in “lower town” along the water as well as another restaurant & dock. There’s a steep hike (about 10 minute walk?) to upper town where people live and there are a couple more restaurants and groceries. The rooms at OGH have a refrigerator so I bought stuff for lunch and mainly went out for dinner. For dinner it was usually Blue Bead (lower town), Ocean View Terrace (upper town), Old Gin House or Cool Corner (Chinese, upper town). And if he’s still doing this don’t miss Renaldo’s seafood dinner once per week. He’s uses space at the Golden Rock dive shop to prepare conch soup, lobster, lion fish and a couple of side dishes. He catches/collects everything and then prepares all of the dishes himself. If you get there a little early some interesting conversation too ($25, conversation included). Supply your own drinks, but the dive shop has beer, soda water. Temperature is pretty mild year round, low to mid 80’s for highs. Lots of goats and chickens wonder around the streets. Not much in the way of a beach. Happy hour at OGH and watching the sunset!
ISLAND - There are a few things to do other than dive. The island was a busy port 1600-1800 and were the first to recognize the US as an independent nation. There’s a fort in upper town, some old ruins, an interesting museum and there’s an extinct volcano that you can hike (Quill National Park). I think you can hike the other end of the island too. These can be done on your own or with a guide.
Some friends of mine went at Christmas 2015 for a week, diving with Golden Rock & stayed at an ocean front room at OGH – they enjoyed the diving (even with a bit of current) and the island.
Links to my videos from Statia in 2014 and 2015 are below (no music).
If you have other questions I'll be happy to try to help.
