St. Eustatius
Sint Eustatius, known as Statia, is a lovely island in the Caribbean Sea. It is only 5 miles long and 2 miles wide, and home to almost 4000 people on this Dutch Caribbean island speaking English, Dutch and Spanish. It is located in the north eastern Caribbean, 150 miles (240 km) east of Puerto Rico, 90 miles (144 km) east of St. Croix, 38 miles (60.8 km) south of St. Maarten, and 17 miles (27.2 km) southeast of Saba. Statia is only a few hours by air from major American cities and 15 minutes flying time from St. Maarten. Together with sister islands Saba and St. Maarten, Statia forms the Windward Islands of the Dutch Caribbean.
300 hundred years ago, every Buccaneer, Admiral, Sea-swab and Pirate knew of Statia as the Golden Rock. During the latter part of the 17th century and throughout the 18th century, St. Eustatius was a major trading center with some 20,000 inhabitants and thousands of ships calling at her shores.
Statia Channel is between Statia and St. Kitts which was first crossed by a solo swimmer on 1 November 2012 by Jarrett Tishmack.
