SINT MAARTIN / ST BARTHELEMY

Sint Maartin/St Barthelemy

Day 6 in the Caribbean. Friday April 18
Fly. Taxi to CUR was $40 but buses not running on Good Friday. Win Airlines CUR-SMX @12:30-15:00. I was picked up by the AirBnB owner’s nephew for $25. We stopped at a grocery store (90% of products were not for sale on an Easter weekend) and a painfully slow Burger King. He showed the bus stops to get to Marigot and the airport. The drive up to the house was on a very steep road.
My fries were old and stale but the burger survived.
ON Low Cost Accommodation on Sint Maarten. In St Pieter at the top of the mountain. Very basic room but had AC and a hot water kettle, hot showers but very bad internet.

I had wanted to go to Saba and St Eustacis but only the Edge Ferry offered day trips (M,T, T), so I resgined myself to seeing only St Barths.

Day 7 Sat April 18
Google Maps showed a direct route over the pass above the house to Marigot and the Voyageur Ferry to St Barths – 2.9 km. At the pass the road was blocked and eventually disappeared. A fair path lasted 10 minutes, thena steep 2-track concrete and finally houses and a normal street. I arrived at 07:s0 and was second in line for tickets. Most had reserved tickets so this worked.

DAY 8 Sunday April 19
Voyageur Ferry. Marigot to Gustavis. 106€. Departure 08:30. Depart St Barths 17:00. Sat on top in the sun and had a great talk with a Ob/Gyn from Atlanta. Encouraged her to move to Canada.

FRANCE – ST BARTHELEMY
I walked around the port of Gustavis and then up the hill towards the fort and airport. 
St Barthelemy Anglican Church. 1855. Lovely, plain, unique Ways of the Cross with a long description of each station.
Gazebo at end of harbour. Lovely
Museo du Patrimoine – Le Brigantine. A great small museum with a good history in English. Free
Wall House. Stone house from 1700s
Serial Divers. Has several vans and boats offering dives at the far end of the pier.
White Cross. On road to the airport.
Jardin Historic Gustav III. 1771-92. 400 native plants.
Fort Gustav. Low stone walls and a large white/red tower. The best views down to the harbour and Gustavis. In 1878, Sweden returned the island to the French.
Watch planes land on steep descent into St Barth’s airport. Stand on the road as the planes zoon close overhead. The Twin Otters stopped and took off the best.
Look at all the super-yaghts. Many from British Virgin Islands, Caymans. Huge crews of up to 15.

Voyageur Ferry back to St Martin. It arrived at 7, well after dark. The bus had stopped running at 7 pm (Saturday) so I decided to walk back to the Air BnB taking the same route I had come down. The route and train was all easy to find and navigate with my phone light. 1 hour.

Day 9, 10 Sat/Sun April 19, 20
Bus (share vans) from St Pieter to airport with one change $4. Ate at the airport,
Fly SMX-MIA-PHOENIX. Arrived at midnight. Slept in airport.
Bus FLIX from 44th St Station at airport to Yuma Palms Mall. Uber to Algodonas $25.
ALGODONAS
ON Hotel del Valle. $50/night x 2 nights

Days 11, 12 Mon/Tue April 22, 23
Grace Dental – Dr Michael Herandez. Post and crown on fractured tooth. Bridge on two implants.
Ride with elderly pharmacist to Yuma Palms Mall
FLIX bus to Phoenix Harbourside Airport
Slept Airport
Fly Skywest (Delta) Phoenix – LAX – YVR (slept and went downtown to get Driver’s License and new Mac Air at Best Buy) – YQQ. Westjet. Dennis picked me up at 4 pm

NETHERLANDS – SABA
Airports: Saba (SAB)
Saba, known as “the Unspoiled Queen” due to the protection of its unique ecosystem, is a 13-km² (5 sq mi) volcanic island in the Leeward Islands. Since it is not a reef island, it does not have sandy beaches, but rather mostly cliff faces and rocky shore. The ecosystem and the unique diving (pinnacle diving, wall diving, etc.)
In 2013, the population of Saba was just under 2,000 people spread into four major villages, and included the 200-300 medical students attending the Saba University of Medicine. The medical school houses a hyperbaric chamber, which coincides nicely with Saba’s extensive diving draw.
Politically, Saba is a “special municipality” fully integrated in the Netherlands proper.
History
The island was colonized in 1640 by the Dutch West India Company. The Netherlands finally took over in 1816. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Saba was a haven to pirates, most notably, Hiriam Breaks, who coined the saying, “Dead Men Tell No Tales.
Sugar and rum were Saba’s chief exports through the 18th century, as well as fishing (particularly lobster). Saban Lace (elaborate pulled-thread work) became very popular.
For a long time the only way in and out of Saba for people or for goods was via treacherous Ladder Bay and “The Ladder”, which is a near vertical 800 rock and concrete steps. Fort Bay had no breakwater and landing impossible during high seas. For most of its history Saba had no road, only footpaths. Experts had expressed the opinion that it was impossible to build a road on the island.
Finally in the mid-20th century, a self-educated local engineer dedicated himself to the idea of creating a road, and succeeded in building that which had been deemed impossible by engineers before him.
There are four small villages on Saba.
The Bottom is the largest village and capital and high up on the island.
Windwardside – the second largest village and home to most of the shopping and tourist attractions. The regular sea breeze. Located between Hell’s Gate and St. John’s.
Hell’s Gate – the first village passed when traveling from the airport
St. John’s – the smallest village and largely residential, schools, a church and a couple eateries. It lies along the road between The Bottom and Windwardside.

