Day 10 on Statia, Anchor Point (drift dive) and Double Wreck (again)

Up early again and still aching slightly from the longish hike on the previous day, however that's not enough to stop me getting up for diving!

I walked down to the dive shop again waving smiling, nodding and exchanging 'Good Morning's with everyone - a nice lift to start the day. I'm starting to see the same people around  and about now, which is some indication of the small size of the island's population.

Our first dive for the day turned out to be a drift dive, as when we reached our intended site (Hangover I think) the current was too strong for us to be able to swim back to the mooring line, so we moved across to Anchor Point with the intention of drifting in the direction of Hangover.

Again I had the GoPro and was keen to attempt to get even closer to my subject matter this time, this usually meant hanging upside-down or sideways to be able to get in really close, but the results showed that I was managed to get in close enough to the 'sweet spot'.

Getting closer to some sponge life

Today I was diving with Ingrid, who was incredibly adept at spotting and pointing out the smaller animals on the reef, which is the stuff I love most. First up was another tiny tiny trunkfish, bobbing around like a small pea between the sea fans and corals, then a tiny cleaner shrimp.

Another good sighting was a flamingo tongue, I'd seen a couple before but I got pretty close to this one but wasn't able to take a photo before the current moved me along.

What I'd also noticed about my improved diving was that the marine life was responding to me in a different way. I was much calmer, slower and breathing in a more controlled way, and this seemed to startle fish much less, I was able to get a good close look at some fan worms before they popped their feeding tentacles back in. I was also able to get some good footage of fish swimming by pretty close without them dashing away. 

Eventually our drift took us across to Hangover, there were plenty of Black Durgon here, as well as a couple of pretty huge French Angelfish, Rock Beauty and Queen Angelfish. The site is named because of the rock lava flows that hang over the water creating safe spots for fish like these Grunts and Sergeant Major.

Some grunts hanging out under a lava flow hangover

But the highlight of the dive for me was the baby Spotted Drumfish hiding under one of these ledges - this was a first for me, a beautiful little fish. At the end of the dive, Ingrid came up with a final amazing spot - a tiny Filefish (apparently adult size) hiding itself away in the fingers of a soft coral. I do have a photo, but its pretty well camouflaged so not much point posting it without first cropping it.

I had almost three hours to spare before my next dive, so I headed for lunch at Franky's Bar & Restaurant before taking a slow amble round the old town again and a longer look around the fort.

Canons at Fort Oranje, Statia

View across the Caribbean from Fort Oranje, Statia

For the afternoon dive Hannah joined me again as we dived Double Wreck, the second time for me. Marieke had promised Secretary Blennies, tiny little fish, so I was excited about that, and luckily I had remembered to put my lenses in that morning.

Double wreck is an old wreck site, so only the anchors and some of the bricks used as ballast now remain. The anchor is where the Secretary Blennies live and as it was at the other end of the dive site we were going to head straight there. As soon as we reached the bottom we were greeted by a turtle sleeping in a giant sponge. Off to a good start...

Green Turtle snoozing in a giant sponge

We headed straight for the anchor, and there in tiny holes in the coral, were a whole village of tiny bespectacled heads poking out of holes in the coral encrusted anchor. Their timid but curious nature meant they kept popping in an out for a look! No photo of them I'm afraid - that would have required a macro lens but here's one of me by the anchor instead.

Me and an anchor

The site is pretty shallow and flat, so its easy to skim over the bottom looking for interesting stuff. Also spotted on this dive were numerous Lobster, a Southern Stingray and a Spotted Moray. Marieke even pointed out the ballast bricks from the 18th century wrecks. These ballast bricks were often used on the island for building work and many structures around the old town are made from these flat yellow bricks.

Another great dive, but tomorrow would be my last on Statia for now. 

Diving is a tiring business so the evening was again a relaxed affair, Lali and I watched some TV while Hannah went to a PTA meeting, and I prepared myself for the next few days off-island by ensuring I had some clean clothes for the rest of my trip. Luckily laundry dries here in under an hour (unless it rains).

