inter_alia
Guest
Saba. There are no beaches and no malls. No discos. No name-brand hotels. Its hard to get to, and can take a stomach of steel to fly or ferry (your only two options) there. You stay up at 1,500 feet, and youre a diver so youre all now, wait a minute. Im not supposed to go over 1,000 feet after diving. You schedule nine days on the island and it turns out three of those days, everythings closed because of the anniversary of Queen Beatrixs coronation. What?
I loved it.
Because there are no beaches, malls, discos, name-brand hotels and its hard-ish to get to. Our pilot scrubbed the first landing attempt because of rain. We circled for a while, then he stuck the wheels like a pro to the tarmac while stalling (probably not actually stalling) the engines. We applauded, and I have all the confidence in the world in that Frenchman. And thats saying something. The grocery store opened on the third day of the long holiday because of popular protest (just a lot of medical students coming into term and asking politely for some open hours.)
The diving overall: Sea Saba was our dive op. World class. Sabas tiny (5 square miles), and the diving options arent actually all that many. But the sites are pristine, for the most part, and all the dives are guided. It does not take 15 minutes to get to the farthest sites, and one of the best we had was less than 5 minutes from the pier.
The staff didnt hand-hold, and you could go off on your own if you wanted to, but stick around and youll see a huge free swimming seahorse, or maybe even be pointed to look at the reef sharks swimming away from your loud, cumbersome group of divers. Your group is less than ten divers, on relatively huge boats. Yup.
On nearly every dive, we saw Hawksbill turtles. By the time turtles get to Saba, theyre seaworthy and large. There is no nesting on Saba, so the ones that are there are tourists. Like you. Theyre majestic, kind of curious about you, and not in a hurry to leave. You will get pictures, and they will be very good pictures.
One morning, the wind was so calm and the air so clear that I put the bug in our captains ear that maybe today would be great to go windwardside. Thats usually pretty rough seas (but only by comparison to the very tranquil lee side of Saba, were only talking 3 to 5 as rough). The staff polled everybody and we were all for it. So we did the briefing at the dock and turned left out of there instead of right. I was thrilled. That day, I doubt we were in the 2" range. We managed to go pretty far around the island (Statia was on the horizon, massive. You could frequently see islands on the horizon out there.). Davids Drop-Off was the name of the site, and we had two Davids of seven divers.
Windwardside diving offers white sand instead of the usual Saba volcanic black sand, or unfathomable depth below you. So it seems like (and maybe it is) that the water is clearer, the vis better and the reefs more reef-y. But theres where youre right, the only real reefs are windwardside, and thats where we were. It was the most like Bonaire, there.
So we splash, get down to about 75 feet (we were heading for 100) but stop when... A pair of enormous spotted eagle rays were passing by. In no hurry at all. Just passing by, and we were all mature enough to just float and watch. As they started moving out of sight, my dad turns to me gesturing how fing cool was that? and I motioned, dude, turn around, theyre banking and coming back. (Or Id like to think I did. He turned back around, anyway.) And the pair came in for another slow, closer pass. And again. We almost got bored, but only almost, until they finally went on their way.
I could get into particulars with depth and temps, but why. Its all very comfortable, there were no currents and if you get chilled, the dive staff will bring something else for you to wear.
Its not the cheapest diving in the world (about $100 per 2-tank boat with a 5-day dive package), but the folks at Sea Saba pick you up in the morning (around 9 a.m., which feels later than it is to me.) They make sure you get back after the diving. They can get you into restaurants (which can be tricky because everything is smaller on Saba. Things do get booked, but there are always alternatives.) You leave your gear on the boat every day, and they handle it. You lift nothing, which always adds that element of oh, right. Im on vacation! We tipped 20%, and you might even feel like doing that too.
We stayed in a house, which I recommend if youre autonomous like our family. But we checked out Scouts and Julianas and both are good. No matter where you stay near town (we were in Windwardside), its easy to go to a bar, and its easy to go to a grocery store for beers if youd rather. And the grocery store has plenty, including name brands you can identify at 30 paces dont worry. My only real recommendation is to avoid flip-flops. Its a hill everywhere you go. Crocs are fine, to a point.
The people are a delight. Its good morning all over the place, and sincerity that makes you cut your sarcasm to a tenth. Notice I said good morning, in English. The island is Dutch, the peoples culture came from the U.K. Our cab driver, Garvis, is 7th or 8th generation on the island, and when we go back I'm going to pack my entire family into his van and have him take us everywhere for a day. He was that wonderful, too.
I did not hike up all the way to Mt. Scenery, but I did a smaller hike to a view over Windwardside on my last day. I got up to the top by 6 a.m. and had the place to myself. It was sunrise, and beautiful. I cannot explain how peaceful it is to run around mountains there that early. Truly sublime. (And Im no hippie.)