Flora, fauna, and ecology
Wild orchids – 9 types, 60 species of birds and 200 kinds of fish. The ocean goes from fairly shallow to very deep, with pinnacles scattered throughout. A fair portion of the island is considered rain forest, and Mount Scenery.
Language. The official language of Saba, is Dutch; however, English is the predominant language of Saba, and can be understood by most people.
GET IN
By plane. 15-minute plane ride from Saint Martin on Winair. Saba’s airport is a 400-metre (1,300-foot) runway and may be the world’s most dangerous airport, pilots need special training to land here, and Winair is the only airline serving the airport, using the DHC-6 Twin Otter.
The side approached is flanked by a large cliff that the plane flies directly towards, before banking hard left, in order to line up with the runway. The airport is 18 meters (60 feet) above the ocean with sheer cliffs on both sides. The shortest international runway in the world.
By boat. Two ferries between Saba and St. Maarten: The Edge (Simpson Bay, Sint Maarten),

GET AROUND
The road from Fort Bay to The Bottom is 14 km painstakingly laid by hand and wheelbarrow by locals – narrow, steep, ringed with high stone walls), it is probably not wise to try to walk it. Airport on Flat Point was at the northeastern tip, rather than in the southwest.
By taxi and car rental.
By foot. If you stay in Windwardside, you can walk to anywhere in town, and likewise for any of the other villages. A pleasant steep, walking trail leaves the Road at the Saba trail shop and meets up uphill from the Medical School.
Hitchhiking. The people on Saba are very friendly, so hitchhiking from town to town isn’t rare.

SEE
Mount Scenery. 862m, Mount Scenery has the highest elevation in all of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. A hiking trail up starts just outside Windwardside. The peak is often fogged in during the afternoon.
Booby Hill has JoBean’s Glass Studio and a Guava tree orchard.
Harry Luke Johnson Museum, Built as a home for a Dutch captain in 1840, original furniture
Diving. Wall dives and diverse seabeds for any level of diver. Sheer underwater cliffs, pinnacles, and the multitude of locations. The “Saba Marine Park” has been established. There are 26 designated dive spots.
Sea Saba Dive Center (in Fort Bay), ☏ +599 416-2246, fax: +599 416-2362. edit
Saba Deep Dive Center (in Fort Bay), ☏ +599 416-3347, fax: +599 416-3397. edit
Saba Divers (at Scout’s Palace Hotel), ☏ +599 416-2740. edit

HIKING
Flat Point Track – 10 minutes, easy. The track is marked by color markers on the cliffs. You will see the ruins of a sugar factory and good views.
The Ladder Track – 30 minutes, hard. 524 steps down to an old pier.
Sulphur Mine Track – 20-30 minutes, medium. The path starts in Hell’s Gate behind the church. The section leading to Mary’s Point is not marked, so you might get lost. After Mary’s Point there is a junction, take the path going downhill to the mine near Cave of Rum Bay.
Sandy Cruz Track – 15-20 minutes, medium. This path starts above Hell’s Gate, is marked by white markers and takes you into the jungle.
Mount Scenery Track – 60-90 minutes, hard. A marked path with 1064 steps taking you up through the jungle to the peak of Mount Scenery.
Maskerhorne Hill – 40 minutes, easy/medium. First, follow the Mount Scenery Track from Windwardside for about 10 minutes through dense jungle. After you’ve arrived at a small farm, turn left towards Maskerhorne Hill, with a good view of Windwardside.
Crispeen Track – 60-80 minutes, medium. This path begins at the outskirts of The Bottom, past fieldsandbuildings. From there continues a challenging path across a ridge through the jungle and fields. At the end you will arrive at the Mount Scenery Track.
MONEY U.S. dollar.
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NETHERLANDS – SINT EUSTATIUS
Airports: St Eustatius (EUX)
World of Nature: Quill-Boven National Park
Sint Eustatius, locally known as Statia, is a very small Dutch island, very laid back and quiet. Everyone speaks English.
Swimming is possible at the north end of Oranjestad Bay (the more sheltered Caribbean coast) where there is still a decent amount of sand. There is a spectacular long sandy beach on the Atlantic coast good is good to walk along, but the waves and currents are so strong that it is not safe to swim there.

Sint Eustatius is a “special municipality”, fully integrated in the Netherlands proper. The capital, Oranjestad (Dutch for Orange Town) is divided into Lower Town, a single street by the waterfront, and Upper Town, which is the main part of town. The largest and longest running industries on the island are tourism (mostly dive tourism) and an oil depot for tankers from Venezuela.
Get In
Although Statia is fairly close to Saint Kitts and also not far from Saba, there are no regular connections between those islands.
Most visitors arrive via Winair, from Sint Maarten.
Get Around
You could walk or ride a bike just about anywhere
See
1-mile walking tour of the capital, Oranjestad starts at the port and winds through all the attractive restored buildings including a museum run by the St Eustatius Historical Foundation.
Hike The Quill, the island’s dormant volcano. Botanical gardens. Or diving or snorkeling, large iguanas, goats, cows and chickens roam freely.
Statia was at one point the most important port in the New World. During the 18th century it used a combination of lax Dutch trading controls and the American Revolution. “The Historic Gem.”
MONEY U.S. dollar,