Caribbean 2008: 4 - St. Eustatius, Saba & Home

Saturday, November 22, 2008

My alarm going off at 4 AM wasn't particularly welcome, but I did get organized enough for the hotel van to run me down to the airport for my 6 AM flight to St. Kitts. The LIAT check in line took half an hour, but I still had time for a hot dog and juice for breakfast. Locals say the airline name stands for "Leave Island Any Time", something Marilynn and I agreed with when we toured the Caribbean years ago - they haven't changed, a 45 minute delay in the flight was announced which then was reduced to a 10 minute delay by departure time.

Once in St. Kitts there was a 1¾ wait in the modern but mosquito laden check-in area until the first Winair staff showed up to ticket me for the rest of the flight. The first hop was only 7 minutes, to make a brief stop on the Island of Nevis, then another half hour to St. Maarten. The 20 seat DHC 6-300 twin prop aircraft had 18 people and a yowling cat squeezed into the limited space - fortunately I was separated from the cat, as I'm violently allergic to them.

Another plane change got me to the Island of St. Eustatius, where we I walked around outside out of range of the cat, which was also on this flight. This mountainous Dutch island has one mediocre beach and a population of around 3,500. When I climbed back into the plane new passengers had filled it, leaving me a seat at the back with good legroom, but right beside the cat. Fortunately it was only 15 minutes to the Island of Saba (pronounce "SAY BA"), where cat and I parted company.

The airport on Saba is across a flattened point of land jutting into the ocean that dropped into the sea at each end of the runway - a bit like an aircraft carrier. The only road I could see led to about 20 houses clustered on the slopes of a cloud-topped mountain above the airport. It was a relief when a jolly lady taxi driver told me that there were other roads and settlements on the island, so I climbed in with her and away we went.

There are four towns on the 13 sq. km. (5 sq. mi.) island of 1,700 people. Unlike other islands, people don't live near the coast, which is largely sheer cliff with no beaches. The capital, "The Bottom", has one of the top medical schools in the Caribbean and an arts college. The island is now a province of Holland even though most of the population are of Irish or Scottish heritage, and it has a Dutch governor.

Donna, my driver, first dropped me off in the high, picturesque town of Thewindwardside, filled with white houses with gingerbread trim. Many islanders owned large ships in the days of sail, and ship builders influenced home construction. The town is perched in a saddle between two mountains, where its altitude gives it a comfortably cool climate. It was pleasant to discover a disproportionately large number of pubs, so in my short walkabout I patronized "The Pub" at Saba Treasures - a cozy English style pub loaded with historic photos and stories of island characters, and then Scout's place, where the bar has a beautiful view down the mountain to the sea.

It became obvious that the island has a water problem from the sign above the Scout's Pub toilet:

If its yellow

Let it mellow

If its brown

Flush it down

This mountain town relies almost exclusively on rainwater, and room sized cisterns are require of all houses built. All houses are white with either green or red trim - a law that was passed in 2000 to maintain the traditional appearance, but otherwise there is a great deal of freedom in the style of construction.

The tour continued to The Bottom, where I explored a church with beautifully painted ceiling murals and an old, traditional hotel which would only suit those able to manage a lot of stairs - it is beautiful but built on a steep side hill. Various murals are evidence of the art college.

>From there we descended to the dock area on the opposite side of the island from the airport, where damage from the last hurricane is still visible in the cuts through the breakwater. There were no roads on the island until 1944, yet is has been populated for hundreds of years - everything had to be hauled by manpower to the higher altitude towns.

By this time Donna was running out of things to show me, so she dropped me back at The Pub where I had a well prepared meal of salad and freshly caught fish. On the way back to the airport we drove up a side road to the hiking trail that climbs the 2,900 ft (877 meter) mountain. All island roads were well paved.

The tiny airport has a delightful outdoor bar overlooking he ocean, where another beer went down well. When we departed there were no security checks, just a passport stamp and $5 airport tax.

