Is Saba really that good?
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My buddies and I dove 3 times a day for a week. We went to one dive sight twice ( tent rock ?) did it during the day & night. It's is a great night dive ! Our crew said they had never did it at night.....I think it's on their short list of nite spots ( it's close to port too) . The water is so clean !
if you like hiking its a great spot for you to....
if you are an American who doesn't like the taste of Heineken , try the Heinken on island, it's sooooo much better ( fresh )
i don't like telling people about Saba, because its such a great hidden gem, really don't want people going and @*#>ing it up.
if you like hiking its a great spot for you to....
if you are an American who doesn't like the taste of Heineken , try the Heinken on island, it's sooooo much better ( fresh )
i don't like telling people about Saba, because its such a great hidden gem, really don't want people going and @*#>ing it up.
LarryHinDC
Contributor
I've been to Dominica, Roatan, Bonaire, and Saba in the Caribbean. While Saba doesn't offer everything other places do (shore diving, wrecks), I does have a wonderfully managed marine park, an abundance of marine life, and a large variety of sites. And the dive operations, especially Sea Saba, are very professional and take as good care of you as anywhere else I've been.
As mentioned above, the island also offers some of the best hiking in the Caribbean, with hikes that take you through 5 distinct climate types, from a near-desert ecosystem on the windward side of the island to an elfin rain forest, complete with giant tree ferns. The first time I hiked through that, I kept thinking I was going to run into a velociraptor!
We have a cottage on Saba now, so I am biased. What compelled us to return, though, was the friendliness of the local Sabians. They are truly proud of their home and their heritage and love to share it with you.
As mentioned above, the island also offers some of the best hiking in the Caribbean, with hikes that take you through 5 distinct climate types, from a near-desert ecosystem on the windward side of the island to an elfin rain forest, complete with giant tree ferns. The first time I hiked through that, I kept thinking I was going to run into a velociraptor!
We have a cottage on Saba now, so I am biased. What compelled us to return, though, was the friendliness of the local Sabians. They are truly proud of their home and their heritage and love to share it with you.
I contacted a dive shop before we flew over, and they said they would make arrangements for me once I got to the airport. My non-diving wife came with me, just to look around. We arrived and went to a booth for immigration and customs. He checked my passport, and then he glanced at some penciled notes on a scrap of paper, told me who my taxi driver would be, and pointed him out to us. My dive operator was on the other side of the island, and we had a nice chat about the island during the drive. He dropped me off and I did three dives while he went off with my wife. I did not pay anything at that time.
My wife visited a number of places with him. She took a long hike, after which he picked her up. He took her to a number of interesting places, and at one point did some brief shopping and took the food home to his wife. My wife met her, and they had a nice chat. On one stop, he ran into some school children who needed a ride home, and they hopped in.
He picked me up a the end of the day, and we went to the airport. He checked his scrawled pencil marks to see what had been done that day and came up with a total fare--a ridiculously low total fare. He got a worthy tip.
It's hard to beat that kind of atmosphere. I'd love to go back.
A fellow SBer PM'd me about how Saba compared to Cozumel. We go Cozumel quite a bit but decided to try Saba. We were there the second week of March and loved it! Because I haven't written a report yet on SB, here's what I wrote to SBer, underachiever:
Hi underachiever:
Our trip to Saba was fabulous! We go to Coz quite a bit and love it there but decided to try something new. We were not disappointed. It was a very long day getting to Saba from Arizona. We left PHX at 1:00 AM on Saturday morning; had a quick layover and plane change in Charlotte; flew from Charlotte to St. Maarten; and then took a 90-minute ferry ride to Saba. There are only two ways to get from St. Maarten to Saba....on a very small plane or the ferry.
Like Coz, Saba has a marine park with strict rules about not hunting, touching, or playing with the critters. You also are accompanied by a DM on all dives. The island is a dormant volcano and it rises close to 3,000 feet out of the sea. It is lush, tropical, green, and reminds me of the island on the old show "Fantasy Island." There are no big hotels, no beaches, no fancy shops or restaurants. There are small hotels and very good small restaurants on the island. The people are so nice! There are three "towns" on the island and we stayed in Windward at Julianna's Place. Our room was spacious, it had a balcony with a "to die for view of the sea," and everything was clean. There's no crime on the island so locking a door is not necessary. We left laptops, cameras, money, dive gear, etc. in our room and never had anything touched. There's a small restaurant at the hotel....The Tropics Cafe....which was good. We also ate at other restaurants in Windward.
