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Transcription: [00:07:45]
{SPEAKER name="Lisa Chickering"}
[00:07:44]
Well, with that part of the adventure safely behind us, we began to survey this curious little world. [[audience reaction]]

[00:07:54]
There's always a great deal of activity on shore the day the schooner comes, as this is the only way the people receive their supplies.

[00:08:03]
All produce and goods they have, including even ice boxes and bathtubs are rowed ashore in this manner. Everything and everyone is then transferred to the small cars which, when fully loaded, start their winding journey up the steep mountain to the main village oddly called The Bottom. [[audience laughter]]

[00:08:25]
Before the road was built, donkeys were the means of transportation up to the The Bottom.

[00:08:32]
The village is built within the crater of an extinct volcano, which accounts for its name. Here the little Bottom sits, and it's about the only spot on Saba with any actual area of level ground.

[00:08:45]
There are no real streets, just a few peaceful, shaded walks that are just wide enough for one small car. The majority of the island's 1,200 people live here, although most of the men have gone off to Aruba and Curacao to work in the oil refineries, so the women outnumber them 3 to 1.

[00:09:01]
Many while away the lonely hours doing embroidery work, which they're happy to sell to the few tourists who come their way. The main source of income, though, for everyone is the money the men send home.

[00:09:13]
Aside from the level ground of The Bottom, houses cling to the sides of the cliffs, and parts of the village reach up to where the clouds rest. They say that Saba wears a halo as the top is always ringed with white clouds.

[00:09:27]
You know, in this jet age of ours, it's hard to realize that there's such a remote, strange little world tucked off in a corner of the Caribbean.
[00:09:36]
Our schooner set sail once again, and leaving Saba behind, we continued on by sea to the third island of the Dutch Windwards, St. Eustatius.

[00:09:46]
Although second in size, it has the least population, with only 900 living here. During the 18th century it was one of the richest islands of the Caribbean, known as the Golden Rock, with a population of over 25,000.

[00:10:00]
But now it's an island steeped only in the history of its past.

[00:10:05]
This is the main square of its quiet, almost-deserted capital called Oranjestad. St. Eustatius played a very important part for us during the American Revolution. It was here that arms and supplies were transferred and sent to our colonists to help them fight the British.

[00:10:22]
In retaliation for their help to us, the British in 1780 looted and burned the capital. Well, the island never recovered from this attack. And the proud town of former days is now an open-air museum of decaying ruins.

[00:10:36]
This is all that remains of the old Dutch Reformed Church, and walls still stand with bits of Holland Delft tile in them, reflecting the wealth of bygone days.

[00:10:47]
The ringing of the town bell today means a ship is in. The harbor where once many ships stood now finds only one that comes only once a month, bringing all their supplies.

[00:10:58]
Although the land is rich, no one has the interest to do enough farming. So when the ship has been late, they've been known to go hungry.
[[end of segment]]