All set for the boat to St Kitts tomorrow...

Day 9 on Statia - Hike to Boven

After a short but sweet sleep I was up on Wednesday to head out with Hannah, the park rangers and the interns and volunteers to hike the trail to Boven. The purpose of their hike was to ensure the trail was clear of overgrowth and clearly flagged with tape along the route.

I'd been warned that this was a moderately long hike, about to about 300m elevtion, but some areas with no cover or shade - so it could be hot! The payoff would be seeing a multitude of interesting plants, animals, landscape, as well as some remnants of the history of the island. So we set off with lunch, snacks, and about 4 litres of (frozen) water each.

Even at the start of the hike, the view of the Quill from the lower slopes of the northern hills of the island was pretty breathtaking

Early morning view of the Quill from the north side of Statia

One of the exciting plant species that can be seen on the way is the Statia Morning Glory, a species endemic to the island, so pretty special really. We also spotted a female Lesser Antillean Bullfinch

Statia Morning Glory (Ipomoea sphenophylla)

We eventually met with the rest of the group and had a quick rest spot at Venus Bay. Just the name exudes beauty, and indeed Venus Bay is beautiful, just like the rest of the island, but this bay faces out on to the Atlantic Ocean, which means it is littered with all kinds of plastic debris, large and small, from plastic bottles to what looked like part of a large household appliance, oil canisters to flip flops. If you've heard about the billions of tonnes of plastic that swirls around on our seas and washes up thousands of miles away, well I have now seen this for myself and its disgusting that we let this happen.

Plastic debris on Venus Bay

From Venus Bay we set off to Boven, about an hour's walk. The vegetation was more scrubby and dry, very different to that of the Quill. Nobody lives here now, but in the 18th Century the whole area was divided into plantations, despite the steepness of some of the slopes. Another birding opportunity, luckily I had brought my binoculars - a Red-Tailed Hawk circling high up above the hills

The northern hills of Statia with the Quill in the distance

Part way up the climb, Hannah showed me the remnants of an old rum distillery and the oven area used to heat the molasses(?) as part of the process.  There were also parts of stone foundations for houses, evidence of the slaves who lived, worked and died up in these hills.

Rum distillery which would have contained a large copper pot

When we made it to Boven the views were spectacular, well worth the hot dry hike (there had only been a teaser of a rain shower). At the peak, Caribbean Martins swooped and circled round us, far too speedy to be caught in my binoculars, let alone a shot with my camera. Thes best I can offer from the top of Boven is a very slow-moving me.

At the top!

At this point Hannah and I snuck away quietly to enjoy our lunch in peace and away from the youthful exuburance of the interns and sat on a clifftop looking out to sea and the neighbouring island of Saba. This moment of clam allowed nature to come to us, and as we ate our sandwiches, we watched graceful Red-Billed Tropicbirds far out at sea (easy to spot as they are mostly pure white). Closer by we were lucky enough to spot a male Antillean Crested Hummingbird flitting about a tree. Also buzzing about us were Bananaquits and Black-Faced Grassquits. A perfect lunch!

Clifftop view across to Saba from Statia

Our hike back was even hotter, the sun was unrelenting and the trail mostly devoid of shade. We walked in whatever shade we could find, and I was very grateful for Hannah's advice to bring so much water! Also spotted on our return journey was a solitary Common Ground Dove just disappearing into the bush, and a handsome Grey Kingbird hunting in the scrub for insects.

Back home there was just enough time for a power nap (well two hours in my case), bathe and pick up Lalia from daycare before all four of us hit the town. Cocktails at the Old Gin House which knocked me sideways slightly, then a dinner of stew beef at the Ocean View Terrace.

Of course having done all that, I was in bed by 10pm...

Day 8 on Statia - Lost Anchors, Anchor Point and Chien Tong Night Dive

A day late, but hey Tuesday was a busy day with three dives including a night dive.

So I started the day on Tuesday with some trepidation about the night dive, I'd only done one before and that was a shallow shore dive into a bay where lights from the shore made navigation easy. Tonight I was going to dive a wreck way out to sea at about 22m max!