Back in St. Maarten I went to board my 6:15 PM return flight to Antigua that the hotel confidently said they had confirmed yesterday, to find it was cancelled about a month ago. After some drama a voucher was issued to allow me to purchase a ticket on the last flight to Antigua that day, a LIAT flight at 8:40. LIAT lived up to its reputation by announcing at 9:30 that the flight would board a bit after 10 PM. It then stopped at St. Kitts on the way back, getting me to Antigua 4 hours after my anticipated arrival time. Humble as the hotel may be, I was glad of a nearby bed!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

When I went to check out of he hotel this morning the driver was all set to take me to the airport. The only problem was the woman on the desk couldn't find the signed blank credit card slip to guarantee the room. The only cash box she had access to was a shoe box with an elastic band in which cash deposits were clipped to registration cards. My credit card slip was not there, or in any of the drawers or closets in which she looked.

Eventually she phoned the woman who checked me in, who said she would be at the hotel at 4 PM - not something that worked well for me as it was getting close to my flight time. Finally the desk clerk produced a locked cash box to which she had no key and drove to the manager's house. I was pacing the floor on her return, but finally she got back with the credit card voucher.

When the bill was calculated it was run through the credit card machine - which said "no answer' from the computer. After several attempts she plugged in another machine with the same results. She plugged in and unplugged cables as another fifteen minutes slid by. Eventually I surrendered and paid cash - it was that or miss my flight!

At the airport I suffered through the same crawling ticket line as yesterday - the Caribbean has only one pace, dead slow. The immigration line was no improvement, but when I reached the departure area I still had 25 minutes before flight time so I bought a fruit plate and juice for breakfast. After one bite my name was called over the paging system - all passengers had been boarded and the flight was leaving 25 minutes early. "Leave Island Any Time" can mean before or after scheduled time -- although a fellow I talked to who travels a lot on LIAT assured me that on the odd occasion they do leave as scheduled!

The LIAT Dash 8 twin prop plane was almost full, although I did find two adjacent seats near the back. Most of the passengers were Dominicanos returning home after working in Antigua and they were in a festive mood. The woman behind me with a megaphone voice carried on a conversation with friends about ten rows ahead of me, and I'm sure they had no problem hearing her over the screams from a baby in the seat ahead of me. The 2½ hour flight passed with a volume of sound just above deafening - sleep certainly wasn't an option! When it was announced that we were on final approach to Santo Domingo the plane erupted into cheering, nationalistic songs and shouts that made Mardi Gras seem tame! People leapt from their seats to hug each other, laughing and crying -- these people are sure happy to be home! The baby in front of me responded by crying even louder.

My hopes for a transit area in Santo Domingo were shattered when I found I had to go through the whole immigration/customs process to get to the COPA Airlines desk to get a boarding pass for my next two flights. This involved a lot more lineups and a long wait in the check in area until COPA employees showed up.

Once at the COPA desk I was informed my flights to Costa Rica had been cancelled - according to the computer the travel agency changed my itinerary, which cancelled all flights. The helpful agents found me a business class seat to Panama, but the fight on which I was booked to Costa Rica is totally full. The staff promised to phone COPA in Panama to explain what happened and to ask them to try to get me home tonight.

They did give me access to the Iberia first class lounge; where I got caught up on Internet and downed three beer in short order. Food was a bit limited, but I had three bags of some unidentified type of nut before the attendant showed up with donuts - I downed three of them. It was 4 PM and this was my first food of the day.

Getting to the boarding gate proved interesting. I was assured the flight was ready to board at gate B2, which agreed with my boarding pass. On arrival at gate B2 at the other end of the airport I found an AA flight boarding for New York. I asked an attendant about the Panama flight that was supposed to be boarding there, and was told it was late, but would board immediately after the New York flight left. Being skeptical I decided to go for a walk to see if I could find a COPA plane -- there is was at a gate halfway down the terminal. The people at that gate were looking for a flight to Puerto Rico!

Once aboard things went smoothly, as more food and liquor were ingested while typing this story into the computer. The flight was quiet, with good service and mediocre food. Mind you, by now any food was welcome!

There was another very quick connection in Panama. The flight was overbooked but they had been contacted and reserved an economy seat where I could get my feet out into the aisle for the one hour trip home. Fortunately it was a Brazilian built EMB190 with only two seats on each side of the aisle. COPA provided a tasty pizza plus free beer, wine and hard liquor to everyone in economy.

Once home immigration and customs were quick and friendly. In spite of the frustrations it was an interesting trip that reinforced the decision Marilynn and I made to not live in the Caribbean when we were looking for a home back in 1990 - 1991.