Off the beaten track in St. Eustatius

While the island itself may be ‘off the beaten track’ – a known getaway for tourist seeking a relaxed and quaint vacation, one great place made for the start of our new series of “Off the beaten track”!

Visit the Quill – designated as a National Park in 1998, this dormant volcano soars to a height of 600 meters (2000ft)!

This captivating volcano is now covered with lush rainforest and has attracted hundreds of visitors over the past years.

A tour guide may accompany you, or you are free to hike on your own – either way it’s a fascinating experience. Having hiked your way up to the crater, take a moment and take it in. Look around and enjoy the natural surroundings. Explore the lush tropical rainforest as you hike down the interior of the crater, to a depth of 273 meters – nestled with enormous ‘elephant ears’, tree ferns, begonias, and fruit trees.

The Dutch settlers first called it “Kuil” meaning pit or hole, but the English settlers renamed it “Quill”. There are over a dozen species of orchids found at the Quill, some quite rare and over 50 species of birds found around the island; some native, some visitors.

The entrance fee tags for hiking the Quill are sold at STENAPA and the Tourist Office – www.statiatourism.com. If you plan on hiking with a Guide, you should make a reservation 3 days in advance with the STENAPA office – www.statiapark.org. The fee is US$10 per person and children are welcome to hike the Quill as well! If on the other hand, you decide to hike without a Guide, the entrance fee tag is US$3 per person.

From Oranjestad, the island’s town to the main entrance trail of the Quill – will approximately take 45 minutes by foot. While strolling through town you will find direction signs which guide you to the beginning of the tracks of the Quill (Rosemary Lane/ Rosemarylaan).

Map trails: Schematic map of the Quill

There are many things to do in St. Eustatius that are not so touristy and will get you connected with the locals.

Read more: http://caribbeantl.com/caribbean-islands/st-eustatius

Photo Credit: Cees Timmers

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The St. Maarten Heineken Regatta Steering Committee, Heineken, and International Liquors & Tobacco Trading are proud to announce that for the 30th St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, they will be returning the Friday night party to the Boardwalk. On Friday March 5th 2010, following a day of sailing that ends in Great Bay, the evening’s festivities and musical entertainment will be held on the Great Bay Promenade. The steering committee is very pleased with the support from the local authorities and the surrounding bars and restaurants in helping to host the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta on the Boardwalk.

Racing will commence on Friday morning and participants will complete the “Around the Island” course, with a finish in Great Bay. This allows the participants to get the longest leg of the weekends racing over with on day one, leaving the shorter races for Saturday and Sunday. “We are always taking the wishes and desires of our regatta sailors into account and hope that they are pleased to not only be able to race in our waters but also to have the chance to see a variety of finish locations each evening. We look forward to competitive racing and happy sailors for this 30th edition of the St.Maarten Heineken Regatta”, Heather Tackling, Director of the event.

Both the steering committee and local authorities and businesses expect a great crowd on the Boardwalk that evening and the local shops, bars and restaurants should benefit from the high increase in traffic from local shoppers and the visiting tourists.

“The St. Maarten Tourist Bureau, on behalf of the Island Government, is very excited to be part of this event. It is significant, and indeed, symbolic of the Heineken Regatta in this its 30th anniversary to return the Friday night big bash to the Boardwalk in accordance with it’s original slogan of ‘serious fun’”, Regina LaBega, Director of Tourism states.

Frans Richardson, commissioner of Tourism, one of the key government officials working with the steering committee says: “The Boardwalk represents the very best of serious fun: where else can you find ‘serious’ duty free shopping; ‘serious’ gourmet dining, and a ‘serious’ stroll by the Great Bay Beach, with the option of a soak in the crystalline waters of the Caribbean Sea, while ‘serious’ music and entertainment fills the air? All of this is just a hop-skip-and jump at the Great Bay Promenade. It is a feature that attracts our visitors like a magnet and brings back life into town in a very fun-filled way. As Commissioner of Tourism, I am very aware of this and congratulate the organizers of the Heineken Regatta on this important milestone. We look forward to celebrating all along the Boardwalk, from the Sea Palace stretching to Bobby’s Marina,” he added.

The St. Maarten Heineken Regatta kicks off Thursday March 4th 2010 and will end on Kim Sha beach Sunday March 7th. The weekend is filled with world class sailing during the day and fun-filled Heineken Parties at night. With the original slogan of the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta being “Serious Fun”, naturally people can expect an amazing ensemble of good music, great food and of course ice cold Heineken beers during the Friday night activities on The Boardwalk.

John Leone, commercial director of ILTT states, “We want to use the Philipsburg venue to showcase the immense local musical talent that Sint Maarten/Saint Martin offers. We will be featuring the hottest bands and musicians the island has to offer and provide the artists the platform to showcase their talents. As we always say ‘It takes the Whole Island to throw a party this big’ and the cooperation we are seeing from the various groups is very encouraging”.