When we booked the trip we booked a package with Julianna's Place and Sea Saba Advanced Dive Center. I have to say that the dive shop is probably the most organized and conscientious shop we've ever used. They know how to run a good shop and great dive boats. We never had more than 10 divers on our boat during the entire week. The captains and DM's were outstanding and gave the most thorough briefings we've ever heard. They even used a whiteboard to draw a picture of the dive site so you could understand the topography and the route really well before you hit the water. Our dives ranged from a minimum of 45-50 feet to a maximum of about 120 feet. On the deeper dives there was no pressure to dive to the maximum depth, in fact, I think I hit 101 ft. only once during the trip.
After diving each day you leave your gear on the boat and the crew takes care of it. You can take back to your room anything you want....computers, regs, etc....and they have your BCD set up on a tank the next day. Your wetsuit gets hosed off with fresh water and hung up on a rack on the boat and is ready for you the next day. If you dive Nitrox they test the tanks right on the boat and you watch and sign a form. What we loved the most is, for most dives, it's only about a 5 minute boat ride to the dive site! I think the longest ride was about 10 minutes. Loved it! The underwater topography is so interesting....seamounts, pinnacles, reefs, white sand, dark sand, etc. We saw the usual suspects---turtles, eels, sharks, rays, and TONS of fish. The reefs are very healthy. I think the sponges and coral heads in Coz, however, are more vibrant in color than in Saba. In Coz, you can see 10 - 15 dive boats in the same vicinity on places like Palancar Reef. In Saba, you might see one or two other dive boats in the same vicinity you're in. The boats actually tie up to a buoy, and only one boat per buoy is allowed.
There is one very steep and winding road on the island that takes you from the hotel to the harbor. We were picked up every morning in a van and taken to the harbor and after diving the van was there to take us back to the hotel. We never had to call for a taxi because the van/driver was part of the package. To tell you the truth, I'm so glad WE didn't have to drive the road. If a person is afraid of heights, Saba isn't a good place to visit!
Underachiever, this is probably way more than you wanted to know. At some point I'll put a trip report on ScubaBoard. I'd definitely recommend a trip to Saba. Yes, it's more expensive than going to Coz and staying at The Blue Angel, but it's definitely worth it. PM me if you want more info
Hi underachiever:
Our trip to Saba was fabulous! We go to Coz quite a bit and love it there but decided to try something new. We were not disappointed. It was a very long day getting to Saba from Arizona. We left PHX at 1:00 AM on Saturday morning; had a quick layover and plane change in Charlotte; flew from Charlotte to St. Maarten; and then took a 90-minute ferry ride to Saba. There are only two ways to get from St. Maarten to Saba....on a very small plane or the ferry.
Like Coz, Saba has a marine park with strict rules about not hunting, touching, or playing with the critters. You also are accompanied by a DM on all dives. The island is a dormant volcano and it rises close to 3,000 feet out of the sea. It is lush, tropical, green, and reminds me of the island on the old show "Fantasy Island." There are no big hotels, no beaches, no fancy shops or restaurants. There are small hotels and very good small restaurants on the island. The people are so nice! There are three "towns" on the island and we stayed in Windward at Julianna's Place. Our room was spacious, it had a balcony with a "to die for view of the sea," and everything was clean. There's no crime on the island so locking a door is not necessary. We left laptops, cameras, money, dive gear, etc. in our room and never had anything touched. There's a small restaurant at the hotel....The Tropics Cafe....which was good. We also ate at other restaurants in Windward.
When we booked the trip we booked a package with Julianna's Place and Sea Saba Advanced Dive Center. I have to say that the dive shop is probably the most organized and conscientious shop we've ever used. They know how to run a good shop and great dive boats. We never had more than 10 divers on our boat during the entire week. The captains and DM's were outstanding and gave the most thorough briefings we've ever heard. They even used a whiteboard to draw a picture of the dive site so you could understand the topography and the route really well before you hit the water. Our dives ranged from a minimum of 45-50 feet to a maximum of about 120 feet. On the deeper dives there was no pressure to dive to the maximum depth, in fact, I think I hit 101 ft. only once during the trip.
