Gallows Bay, St. Eustatius: The Working End of the Shore
The harbour at the southern end of Lower Town, where the boats and the fuel come in.
Why Go
Gallows Bay is the southern end of Statia's waterfront, where the historic warehouse strip gives way to the working port. The name is exactly as grim as it sounds and refers to what once stood here. Today it is the island's harbour: the pier that supplies a place with no other lifeline, the marine park office, the dive boats, and the dark-sand shore that runs north into the ruins. It is not scenic, and it is where a good deal of what makes a visit to Statia possible actually happens.
The Experience
The bay curves at the foot of the cliff with the port installations at one end and the older shoreline stretching away at the other. Boats come and go, fuel and freight are landed, and the marine park boats leave from here for the reefs and the submerged town. The beach is dark volcanic sand and rock, used for launching rather than lying on. Behind rises the same cliff that carries Upper Town, and the Bay Path comes down a little to the north. It is quiet — Statia receives very few visitors and the port is small by any standard — and the mix of eighteenth-century ruin, working pier and marine park office within a few hundred metres is characteristic of an island where everything happens in one place. The bay also shows how thin the margin is for a very small island. One pier supplies everything Statia consumes, and when weather closes it the shelves in town empty within days. Visitors rarely think about the logistics of an island of three thousand people until they are standing at the point where all of it arrives.
What to Try
Dive or snorkel, because that is what this end of the shore is for: the operations here run to the reefs, the wrecks and the drowned harbour, and the marine park fee that funds the protection is paid on this stretch. The historic remains begin immediately north and the Bay Path climbs from there to Upper Town. Eat along Lower Town at The Old Gin House, the Boardwalk Café or the Bay Brow Barbecue Hut, and the Golden Rock Mini Market covers supplies. The Congo Man Store and the small shops here are the everyday retail. Otherwise the bay is a working place with the island's history immediately alongside it, and the walk north along the shore is the way to see both. Watch a supply day if one falls while you are here. It is the closest thing Statia has to a spectacle, and it explains more about how a three-thousand-person island works than any museum panel.
Insider Tip
Pay attention to the name rather than skipping past it. Gallows Bay is called that because this is where executions were carried out, on a shoreline that was simultaneously one of the wealthiest trading addresses in the Atlantic world and a major slave-trading entrepôt. Statia's prosperity and that trade were the same thing, and the island does not hide it. Walking from here north through the warehouse ruins with that in mind is a different and more honest experience than treating them as picturesque.
The Practical Stuff
Gallows Bay is at the southern end of Lower Town, below Oranjestad's cliff and a few minutes from F. D. Roosevelt Airport. It is the island's working harbour, with the pier, fuel installation and marine park office. The shore is dark sand and rock rather than a swimming beach. Divers pay a marine park fee that funds protection of the reefs and the submerged town. Statia is a special municipality of the Netherlands using the US dollar, with English the everyday language. Card acceptance is patchy, so carry cash. Facilities are limited to the restaurants along Lower Town and a small market. The island is in the hurricane belt, roughly June to November.
Common Questions
Why is it called Gallows Bay?
Because executions were carried out here. The name is a plain reminder that the same shoreline was both one of the wealthiest trading addresses in the Atlantic and a major slave-trading entrepôt.
Is there a beach at Gallows Bay?
Dark volcanic sand and rock, used for launching boats rather than for swimming or sunbathing. Statia has no conventional beach anywhere on the island.
What happens at Gallows Bay?
It is the island's working harbour — the pier that supplies Statia, the fuel installation, the harbour office and the dive operations. Everything arriving by sea comes through here.
Can you dive from here?
Yes. Operations on this shore run to the reefs, the wrecks and the submerged remains of the eighteenth-century harbour, and the marine park fee is paid on this stretch.
How far is it from Upper Town?
A short distance north along the shore and then up the Bay Path, or a slightly longer loop by road. The whole of Oranjestad is within a few minutes.
Are there facilities?
A handful of restaurants along Lower Town, a small market and the harbour offices. Card acceptance is patchy across Statia, so carry cash.
Pair It With
- Golden Rock Dive Center Guide — The submerged town and the reefs offshore.
- The Old Gin House Guide — Lunch along the historic shoreline.
- St. Eustatius Harbor Office Guide — The lifeline that keeps the island supplied.
