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General Information Area: 21 sq km (8 sq miles). Population: 2609 (official estimate 1996). Population Density: 124.2 per sq km. Capital: Oranjestad. GEOGRAPHY: Politically, St Eustatius is one of three Windward Islands in the Netherlands Antilles; geographically it is part of the Leeward Group of the Lesser Antilles. It lies 286km (178 miles) east of Puerto Rico, 171km (106 miles) east of St Croix, 56km (35 miles) due south of St Maarten and 14km (9 miles) northwest of St Kitts. On the south end of the island is an extinct volcano called The Quill, which has a lush rainforest in the crater. Twice a year, sea turtles clamber up onto the black volcanic sands that rim the island to lay their eggs; giant land crabs hunt on the beaches every night. Government: Part of the Netherlands Antilles; dependency of the Netherlands since 1630. Head of State: Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, represented locally by Governor Jaime M Saleh since 1990. Head of Government: Prime Minister Miguel Arcangel Pourier since 1999. The Netherlands Antilles consist of Curaçao, Bonaire, St Maarten, St Eustatius and Saba. The capital of the island group is Willemstad, Curaçao. Language: Dutch is the official language. Papiamento (a mixture of Portuguese, African, Spanish, Dutch and English) is the commonly used lingua franca. English and Spanish are also widely spoken. Religion: The majority are Protestant with a Roman Catholic minority. Time: GMT - 4. Electricity: 110 volts AC, 60Hz. Plugs with two flat prongs are in use. Communications:   Telephone Fully automatic system with good IDD connections. Country code: 599. Outgoing international code: 00. Calls made through the operator are more expensive and include a 15 per cent tax. Mobile telephone Analogue network operated by East Caribbean Cellular (website: www.eastcaribbeancellular.com). Not compatible with GSM handsets but some US handsets can be used. Roaming agreements exist. Internet E-mail provider is goldenrock.net. Public access is available in the library. Telegram Services operated by TELEM, ANTELECOM and All American Cables. Post Airmail to Europe takes four to six days, surface mail four to six weeks. The main post office is open Mon-Fri 0730-1600. Press No newspapers are published on St Eustatius, but English-language dailies The Daily Herald and St Maarten Guardian are published on St Maarten. Most other newspapers in the Netherlands Antilles are published in Dutch or Papiamento. BBC World Service and Voice of America frequencies: From time to time these change. BBC (website: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice): MHz 15.19 12.10 6.195 5.975 Voice of America (website: www.voa.gov): MHz 13.79 9.455 6.130 5.995 From www.columbusguides.com, Copyright © 2004 Highbury Columbus Travel Publishing Terms and Conditions apply.