Day 6 on Statia - The Quill

We'd designated Sunday as our day to hiking up and into the Quill, intending to set off early to avoid hiking in the midday heat. Luckily the day was cloudy with rainy patches which meant it was going to be less hot, but more slippery on the trails.

The trail up the Quill starts at the end of the road I am staying in, so we set off on foot.

The Quill, as viewed from Rosemary Avenue, Statia

The Quill is a dormant volcano, and inside the crater is a lush damp tropical rainforest, inhabited by some of the island's more interesting wildlife, including the elusive Bridled Quail Dove, which on Statia is only found in the Quill. The highest point on the crater rim is Mazinga, at around 600m, but we were hiking up to 400m and then down again to 200m into the bottom of the crater itself.

The lower slopes of the volcano are covered in dense undergrowth, and secondary forest, once you leave the (invasive) coralita zone. The slopes were cultivated in the 18th century to grow sugar, cocoa and bananas among other commodities. On the lower slopes we were greeted by the beautiful zebra longwing butterfly,  as well as the striking red flash of the tropical dead leaf butterfly, seen here while at rest and camouflaged well as a leaf.

Tropical Dead Leaf Butterfly (resting with wings closed)

Here I also managed to spot Caribbean Elaenia and Yellow-crowned Night Heron, although I was far from being able to get a decent photo of either. In fact the only bird I got a clear photo of was the hicken that followed us up to the top in hope of being fed!

I was only able to identify these courtesy of Hannah's knowledge of the Quill's birdlife. Also seen were a metre long red-bellied racer snake and numerous hermit crabs of varying sizes.

The final part of the climb to the rim was a little steeper although wetter and cooler, and even though I had seen the view down into the crater before it still took my breath away when I got to the top. Photos don't really do it justice, the scale of the crater and the distance across just can't be captured well enough, you really have to be there.

Inside the Quill crater as seen from the rim

The climb down into the crater was much harder than the climb up. The well-maintained but steeply descending trail was at times little more than a hinted path over volcanic boulders of all sizes. The rain had made the rocks slippery, and the mud wet and slippery too, I only slipped a few times and was thankful to be wearing walking boots. Celie navigated the rocks with the sure footedness of the goats that scale the near-vertical cliff down by the harbour, and even four-year old Lalia put me to shame with her stamina and determination.

Heading down into the crater

On our way down, Hannah spotted another first for me - the scaly-naped pigeon (also known as the red-necked pigeon). The vegetation inside the crater was completely different to that on the outside slopes, we saw cocoa, wild banana, silk cotton (which produces kapok), Gum Tree (the tourist tree - as it has red flaky bark), trumpet tree (with enormous lobed leaves) as well as a myriad of epiphytes such as bromeliads growing on the trees and a lot of other flora, too many species to mention here.

In the end there was no bridled quail dove, but that was only a slight disappointment in the scheme of things. Five and a half hours later we arrived home happy, tired and hungry.

We snapped up some lunch then headed down to the black volcanic sandy beach for the rest of the afternoon to cool off and de-sweat. By the time we left the beach our bodies were carb-hungry, so we rounded the day off with home-made macaroni cheese with turkey sausage, spiced rum for the adults and a well-deserved early night