I had originally planned to do a single dive on Tuesday morning, but my first dive was cut short after 28 minutes as my buddy had run out of air after chasing his camera that he had lost when jumping in!

Lost Anchors is a relatively new dive site, so there's no line to descend, making this a bit more tricky as you need to descend to 25m 'in the blue'. Originally named 'Lost Anchor' there are now around four anchors on this site, hence the re-naming.

It's a beautiful site, lots of crevices for big lobsters, and even a nurse shark I managed to snap while it was sleeping.

Nurse shark having a morning nap

Also spotted a huge barracuda, and unfortunately a lion fish, a beautiful yet destructive invader to the Caribbean. Unfortunately, my skills with the GoPro were not yet good enough for me to get good shots of any moving life, I just wasn't getting close enough and the GoPro is a very wide angle lens.

Still practising my slow breathing technique, I was surprised when we were told to re-surface just after I had reached half a tank, at that stage I had no idea about the drama on the surface with the camera and the wasted air of both my buddy and divemaster (who had to swim out to rescue him from the current that was taking him further from the reef at the surface). So I sat on the boat for half an hour waiting for the rest of the divers, who all surfaced excited about the 'closest encounter with three reef shark so far'. I wasn't happy so decided to do a second morning dive.

Boat selfie with the Quill (on the right)

The next dive at Anchor point (my second visit there) more that made up for it! Two close encounters with reef sharks (possibly the same one both times) and catching sight of a red-lipped blenny as well as finally getting some footage of those elusive yellowhead jawfish. I was getting closer with my photography too, and getting better results. Luckily I've fallen in love with sponges - pretty good inspiration for ceramic shapes, colours and textures and they don't move very fast!

A beautiful sea sponge

Back home for a quick lunch and then off to the dive shop again to take my nitrox exam. Passed! Result! Then a quick re-cap of night dive procedures before the briefing for the dive - the wreck of the Chien Tong - a Taiwanese fishing boat. Also known as 'Turtle Hotel' because hawksbill and green turtles go there to sleep at night.

At this point I should re-iterate how amazing the service was from Scubaqua. They manage to get the balance of a professional service with a real warmth and friendliness that really makes a difference to your dive experience. So when I mentioned I was a little anxious about the night dive, Vincent was happy to go through the night dive procedure with me, and paired me up with a buddy was was able to watch out for me.

I have to say that five minutes into the dive, all my anxiousness has dissolved. Night diving the Chien Tong is unlike anything I have ever experienced before. As well as enormous grouper, barracuda and all the opened corals, the wreck has many turtles either arriving to find a place to sleep for the night, roaming the ship to find a suitable spot or already sleeping. And they seem to be not bothered by human presence, they swim so close (one clipped my mask with its flipper as it swam over my back) which meant for some good footage. A couple of stills are shown below as well as a movie of the over-friendly turtle.

Green(?) turtle looking for a spot to sleep

Hawksbill turtle heading towards the Chien Tong

Another amazing experience here on Statia! Exhausted and happy I crashed when I finally got home around 9pm. I need all my energy for tomorrow as I have to be up at 6am to go hike up to 'Boven'.

Day 7 on Statia - Charlie Brown and Gibraltar

I woke up this morning with the exciting prospect of diving one of the biggest wrecks in the Caribbean, I was also excited at the prospect of borrowing Hannah's GoPro to get some underwater footage of the wreck and practice my underwater photography.

I set off for the dive school - a short walk downhill from where I am staying, about a mile or so. One thing that is really hard for an Englishman in Statia to get used to is that absolutely everybody you see in the street says hello or 'Good morning', even car drivers wave or gesture while driving in acknowledgement. I now also wave and say 'Good morning', 'Good afternoon' to everyone I pass. I'm sure it's part politeness and part curiousness about who I am (there are only 3000 or so people on the island so I probably stand out as a visitor) but I have to say it feels good.

My walk passes through the old part of Oranjestad, and there are plenty of photo opportunities of colonial style architecture, some extremely well maintained and others not.

