Nov 11
Where was Steve (and his warm fuzzy blanket) - my neighbor on the crammed redeye from LA to Charlotte? Air travel has stooped to a new low and USAir now charges for blankets and pillows ($7!) … Blessedly, my seat-mate (in Southern gentlemanly style, complete with a sugary drawl) loaned me the scrap of fleece he has taken to traveling with. Alas he debarked in his South Carolina hometown, leaving me on the subsequent leg to my own devices: in a meat-locker of a jet – crammed with bodies in a fuselage cold enough to hang meat. The flight attendants plow through the aisle, brusquely peddling their wares (a brilliant strategy: crank up the A/C and sell blankets); credit cards, jewelry and booze (duty-free), cocktails and boxed food. I stick with Diet Coke and a granola bar made of hamster food and wood shavings I’m sure (“Kashi TLC – Almond Flax” - must stand for ‘Tough Luck Charlie’), and shivering, keep my eye on the prize.
Two hours hence I’ll be in St. Maarten. ‘Warm, tropical, rainy, St. Maarten. The forecast is not too sweet, but a visual check gives me hope: the alabaster batting that slathered the southern United States has dissolved into streaks of haze and a dappling of clouds. I am here for the sun …
… and to cover the Golden Rock Regatta – a spinoff of the wildly popular St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. Begun just seven years ago, the event was created to help promote tourism to St. Eustatius island – familiarly known as Statia, and the Golden Rock.
Three and four hundred years ago this 12 square mile patch of land was one of the busiest, most prominent trading centers in the northern Caribbean Sea. Historians say most of the munitions that fueled our American Revolution can through this Dutch port – and they were the first (on Nov. 16, 1776) to recognize our independence. To this day they commemorate that alliance with parades and festivities, and our planned loop – racing from St. Maarten to St. Barths to Statia and back to St. Maarten – will place us at the Golden Rock during those celebrations.
It’s the least we can do.
‘Especially since Statia has dwindled since that time. Her population of 20,000 numbers just about 3,000 now, with annual visitors roughly the same. A very hot issue is the threatened expansion of an oil storage facility, which will pock the tiny, picturesque island with even more tanks – and put the marine reserve at increasing risk of an oil spill. I am eager to spend some time on the island.
# # #
PS - I am totally digging my new (used) mini laptop. She’s no toy: full-on RAM and ports and even a dvd drive: even so she’s sturdy, compact, fast, and the keyboard feels great under my tapping fingers. She’s my new travel companion - so I have named her Gypsy. Perfect!
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2012.0.1869 / Virus Database: 2092/4629 - Release Date: 11/20/11
No comments:
Post a Comment