Living: The Still Pristine Caribbean

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Going away or getting there is not always easy. Because the Leewards mostly have short runways—landing on Saba's 1,300-ft. strip is like putting down on an aircraft carrier—visitors to these islands can go by jet only as far as St. Maarten; from there they proceed either by boat or Windward Islands Airways International (Winair). For Montserrat and Barbuda, the traveler flies to Antigua and then takes LIAT, acronym for Leeward Island Air Transport. On to the islands:

Statia: The Past Is Future. A little old lady answered the shrilling phone at 3 a.m. "Your oil shipment will be a day late," said the American-accented voice at the other end. "That's all right, mon," allowed the lady. "You'll tell 'em at the dock?" the American continued. "No trouble, mon." The conversation became progressively more surreal until the Statian woman inquired: "Where you callin' from, mon?" "Saudi Arabia. Where are you, for Pete's sake?" "St. Eustatius, mon." "St. What?'

It's not every day that a call from Riyadh to Buenos Aires is misdirected to Statia, but a mention of the island evokes an identical response from almost everyone: St. What?. was not always so. In its 18th century heyday, 8-sq.-mi. St. Eustatius was the richest free port in the Americas, with a population of more than 8,000 (now 1,400), visited by 3,000 ships a year. During the American Revolutionary War, vessels from Statia (pronounced Stay-shuh) shuttled arms and supplies to the rebellious colonies. On Nov. 16, 1776, the armed North American brigantine Andrew Doria, flying the Great Union flag, dropped anchor in the harbor and was accorded an eleven-gun salute by the Dutch governor. Thus, as noted on a plaque presented to the island by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, "the sovereignty of the United States of America was first formally acknowledged" by a foreign power. In 1781 London dispatched Admiral George Brydges Rodney to punish the Statian "nest of vipers." Wrote Rodney: "Had it not been for this infamous island, the American Revolution could not possibly have subsisted." In five months Rodney stripped the Golden Rock of booty then worth as much as £4 million (as high as $100 million by today's values). The island never recovered from Rodney's revenge, and after 17 changes of ownership over 150 years, involving the English, Dutch and the French, St. Eustatius finally settled down in 1816 as a declining Dutch colony in the Leewards.*

Today there are twice as many goats as people on the island, as many donkeys as cars. Since the collapse of the plantation economy in the early 19th century, Statians have struggled for a living as fishermen or small fanners—or emigrated to other islands. Though The Hague takes care of their essential needs, they remain proudly poor.