Kerkweg, Oranjestad, St Eustatius

Passing through the town, the steep descent down to the shore takes me along the Old Slave Road, a very steep cobbled (and very hot) path from the Upper Town to the Lower Town, one of the many reminders that Statia was one of the largest slave trading ports in the Caribbean.

The Old Slave Road, looking down on to Oranjestad Bay

After a blunderous start to the morning (regulator dropped into the dock and instructor had to rescue it, forgot boots, instructor had to drive back to get them) we made our way out to the Charles L Brown (or Charlie Brown). It's a huge wreck, purposely sunk just over ten years ago, sitting about 30m at the bottom. I was excited - this was going to be my deepest dive to date.

The Charles L Brown seen from above

This is an amazing dive site the scale of the wreck is phenomenal. Words can't describe it, so I hope you get a taste of it from these photos and video.

Me with a big smile on my face!

This was my deepest dive to date at 29.9m, managing 36 minutes in total.

Cruising above the deck of Charlie Brown

For the afternoon dive, I was joined by Hannah, we had to revert to 'Plan B' due to algal blooms at the original dive site 'The Aquarium'. Instead we headed for 'Gibraltar', a bumpy ride to the north of the island, passing steep cliff faces where Red-billed Tropicbirds were nesting, and a Brown Booby passed by in the distance.

This dive site was very different to those at the other end of the island, being a much older volcano, in stead of lava flows, the sea bed was covered with giant boulders from the volcano's landslide, including the huge boulder shaped in a way that gives the site its name. The current was also strong here in places, and the water colder as it was almost on the Atlantic side rather than the warm Caribbean side.

We were immediately greeted by an enormous hawksbill turtle, several lionfish (unfortunately), a barracuda lurking in a rock crevice and the usual plethora of fish species.

Hawksbill turtle (photo: Hannah Madden)

As we headed for our final ascent, we encountered a school of barracuda in the near distance, a perfect end to a perfect day diving! It seems that focussing on my breathing paid off, this time I was down for 56 minutes instead of 48 the previous day, and had a deeper dive.

A happy day indeed...

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

Day 5 on Statia - Princess Corner

    My sixth day in the Caribbean was originally planned to be my first day on St Kitts, however with a lack of boat going across from Statia, it turned into my fifth day on Statia instead. Not such a bad thing - just an excuse for more diving!

 We managed to squeeze ourselves in to Scubaqua's busy schedule (busy, being as it was a Saturday) to do a morning dive and Mike led us on a dive to Princess Corner. This site is reasonably shallow (18m) and is made up of a large sandy area flanked by two fingers of solidified lava flow and coral gardens. A potential highlight of the dive was the chance of seeing yellowhead jawfish, which make burrows in the sandy area of the dive site.

Ready to dive! (photo: Hannah Madden)

 It was my first dive with Hannah and she brought along her GoPro, which meant the possibility of some good photos. Again I was diving with Nitrox, 32% O2. It always takes me a couple of dives to get back into the swing of it, so this being my fourth dive so far I was feeling pretty confident in my ability to prepare my equipment however that was soon dashed by the realisation I had attached my regulator over the bungee cords that were holding my tank from falling. Thankfully another diver in the party noticed and helped me out, as by that time I was already in my BCD. D'oh.

 A bumpy ride out to the site and we were first in the water and down to the bottom, just over 18m. Our first sighting was this sea cucumber. A nice big one just making it's way over the sandy sea floor.

A nice big fat sea cucumber (photo: Hannah Madden)

Sadly no jawfish at this stage, but it wasn't that we weren't looking hard...

Looking for jawfish (photo: Hannah Madden)

From there on we proceeded around the coral gardens. The dive site was pretty amazing, with a diverse range of fish, too numerous to mention them all, but highlights and favourites were porcupine fish, trumpet fish, smooth trunkfish (including a tiny ping-pong ball sized baby), french angelfish, queen angelfish and in the distance, a black-tipped reef shark cruising by at about 15m away.

