Ineke van Kapel
Study: MSc Landscape Architecture and Planning.
Destination: Sint Eustatius.
Thesis.
My name is Ineke and I’m a 2nd year Master student Landscape architecture. For my final thesis I’m going to Sint Eustatius for a month to contribute to the development of a Master plan for sustainable tourism on the island. You can follow me on this page or on Instagram (@inekevkapel). Search for the hashtag #wurldexplorers
Introduction
My name is Ineke and I’m a 2nd year Master student Landscape architecture. For my final thesis I’m going to Sint Eustatius for a month to contribute to the development of a Master plan for sustainable tourism on the island. A thesis for landscape architecture is a bit different from theses in other studies. We have to do a research and make a design for a specific area. I was already working on my thesis for some time when my supervisor came up with the idea to do my case study in Sint Eustatius. My first thought was: ‘where’? Sint Eustatius, or ‘Statia’ as it is called by the inhabitants is a very small island in the Caribbean, about the size of Vlieland. In 2010 it became a Dutch municipality and since then a lot of research and projects have been started up there.
It’s not about the destination but the journey
Before arriving at Sint Eustatius, there was a journey of 35 hours awaiting me. Firstly, I had to make a 20 hour stop-over at New York. I had been there once before but it was again pretty amazing and overwhelming. Everything is big, shiny, bright, full of energy and movement. There is a reason people call it ‘the city that never sleeps’. Together with a study mate, who is also going to Sint Eustatius, we arrived at 13.00 in New York and had to catch a flight to Sint Maarten the following day at 9.00. That left us plenty of time for a quick visit.
Statia week
Apparently, once in a year it’s Statia week and coincidently it’s just now when I’m here. The reason for Statia week goes far back. In 1776, Statia was the first country to salute the American fleet when they passed by, thereby recognising the independence of America. This had many consequences for Statia but today it is apparently reason for a celebration.
Statia's diverse landscape
Statia maybe small, but it is an island with many faces and a very diverse landscape. I have spent the first days of my stay here exploring the entire island and it’s diversity. In the first place this is important for my project to understand the character of the island and its diverse qualities, but of course it’s not a punishment to have to spend several days hiking and be treated to incredibly stunning views. So far we explored some very different sides of the island.
Sun and Stars
3 things I wanted to do when I was here where seeing the sunset, sunrise and go to a dark place to watch the stars. Seeing the sunset was easy. Just stay at the beach till 17.30 and it is served right to you. Finding a dark place on a non-cloudy night without a too bright moon was already a bit harder, since there are actually quite a lot of lights in the city. But what took the most effort was seeing the sunrise.
Diving
In my first story I already mentioned my ambition to go diving. So after 2 weeks of deliberation (it is still a lot of money) Carlo (a fellow student) and I decided to just go for it. We are here only once (probably) and we wanted to make the most out of our stay.
And back again
"Time flies when you're having fun". A many heard expression, but therefore not less true. The month I've spend here on Statia literally flew by and unfortunately I had to go back to the cold and especially wet Wageningen.