So thats my Saba report. Im keeping some things to myself, lest you take our time slot for next year before weve paid deposits. We had nine days this year, were thinking more in 2009.
I loved it.
Because there are no beaches, malls, discos, name-brand hotels and its hard-ish to get to. Our pilot scrubbed the first landing attempt because of rain. We circled for a while, then he stuck the wheels like a pro to the tarmac while stalling (probably not actually stalling) the engines. We applauded, and I have all the confidence in the world in that Frenchman. And thats saying something. The grocery store opened on the third day of the long holiday because of popular protest (just a lot of medical students coming into term and asking politely for some open hours.)
The diving overall: Sea Saba was our dive op. World class. Sabas tiny (5 square miles), and the diving options arent actually all that many. But the sites are pristine, for the most part, and all the dives are guided. It does not take 15 minutes to get to the farthest sites, and one of the best we had was less than 5 minutes from the pier.
The staff didnt hand-hold, and you could go off on your own if you wanted to, but stick around and youll see a huge free swimming seahorse, or maybe even be pointed to look at the reef sharks swimming away from your loud, cumbersome group of divers. Your group is less than ten divers, on relatively huge boats. Yup.
On nearly every dive, we saw Hawksbill turtles. By the time turtles get to Saba, theyre seaworthy and large. There is no nesting on Saba, so the ones that are there are tourists. Like you. Theyre majestic, kind of curious about you, and not in a hurry to leave. You will get pictures, and they will be very good pictures.
One morning, the wind was so calm and the air so clear that I put the bug in our captains ear that maybe today would be great to go windwardside. Thats usually pretty rough seas (but only by comparison to the very tranquil lee side of Saba, were only talking 3 to 5 as rough). The staff polled everybody and we were all for it. So we did the briefing at the dock and turned left out of there instead of right. I was thrilled. That day, I doubt we were in the 2" range. We managed to go pretty far around the island (Statia was on the horizon, massive. You could frequently see islands on the horizon out there.). Davids Drop-Off was the name of the site, and we had two Davids of seven divers.
Windwardside diving offers white sand instead of the usual Saba volcanic black sand, or unfathomable depth below you. So it seems like (and maybe it is) that the water is clearer, the vis better and the reefs more reef-y. But theres where youre right, the only real reefs are windwardside, and thats where we were. It was the most like Bonaire, there.
So we splash, get down to about 75 feet (we were heading for 100) but stop when... A pair of enormous spotted eagle rays were passing by. In no hurry at all. Just passing by, and we were all mature enough to just float and watch. As they started moving out of sight, my dad turns to me gesturing how fing cool was that? and I motioned, dude, turn around, theyre banking and coming back. (Or Id like to think I did. He turned back around, anyway.) And the pair came in for another slow, closer pass. And again. We almost got bored, but only almost, until they finally went on their way.
I could get into particulars with depth and temps, but why. Its all very comfortable, there were no currents and if you get chilled, the dive staff will bring something else for you to wear.
Its not the cheapest diving in the world (about $100 per 2-tank boat with a 5-day dive package), but the folks at Sea Saba pick you up in the morning (around 9 a.m., which feels later than it is to me.) They make sure you get back after the diving. They can get you into restaurants (which can be tricky because everything is smaller on Saba. Things do get booked, but there are always alternatives.) You leave your gear on the boat every day, and they handle it. You lift nothing, which always adds that element of oh, right. Im on vacation! We tipped 20%, and you might even feel like doing that too.
We stayed in a house, which I recommend if youre autonomous like our family. But we checked out Scouts and Julianas and both are good. No matter where you stay near town (we were in Windwardside), its easy to go to a bar, and its easy to go to a grocery store for beers if youd rather. And the grocery store has plenty, including name brands you can identify at 30 paces dont worry. My only real recommendation is to avoid flip-flops. Its a hill everywhere you go. Crocs are fine, to a point.
The people are a delight. Its good morning all over the place, and sincerity that makes you cut your sarcasm to a tenth. Notice I said good morning, in English. The island is Dutch, the peoples culture came from the U.K. Our cab driver, Garvis, is 7th or 8th generation on the island, and when we go back I'm going to pack my entire family into his van and have him take us everywhere for a day. He was that wonderful, too.
I did not hike up all the way to Mt. Scenery, but I did a smaller hike to a view over Windwardside on my last day. I got up to the top by 6 a.m. and had the place to myself. It was sunrise, and beautiful. I cannot explain how peaceful it is to run around mountains there that early. Truly sublime. (And Im no hippie.)
So thats my Saba report. Im keeping some things to myself, lest you take our time slot for next year before weve paid deposits. We had nine days this year, were thinking more in 2009.