The layout of the entertainment along the Boardwalk will feature various stages to allow an eclectic array of music styles and performances for all types of music lovers. There will be entertainment all along the Boardwalk and each official Boardwalk vendor gets the opportunity to be a part of this great event. Celebrating the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta’s 30th edition, this year’s event promises to be a great success.

So make sure you are on The Boardwalk the 5th of March, because it is going to be a “Seriously Fun” night!

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January 19, 2010, Simpson Bay – St. Maarten – With all eight entries now confirmed, this year’s Budget Marine Match Racing Cup at the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta is set to establish itself firmly on the ladder as one of key match racing events in the Caribbean.

As well as entries received from Peter Isler, Gavin Brady, and Peter Holmberg – three of the world’s most respected match racing skippers – there’s some other interesting names in melting pot who’ll be racing for cash prizes totalling $10,000 at this ISAF-sanctioned Grade 5 event, including Colin Rathbun, Eugeniy Nikiforov, Jakub Pawluk, Chris Nesbitt and Marc Fitzgerald.

The racing, to be held on Tuesday 2 March during the run-up to St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, will be based on a round-robin format and sailed in Lagoon Sailboat Rental’s fleet of six Jeanneau SunFast 20s, without spinnakers. The one-day format of this event, and the fact that there are just six boats for eight teams, means racing will be exceptionally action-packed with crews swapping boats after every flight to ensure racing is kept as fair as possible.

With a silver medal from the 1988 Games, and a win for Alinghi at the 32^nd America’s Cup in 2007, listed among his exceptional sailing achievements, it wasn’t particularly surprising to see Peter Holmberg clean up at last year’s inaugural Budget Marine Match Racing Cup. The good news is, he enjoyed it so much; he’ll be back to defend his title this year.

Holmberg who is no stranger to island life, having been brought up on the US Virgin Island, is always an avid supporter of Caribbean regattas and says as well as competing in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series in New Zealand in January last year, he made sure he did most of the big events in the Caribbean. “The Heineken is the big opener to the Caribbean season so I’m looking forward to racing against all the hot boats coming this year.”

Sailing with team mates Ben Beer on jib, and Maurice Kurg on mainsheet, Holmberg says the match racing is a great lead-in to the Heineken Regatta, commenting: “Match racing puts a premium on all aspects of racing, from crew work, to speed, to rules, so it’s a great way to get me and my team in racing shape just before the big regatta.”

Joining Holmberg at the event this year is the equally talented match racing pro Peter Isler. Isler who is two-time winner of the America’s Cup and has a total of five America’s Cup campaigns under his belt including the position of Oracle’s navigator in 2007 at the 32^nd edition of the Cup, says he’s really looking forward to getting back on the helm as a match racing skipper. Isler was a really active and successful skipper on the pro match racing tour in the late 80s and early 90s and sees the Budget Marine match racing event as a chance to get back on the helm and have some fun. He commented: “It’s been so long since I steered any sort of regatta, my expectations are certainly tempered… but it will be a lot of fun… and that’s why we are coming!”

Isler will be racing with a couple of his teammates from Titan 15 – Artie Means from San Diego, and CT Olander from Newport, Rhode Island. He says when he saw publicity about the match race, he thought it would be a fun start to Heineken Regatta. “Because it’s only one day, I can afford the time – we start practice on Titan the day after the match race.”

With Gavin Brady, another highly talented match racing helmsman, and multiple America’s Cup campaigner, joining the line up at the Budget Marine Match Racing event, there’ll be no shortage of top ranked competition on Simpson Bay Lagoon in March. Brady enthusing about the event, said: “This will be the first match race event I will sail in 2010, and with good teams and great winds I am really looking forward to the racing.”

Colin Rathbun from the BVIs is another Caribbean race week regular and although he is known more on the fleet racing circuit sailing his IC24, he won the 2009 Pete Shiels Match Race, and notched up a creditable fourth place overall at the 2009 Carlos Aguilar Match Racing Regatta in St Thomas. ‘Our claim to fame at that event,” said Rathbun, “is to have beaten US match racing pro Dave Perry. We barely slid through in front of him, but it’s not every day an amateur sailor can say that.”

Russian sailor Eugeniy Nikiforov who’s currently ranked 45^th the ISAF Match Racing placings, will be back for the second year running and hoping to improve on last year’s third overall, while Marc Fitzgerald from the British yacht Sojana hopes to at least match the second place he achieved last year. Jakub Pawluk from Poland will make his debut at this event, while Chris Nesbitt and his team of Brian Janney and Isao Toyama who’ve been match racing together for a year hope to turn a few heads as they pit themselves against the professionals. Nesbitt confessed he is very much looking forward to sailing against Peter Isler. “It’s not often that we get to sail against America’s Cup veterans and it should be a great learning experience for a new team like ours.”

For full information on the Budget Marine Match Racing, the Gill Commodore’s Cup, and the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, including entry lists, entry forms and news, visit www.heinekenregatta.com.

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