On Statia, being reachable is an absolutely relative concept. Mobile phones usually work — unless the wind is wrong, a rain shower decides to cut through the signal, or a goat leans against the tower.

Locals don’t worry about it. For some reason, they always seem to have multiple phones — and if it’s important, the message will reach you another way: through your neighbor, on the bench by the supermarket, or during a chance chat in the street.

WhatsApp groups exist, but here they work more like archives: messages are read days later, followed by a single “Ok.” Calling? Only if you know the other person is in the right place at the right time — usually under a specific tree where the signal is just a little better.

And for those who think a phone number is fixed: forget to top up your credit once, and your number cheerfully goes to the next owner. That’s not a shock — just a Statian moment.