No jawfish sighting for me as I had to end the dive after a total of 48mins, however Hannah managed to get some footage of two males in their burrows after I had surfaced. She managed a whopping 60 mins bottom time, so I've gotta train myself to breathe more slowly and get longer dives...

Visibility was about 20m, which means the water looks like it's clearing after the swell that was just calming down on the day of my arrival. I'm looking forward to more dives like this and more sharks. The plan is to dive the Charles Brown wreck on Monday.

In the afternoon we drove around the island, Little Miss Lalia showed us her skills with her scooter, and we wandered round the Berkel Family Plantation in the hope of spotting an Iguana, but no luck there. 

The Quill, seen from Berkel Family Plantation

However I did get to see what a pomegranate bush looks like, and added Green-Throated Carib and Pearly-eyed Thrasher to my birding ticklist. 

Birding Expedition to RSPB Pulborough Brooks

On Saturday I spent the early part of the day at RSPB Pulborough Brooks, my first birding event with the GBC. I don't drive but the reserve is only a ten minute cycle from Pulborough station, and very well signposted.

The reserve itself has a wide variety of habitats, scrub, woodland, wetlands and heathland (which is in the process of being expanded/reclaimed from the coniferous forest). This means there was a good range of diverse species to be spotted all in a relatively small area as well as some amazing vistas of bluebell woods.

Bluebells, fern and oak at RSPB Pulborough Brooks

At the start of our walk we ambled through some open scrub areas with trees, bushes and open grassland as well as small ponds. We were lucky enough to spot a whitethroat in some brambles only a few feet away - affording some great views and superb photo shots from one of our group. Around us we could hear chiffchaff, willow warbler, blackcap, greenfinch, wren, chaffinch. A solitary cuckoo was calling as well. As we headed along the path, we spotted a nightingale on some exposed branches, where it stayed for a few minutes giving us a lengthy rendition of its rich, throaty and complex song. It was the first nightingale I had ever seen or heard, so an experience I definitely won't forget.

As we approached the wetland hides, there were nightingales and other warblers singing all around us. My ability to identify these small birds by song alone is limited, however thanks to the expert members of the group, I've now added a couple to the list that I should now be able to identify.

On the wetlands and flooded meadows, we saw most of the usual suspects - mallard, mute swans canada geese, coots and moorhens as well as a heron, but the highlight was a sedge warbler, which was flitting round a bramble bush, but stayed still long enough for me to get a good look thanks to Malcolms super-powerful telescope - well enough to see its eyebrow stripe clearly. We also saw a linnet fleetingly - another new one for me.

On our way back to the cafe for a lunch break one eagle-eyed member of the group spotted an adder dozing in a sunny spot in the long grass by the footpath - which soon made a hasty exit as the shadows of nine inquisitive birders took away his sunny patch.

At the end of lunch I noticed a couple of the group had moved toward a field with a ploughed area - situated behind the cafe garden. I heard whispers of 'wheatear' and moved across with my binoculars to catch a glimpse of another new species for me - a female wheatear flitting around the ploughed furrows.

After lunch we took a brief stroll into the woodland on the other side of the reserve - the area where some of the forest was being cleared to make way for more heathland. It was a sight to see so many tree stumps in one area in a reserve. We didn't see much here, other than hearing a long-tailed tit and nuthatch.

By that point it was 3:30 and the rain looked like it was on its way. Time for a farewell to my new birding friends, a swift cycle to the station and a pleasant train journey home - one very happy birder indeed.

Species seen:

1. House sparrow
2. Chaffinch
3. Bullfinch
4. Greenfinch
5. Mute swan
6. Mallard
7. Grey heron
8. Canada goose
9. Coot
10. Moorhen
11. House martin
12. Barn swallow

New species seen:

1. Nightingale
2. Whitethroat
3. Gadwall (male)
4. Nuthatch
5. Sedge warbler
6. Linnet
7. Wheatear (female)

Species heard (but not seen):

1. Willow warbler
2. Chiffchaff
3. Blackcap
4. Long-tailed tit
5. Cuckoo
6. Goldfinch
7. Wren