After diving each day you leave your gear on the boat and the crew takes care of it. You can take back to your room anything you want....computers, regs, etc....and they have your BCD set up on a tank the next day. Your wetsuit gets hosed off with fresh water and hung up on a rack on the boat and is ready for you the next day. If you dive Nitrox they test the tanks right on the boat and you watch and sign a form. What we loved the most is, for most dives, it's only about a 5 minute boat ride to the dive site! I think the longest ride was about 10 minutes. Loved it! The underwater topography is so interesting....seamounts, pinnacles, reefs, white sand, dark sand, etc. We saw the usual suspects---turtles, eels, sharks, rays, and TONS of fish. The reefs are very healthy. I think the sponges and coral heads in Coz, however, are more vibrant in color than in Saba. In Coz, you can see 10 - 15 dive boats in the same vicinity on places like Palancar Reef. In Saba, you might see one or two other dive boats in the same vicinity you're in. The boats actually tie up to a buoy, and only one boat per buoy is allowed.
There is one very steep and winding road on the island that takes you from the hotel to the harbor. We were picked up every morning in a van and taken to the harbor and after diving the van was there to take us back to the hotel. We never had to call for a taxi because the van/driver was part of the package. To tell you the truth, I'm so glad WE didn't have to drive the road. If a person is afraid of heights, Saba isn't a good place to visit!
Underachiever, this is probably way more than you wanted to know. At some point I'll put a trip report on ScubaBoard. I'd definitely recommend a trip to Saba. Yes, it's more expensive than going to Coz and staying at The Blue Angel, but it's definitely worth it. PM me if you want more info
Saba Divers is the shop I dove with, Great bunch ! When we dove there, we had Billy pick us up every AM took us dwn to the boat, and he would be there to pick us up at the end of the day ( you really are not going to walk to the pier ) . We had a great time......Saba divers, Flambouyant Cottage & Dive Saba .com = great trip
I used Dive Saba Statia Travel is a dive travel specialist dedicated to only the islands of Saba and Statia, St. Eustatius. to book everything ( Beth is awesome)
I used Dive Saba Statia Travel is a dive travel specialist dedicated to only the islands of Saba and Statia, St. Eustatius. to book everything ( Beth is awesome)
I've been to Saba twice. Both trips were great ! 10 dives each time. Once in November and once in April. I've never been to the Pacific, but I've been several places in the Caribbean. Just my opinion, I put ahead of Grand and Little Cayman, T & C, St. Vincent, the BVI's, Roatan, and Dominica. Although, Dominica is pretty good, too. I booked my trips with Saba Divers and stayed at Scouts Place. I would go back again.
I suspect the reason that Saba flies under the radar is the "no beach" thing. Many travelling divers have spouses and other family relatives whom we have to consider in our travel plans, and "no beach" is a pretty early strike out for many.
South East Asian diving is good, but as a lifelong Caribbean diver, I do think people tend to exaggerate the difference in quality with Caribbean diving. I recently came back from a trip to Moalboal in Philippines which is supposed to be a diving Mecca, and I genuinely thought it was pretty average by Caribbean standards. Overall South East Asia is better, but I suspect North Americans intuitively think of Asia as more exotic than the Caribbean because it is so much harder to get to which in turn exaggerates perceptions.
South East Asian diving is good, but as a lifelong Caribbean diver, I do think people tend to exaggerate the difference in quality with Caribbean diving. I recently came back from a trip to Moalboal in Philippines which is supposed to be a diving Mecca, and I genuinely thought it was pretty average by Caribbean standards. Overall South East Asia is better, but I suspect North Americans intuitively think of Asia as more exotic than the Caribbean because it is so much harder to get to which in turn exaggerates perceptions.
Rhoneman, I agree with you to an extent, in that the Bali dives that I did way back when and in particular later in Gulf of Thailand at Koh Tao, were very disappointing to me. But that certainly can't be said of Sipidan/Mabul nor Raja Ampat! ! Nowhere that I've been in the Caribbean rivals those. That said, muto give some extra points to Bequia!! Sweet sweet diving in Bequia.
I have found that most people feel that their own personal favorite place is the "best diving in the world" I have been diving extensively through out the Caribbean as well as Australia, Papua New Guinea, the Pilippines, indonesia and the US pacific coast. The Caribbean can not compare to many places in the Philippines nor many places in Indonesia. I rarely go to the Caribbean anymore as a dive destination. If I go it is more for the vacation and then I dive if there is the opportunity. That being said, I have been to Saba and personally would not spend the money or the time to go back. There are several places in the Caribbean that have better diving, are easier to get to and have other things to do if that is an appeal. I can not say that I have a favorite place to dive but I would go to Indonesia or the Philippines hands down before going to almost anywhere in the Caribbean but would not bother to go back to Saba.
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