King Room with Garden View at The Old Gin House
A colonial-era cotton-gin factory turned boutique bolthole on Statia's sleepy Orange Bay.
Why Go
Behind coral-stone walls that once housed an 18th-century cotton gin, this ground-floor king room swaps sea vistas for something quieter — a shaded courtyard of frangipani, sea grape and hummingbirds, five steps from Statia's only oceanfront pool.
The Experience
The Old Gin House is Sint Eustatius's grande dame — a 20-room boutique property rebuilt from Dutch West India Company ruins on Oranjebaaiweg, with the restored gin-house façade fronting the Caribbean and the guest rooms tucked into a walled tropical garden across the lane. The Garden View King is the mellow choice: a mahogany four-poster king, cool tile floors, colonial planter's chairs, a small writing desk, and shuttered doors that open straight onto the pool terrace and its bougainvillea-draped loungers. You get the same AC, cable TV, mini-fridge and property-wide Wi-Fi as the pricier oceanfront suites, minus the sunset from your pillow — a trade many repeat guests actively prefer, because the garden wing stays several degrees cooler and the trade-wind rustle drowns out any late-night restaurant chatter. Mornings begin with strong Dutch coffee and a proper cooked breakfast on the waterfront terrace, then it's a two-minute stroll to the dive shop next door or a scramble up the cobbled Bay Path to Upper Town's 17th-century Fort Oranje.
What to Try
Book a garden-side lounger before 9 a.m. (there are only a dozen), take breakfast à la carte rather than buffet-style so the kitchen sends out the passion-fruit pancakes fresh, and reserve dinner at the waterfront restaurant for your first night — it's ranked #1 on the island and the wahoo carpaccio with local mango is the dish returning guests fly in for. Ask the front desk to book Scubaqua next door for a two-tank morning dive on Aquarium or Charles L. Brown wreck; they'll walk your gear over for you.
Insider Tip
Rooms 5–8 in the garden wing back onto the highest section of the perimeter wall, which blocks the pre-dawn rooster chorus that carries from Upper Town — worth requesting by number at booking, not just "quiet room." Also: the hotel's honesty bar on the terrace stays open after the restaurant closes at 9 p.m., and it's where you'll find the dive instructors, park rangers and the occasional visiting marine biologist swapping stories over a Statia Sunset rum punch.
The Practical Stuff
Address: Oranjebaaiweg 41, Oranjestad, Sint Eustatius, Caribbean Netherlands. Check-in 3 p.m., check-out 11 a.m. Restaurant open daily 7 a.m.–9 p.m. for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Payment: euros (official currency), USD widely accepted, Visa/Mastercard fine — bring some cash for taxis and dive tips. The hotel is a flat 400 m walk from the ferry-turned-dive-pier and a steep 5-minute climb up Bay Path to town; ask about the free shuttle to F.D. Roosevelt Airport (10 min). Reservations essential — the island has only ~90 hotel beds in total and Old Gin House fills up during dive-club season (Jan–Apr).
Pair It With
- Aquarium Dive Site — Statia's signature shore-accessible reef sits a five-minute boat ride offshore — Scubaqua next door to the hotel runs morning tanks daily and the reception will hold your breakfast until you're back.
- Alvin V. Courtar Park — The shady in-town green space is a two-minute walk up Bay Path, perfect for a post-swim ice cream and a look at the historic cannons before dinner at the hotel restaurant.
- Antillean Horde Car Rental Guide — A half-day rental lets you drive out to the Quill volcano trailhead and Zeelandia's black-sand beach — both easy loops from the hotel and impossible to reach without wheels.
