After a really short flight, 12 min from St Maarten we arrived at Statia. Because of the few taxis on the island you have to be sharp at your rate. 2 persons, 15 dollar for just a lousy ride in a no airco taxi. But because of the holiday spirit it's no biggy.
We arrived at te hotel. We arrived early but the room was ready, we even got upgraded to a see view room. That was really amazing, nicely done. Room was clean, spacious and comfortable. (pull out the wall plug, the fridge was old and noisy)
Very good breakfast at seaside, great service and oceanentrance.
Extremely good snorkle and swimming right in front of the hotel. There are old ruins with nice fish!
If you there, step by the coolcorner for chinese and ocean view terrace. Great food, low price.
Last but not least, take the hike at mountscenery. We went into the pit, steep hike but appreciated. Great island for around 4 days, after that we were done.

The Old Gin House is charming, has a great breakfast (included in the price of the room)and the oceanview room was very nice - with antique furniture, a decent bathroom and a balcony which oversees the water. Given some iffy reviews of the gardenview rooms I also checked those out and they were very nice too - although without a view of the water, which for me made the stay really great. As noted in other reviews, the hotel rooms themselves are in modern buildings and not part of the old gin house - which itself is an amazing historic structure. Currently, food service is breakfast every day, lunch Weds thru Saturday and no dinners. The food is excellent and I highly recommend the chicken sate for lunch which was really, really good.

To manage expectations, Statia is not a tourist destination and the Old Gin House is not a resort in the classical "Caribbean sense" because while it has a sandy area, there is really no beach at the hotel (although there are two beaches -- gray sand - just north of the hotel and a short walk away) and the pool is behind the Old Gin House and not some place you would want to hang out at (in fact, I never used it). The beach bar area, however, is open air, directly on the water and does have a resort feeling too it and it is a hang out for lots of expats working at the oil storage area.

The main reason to go to Statia is for the diving - which is really fantastic because the marine park was established early and there are not lots of divers so the marine life is really abundant and diverse - on my first dive (at Anchor Point North) I saw a yellow seahorse and a really large crab and green moray eel and on my last dive (at Aquarium) I saw an octopus outside in the open which was really cool. At Double Wreck (which is actually in the harbor area), I also saw tons of rays and two schools of squid. I dove with Golden Rock Dive Center and they are really relaxed and the diving is pretty easy (but note that they don't have water or snacks on the boats so bring your own). The first dive is around 9, the second at 11:30 and the third is around 2:30 - they come back to the dock between dives, so you have your surface interval there and they have drinks in the dive shop. Across the way is the marine park office (there is a turtle nesting area on the Atlantic side that you can visit if you make arrangements with the park service)

The location of the hotel is also good given that it is right on the harbour/waterfront and you can snorkel right outside the hotel and see turtles (2 are resident in the harbour south of the hotel) and the old stone walls on the island when it was a bustling port in the 18th century. I also like the little gift shop/snack place next door to the hotel - Mazinga on the Bay (which is also an historic site) - where you can buy snacks, soda, beer/wine, cheese and crackers and sit outside on the waterfront under umbrellas (which is important given that Statia was very hot when I was there) and go snorkeling too.

Eating is probably the main challenge during off season in Statia because the hotel has limited food service (although the bar is open really late). The Blue Bead, which is close to the hotel and dive shop, was closed - the owners were on vacation. Smoke Alley was a 7 minute walk down the road and it had good food - the 1/2 rack of ribs were really good (at around $15.50) and the lobster salad was delicious (at around $18.50). The pina coladas there were also great. Up in town (which is a hike), there are good Chinese restaurants - including Cool Corner where I had the spanish pork chops (which were really good and reasonably priced at $10 - given that I was traveling solo, the prices in the Chinese restaurants appear to be geared to more than one eating). I also went to Ocean View Terrace which has a good location and is in a historic building area but I didn't really like it. Frankie's Place was recommended but I didn't make it there.

Well the National Lampoon Vacation continued. We rented a very nice house, Keli Keli House on Statia, but the power went out on the island and blew the circuits in the house so we had to find a new place to stay for the night. The manager was very nice and was able to accommodate us for one night only, Thank goodness. The AC sort of worked, it was cooler than outside. The hotel restaurant was closed as were all the other restaurants on the waterfront. The bed was the worst I have ever slept on any my neck and back still hurt. We gave up and decided to leave the next day.

we had a great time at the Gin House. When we arrived Walter [manager] made us feel welcome and showed us to our room. The best thing over our stay was the friendly attention from the staff and personal treatment. Walter arranged scooter rentals for us (awesome), had advice on sites to see, restaurants, and things to do on the island. We only stayed 4 days but we felt like we made some good friends. The island was incredible, almost like stepping back in time. The grounds of the hotel were beautiful, awesome pictures around every corner. If you are looking for nightlife, do not go to statia, very quiet. There is plenty of outdoor activity to keep you busy all day; and when you get back to the hotel, they make the best Rhum punch!! The Gin House is not the fanciest hotel we have ever stayed in, but is one of our favorites. We plan to return!!