Saba Trip Report Jan 08

[montychandler]

I found Saba diving to be very different to that of the ABC islands. Coral vs lava rock, sealife varieties, depths, currents, etc. - all different (remember - different does not imply or equal bad, just different). In fact Saba was unique to St. Kitts and Statia as well. If you are in the somewhat "advanced" stage of your diving skills you'll love diving Saba. The island is lovely as well!

I have a few images of Saba diving on the second page of the following gallery which shows a little of what I mean. Saba Diving..

 

[liquidvisions]

I would have to agree with that, it's hard to compare apples and oranges, but when you consider other islands very close by, Saba definitley stands out.
The deep pinnacles are quite amazing and the windwardside sites differ very much from the Ladder Bay sites which are only 10 minutes away.
Saba's diving really deserves far more recognition instead of being compared to Bonaire or Curacao.

 

[moeronn]

I'm jumping into this post a little late, but wondered if a day or overnight dive trip from St. Maarten to Saba is possible/worthwhile. My wife and I are headed to St Maarten in August and if it is reasonable, might consider doing a short trip to a better dive area.

 

[Manuel Sam]

Definitely doable and the diving is worthwhile - whether it's worthwhile money-wise is for you to decide. You can fly or ferry over to Saba and make a day trip out of it, or you can overnight and do another day's worth of diving before returning to St. Maarten.

I would prearrange the diving with any one of the three dive operators, so that if you fly in, there will be someone to pick you up at the airport. If you ferry in, you will disembark at Fort Bay, which is where all the dive shops are.

If flying, I would take the 7:00ish flight in the morning so as to be able to make the two morning dives plus the afternoon dive. I'm not sure what time the ferry gets you in.

As far as flying after diving, WINAIR doesn't fly that high anyway between Saba and St. Maarten but I've always gone to the pilot and told him that I just dove and he keeps it at around 2000 feet altitude.

 

[moeronn]

Thanks for the info. We'll definitely look into it more and how or whether we go may depend on sea conditions. My wife doesn't do well on rough seas or small planes

 

[RTRski]

Moreon:

Yes,yes,yes!! Saba trip is much worth it from St maarten. I'd suggest at least one overnight though if you can stand the extra time. The flight can get you in early enough to do 3 dives (I personally recommend the guys at Saba Deep, although I don't think any of the Saba operators will be bad since the diving is deeper and a bit more challenging in general). But after 3 and the walk up and down those incredibly steep roads you might want to just get a hot shower, stay overnight, have a leisurely breakfast and early afternoon, and then fly back the next day.

The flight really isn't that sporty except for the landing. Just close her eyes and don't let her sit in the front to look between the pilots. You can see the sea on the far end of the runway as you're coming down (just kidding). The ferry is much rougher from everything I've heard as the waters can be quite choppy and the crossing is longer than the plane trip.

I've got a trip report from 2005 about Saba and Sint Maarten...do a search on my name and Saba and it'll turn up. We stayed mostly on St Maarten but the Saba dives were the highlight of the whole trip. The whole report is strictly from a diving noobs perspective so I waxed a little overly enthusiastic at times...since then I'd have to say the St. maarten diving was only so-so with the exception of the shark dive and the Bridge sites.

 

[erikdive]

kevin, glad to see you made it to saba, not as challenging as palau but still fun, great vibe, did you do the karaoke at scouts on friday night? i always see sharks at saba, frog fish and seahorses as well, i am leaving thursday for a dive jones fixx!!