Statia & St. Kitts

One of the great things about sailing in the Caribbean is the lack of tacking required. Ralph and Tim sailed from Panama to Jamaica with barely a tack that that continued in our other ventures including a great sail from St. Croix to St. Thomas. The sails are raised and then when you get where you are going and you take them down. This is a pleasure compared to some of our Pacific Ocean passages. We had another great tack-less sail from St. Martin to St. Eustatius (Statia) although the winds were considerably higher than the 18 knot forecast (can't ANYONE predict the weather?).

The picture shows the ruins of Ft. Oranje in Oranjestad. Statia, under Dutch control, was the trade capital of the Indies in the 1700's. Then, it had one of the world's busiest harbors. In 1776, Statia became the first nation to salute an American naval vessel when the Andrew Doria, a merchant ship under the command of an American rebel navy captain showed up in port. This, plus arms selling to the U.S. revolutionaries, led to war between England and Holland. Today, it is a quiet island, off the beaten track and known for maintaining its heritage and having many great walking trails. It is also home to a large petroleum storage facility, so we saw more freighters in this area than we have since Jamaica.
Basseterre, capital of St. Kitts is 380 years old, has a great Museum and a shopping area modelled after London's Picadilly Circus. This is the WWI and WWII memorial which we found on a walk to the west of downtown, past the public market, and beyond the Irishtown area. Irishtown is so named for the Irish indentured servants who worked the sugarcane fields in the 1600's until the slave trade was established.

Independence Square in Basseterre was formerly the slave market. Now, it is a large park surrounded by historic buildings including the Co-Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception seen in the background. St. George Anglican Church is beautiful and has one of the oldest pipe organs in the world.

There are many performance groups blending a variety of cultures on these islands. This group is called a Masquerade troupe. Its style was reportedly introduced during the 18th century by Yoruba slaves from West Africa. Those are peacock feathers in the headdresses and they have pieces of mirror sewn into the dress (symbolic conduits to the spirit world!). Their dances incorporate aspects of European dance forms (quadrille, jig, waltz), as well as traditional African and Creole moves, such as limbo. Drums make the music.