My trip report from last spring:
"It is with great glee that I can report the development on Saba since my last has been modest & tasteful. Quite unlike the serene St. Martin of 20 years ago that is now unrecognizably crowded & tacky, replete with drug activity, brazen daylight crime, traffic jams & fetid cesspools.
The friendly citizens of Saba continue to go about their leisurely island business, including tending small but eye-catching flower gardens (often around the graves of relatives buried in the yard), and producing delicate lace & secret blends of Saba Spice, a sweet, sapid & strong rum-based concoction. The place is quite in contrast to such trashed venues as the Bahamian out islands, being extraordinarily neat & tidy. Crime worries here are about a low as they get anywhere. The two cell jail, which does include a sun deck for pallid prisoners, is mostly used for such serious matters as holding a goat involved in an ownership dispute. However, the occasional islander foolish enough to attempt to liquidate a serendipitously found brown grouper may enjoy a brief stay until the authorities arrive from St. Maarten.
Sporting one of the niftiest passport stamp around anymore, Saba is located in the northeastern Caribbean, about 28 miles south of St. Maarten. Together with St. Eustasius & St. Kitts, it forms the Windward Islands of the Dutch Caribbean. Only 5 square miles, it rises to 2,900' at the top of Mt. Scenery. Its Four Main Villages are linked by the road engineers said couldn't be built. A protected marine reserve since 1987, the enforced & self-supporting park is situated around the entire island and extending to the offshore seamounts.
Like many of the smaller islands in this part of the Caribbean, Saba can be bit of a chore to get to. One needs to fly into St. Maarten and hop over from there. About 3½ hours from NYC and 2½ hours from Miami, St. Maarten is served by AA, Continental & BWIA from several major US cities along the eastern seaboard. Windward Island Airways (Winair) makes as many as five of the 15-minute flights to Saba each day. A r/t ticket is $119, but nonresidents can use a 50% off coupon available from the tourist office in the Princess Juliana arrival hall or the promotional rack by the security office in the concession area. If you cant find one, ask at the Winair desk, where agents range from quite helpful to exemplars of what can be a French-Caribbean oxymoron, customer service. I have no idea how long this deal will be offered, but it made my day to save a buck or two.
For the island hopper challenged, between the Edge (599-5-442640) & Voyager (599-5-424096) ferries there are crossings 5 days a week, taking about an hour in sometimes rough water. A r/t ticket is about $60.
I most enjoy the approach when Mt. Scenery is ringed with light cloud cover. Something about the Gestalt strongly draws to mind the opening shot of Skull Island in the original King Kong. Even if youre dont recall that film, the white-knuckle landing will provide a fright, and alone is worth the price of admission. Using short take off & landing Twin Otters, they bring you into the island one of the world's most minuscule runways, with cliff on one side & water on the other. Expect to whisk through the Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport, a facility that is rather smaller than its name, without hassle by the Immigration/Customs agent who drives out to meet incoming flights. No matter where you are staying, its only a modest cab ride, all of which will be traveling either up or down hill along a road built by the islanders themselves after Dutch engineers repeatedly insisted it was impossible. Take my word for it, flat land on The Big Green Gumdrop is a rarity.
There are now 3 dive shops on the island, my previous favorite, Saba Reef, having thrown in the towel following the last hurricane. This is very sad, as they had battled back from the staggering May 1998 death of the shops owner, Chris. While driving his truck, one of the large rocks that precariously teeter over stretches of the road fell on the cab, crushing him while his significant other in the passenger seat sustained only minor injuries. Charlotte, one of the shops DMs, also in the vehicle but unhurt, is now working for Sea Saba.
(1) Saba Deep: A/C restaurant/pub & boutique on-site; nitrox/rebreathers; Mike Myers has been running this op for what must be nigh on 20 years, and aims to please, and does DM Big Mike; small & intimate;
(2) Sea Saba: Slick 38' Deltas with twin Cat turbo diesels & all the amenities you could ask for & allow for surface intervals at sea. The smaller craft of other ops mean a return to the marina for SI, not to mention close quarters; nitrox; for the guys, DM Thilde alone makes it worth a dive or three with this op (youll see what I mean); owners John & Lynn most accommodating; excellent op, but if you want a 4-6 pack arrangement, this is not it;
(1) The newest, Saba Divers: European op largely catering to the German crowd, has only been open for about a year; have recently added a V-hull craft to their fleet of ribbed Zodiacs; have not personally gone out with them.
All shops are located at the harbor in Fort Bay, and will arrange for transportation to & from your hotel for diving. None offer E6 processing, but the owner of the Brigadoon Restaurant in Windwardside will often do a few rolls if there's time & fresh chemicals in stock. Best to call ahead. Also accommodating is the owner of the little grocery store in Windwardside, who was gracious enough to extend credit when I didnt have enough dinero to cover a bag of snacks (be prepared for sticker shock). BTW, dollars are widely accepted & English spoken everywhere.
