The Quill Volcano

The Quill is the dormant volcano that forms the southern third of St Eustatius, rising to 601 metres above the flat agricultural plateau that takes up most of the island. The cone is steep and symmetrical, the crater intact, and the interior of the crater contains a lush pocket of rainforest that feels extraordinary given how dry the surrounding island is.

The hike from the trailhead on the eastern slope to the crater rim takes about 45 minutes to an hour at a steady pace. From the rim, you can descend into the crater on a rougher trail through increasingly dense vegetation — wet, mossy, and very different from what's outside. Back on the rim, the views extend in all directions: the island of Saba to the northwest, St Kitts and Nevis to the south, St Maarten on a clear day. Quill/Boven National Park manages the trails and charges a small entrance fee.

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The Quill's crater contains one of the last intact patches of tropical rainforest in the northeastern Caribbean. Because Statia was never developed for mass tourism, the crater forest was never cleared, and it now shelters species — including the endangered St Eustatius skink, found nowhere else on earth — that have been wiped out on larger, more developed islands. Hikers who descend into the crater find themselves in a completely different ecosystem from the dry scrub of the surrounding island: dripping moss, tree ferns, strangler figs, and a sudden, complete silence from the wind.

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