During my brief stay, there were daytime temps in the mid-80s & nights in the mid-70s, modest humidity and sunny to partly cloudy skies, water temps of ~80 & vis up to 100+ on the best dives. Needless to say, this made it an even greater pleasure to hit what is arguably the some of best overall diving in the Caribbean. The 30+ dive sites around the island are rock & sand rather than true coral reef ala Coz, TCI, etc., and nearly all moored. Diving primarily takes place off the leeward, western side. While Saba is sometimes portrayed as a deep diving venue, there are scads of good midlevel and shallower sites to enjoy. If you want high voltage, deep seamount/pinnacle diving, it's definitely to be had once the dive op is confident of your skills. The Twilight Zone, Third Encounter, Outer Limits & Shark Shoals start at about 85'-90' and run to recreational limits & far beyond. As well as deep diving skills, you will also want to be comfortable with the blue water navigation needed to reach them. At Eye of the Needle, I had a companionable hawksbill turtle keep me oriented on the blue return to the surface. On the Eye I saw a couple of good sized Caribbean reef sharks, which I suspect are residents of the area, hunting at ~170. The multicolored coral & sponge are quite healthy & striking on this massive spire, and I easily made a number of turns around it before hitting my personal comfort max. Although I am not a photographer, this site hits me as quite photogenic.
Even given a recently refurbished 4-place chamber right at the pier in Fort Bay, you obviously cant do this kind of dive 3 times a day. It is therefore a felicitous coincidence that there are many shallower sites, mostly running very close to the western coast, including Diamond Rock, Diamond Bank & Man 'O War Shoals in the northwest. A number of the sites can be fully enjoyed as shallow as 20' with their turtles, small rays, eels and juvenile tropicals. The excellent Tent Reef area (good for multiple visits, including night dives), and Ladder Labyrinth & Hot Springs (milder versions of Dominicas Champagne were the sand bottom is warmed by remaining thermal activity), can be found in the southwest. Around toward the southeast are Hole in the Wall & Big Rock Market. Sites are from 5 to 30 minutes from the marina on the south coast, and most rides are only about 15 minutes. Of the sites, Diamond Rock holds a special place in my heart. A rough rock formation extending from about 80 to above the surface (where its coating of bird guanao makes it glitter in the sun, hence the name), it allows the diver to gradually spiral up it. Swept by a healthy current, every nook & cranny seems filed with life, with the chain of predators ranging all the way up to barracuda. A good location for eels of various sorts, and another site load with marco photo opportunities. In my experience, the chances of spotting seahorses in Saba are better than average for the greater Caribbean. Overall the u/w scene was remarkably healthy & robust, with few remnants of whatever silting, damaged biota or other havoc Lenny may have caused. I did not do any snorkeling at Torrens Point off Wells Bay this trip, but if the self-guided Edward S. Arnold Snorkeling Trail remains undamaged, Id recommend getting a waterproof map from your dive shop & asking them to drop you off there.
Accommodations include the upscale and pricey, like Willards & Queens Gardens. Smaller, good value places include the recently renovated Julianas with a variety of rooms, two cottages & an excellent restaurant, and Cottage Club over in English Quarter which has 10 cottages fully equipped for cooking & dining in. All have pools. Saba Divers has spiffed up the basic old Scout's Place & offers some attractive packages. If you need to travel on a tight budget, then check out El Momo Guesthouse up on Jimmys Hill, where chances are youll share a bathroom & shower with other cabins, and the refrigerator & honor bar in the main house. Owners Gied & Els seem like good folk.
For overall value & hospitality, I recommend one the cottages at Julianas in Windwardside. She & her husband, Franklin, are about the nicest people youd want to meet & will do everything to make your trip a pleasant one. Additionally, I like the natty, bistro-like décor at the on-site Tropics Café, and the couple of times Ive eaten there the food has been scrumptious & reasonably priced by island standards. Ive also stayed a Willards, which I found over-priced and under staffed with expensive & marginal quality food. In addition to my room being an uphill schelp (some fancier units are at even higher elevation) from the main building, it was right across from the tennis court where folks tended to play very early in the morning. Not the fashion in which I care to be awoken. However, the place does have a beautiful view, and the main building has a homey feeling to parts of it. Hopefully, its previously distant management (Washington, DC) is much closer now & things have changed, but I'd verify that before spending the considerable money involved in a stay here.
Cuisine around the island, once you tire of the ubiquitous goat stew, includes pizza at Guido's, Chinese at Saba Chinese Bar & Restaurant, and some unusual dishes at the Mango Royale on-site at the Queen's Garden Resort. I found many menus to be monotonously similar, and the food just so-so. Restaurants stock limited quantities of food, so have your resort make reservations in the AM so they know what to expect. Don't miss the Swinging Doors, which has a bargain barbecue on Tues and Fri nights. Personally, I liked the place better when it was just a funky old bar.
If you can safely work it around your dive-to-altitude restrictions, make the trek up Mt. Scenery, the central volcanic peak rising to nearly 2,900'. It is a nice, albeit strenuous, hike when views are not obscured by mist. Needless to say, it is best to do this before rather than after a week of diving. There are other networks of trails around the island that are well worth doing. The vegetation took quite a hit from Hurricanes Gilbert & Lenny, but is making a comeback. If you want to make a leisurely half day of it, can hike up the Windwardside approach, then around a small path to the Queens Gardens for lunch or a drink by their very atmospheric pool. If you do it on a Sunday, check out the Steel Pan Brunch. For the more ardent trekkers, there are marked & unmarked paths all over the island, and I suspect you could spend several days hiking them.
In summary, Saba is a quaint, quiet, largely undeveloped island with excellent attitude & diving, but no beaches (dont even ask about Well's Bay Beach) & very little shopping or nightlife. If you need casinos, fancy restaurants, motorcycle rentals and broad expanses of beach, remain on St. Maarten, instead.
Best regards.
DocVikingo
