St. Thomas, Saba, (and Tortola)

[joewr]

Hi, Burt!

Tomorrow I am off to Michigan to visit my son and grandson--so I hope this will suffice. However, Beachman, the guy who pointed me to Saba is a fount of info on that topic.

Saba is the opposite of the Bahamas in many ways:

(a) It is relatively difficult to get to. I think all the flights come from St. Maarten and they are on Winair (800-634-4907). They fly Twin Otters and do charge for "excess" luggage when you depart St. Maarten. You can get to St. Maarten with a number of airlines; we used American. You cannot check your luggage thru and, thus, you clear customs, haul your luggage to the Winair desk and do all the usual. When you land on St. Maarten, you are not always told the above, so just follow everyone to immigration/customs. Also, you may not be given an immigration form--so you have go up to the front and ask for one.
(b) There are not many places to stay. We think Windwardside is the best place to stay because you there are more shops there and more restaurants. But, do not expect a major metropolis! The island is home to 2000 souls--and that does not make for a lot of infrastructure! We liked Juliana's: you get a simple room, tele with CNN, etc., clean towels everyday, but YOU HAVE TO MAKE YOUR OWN BED! There is a restaurant next door which provides a decent breakfast as part of the package--if you get a package. Juliana and Franklin are warm, wonderful people and engage you in delightful conversation, if you wish.
(c) There are not a lot of restaurants. We loved the food at YIIK and ate there many times. Brigadoon was highly recommended, but we found it "average". The Swinging Door has a barbeque special two nights a week and that is worth going to. But, basically, we made YIIK our dinner headquarters for nearly every night for two weeks!
(d) The diving was absolutely wonderful! The 9:00 AM dives are deep--120-130+ feet; the 11:00 AM dives go to ca. 80 feet; the 1:00 PM dives go to ca. 60 feet. We dove 3 times on several days, but usually did only 2. The dive packages are usually for just two dives, but we got the reduced rate for our 3rd dives. You can start with the 11:00 dive if you do not want to dive deep. HOWEVER, some of those 9:00 AM dives are so great, the I would suggest you give it try early on and see if you like them.
(e) We liked Saba Deep because they came back to shore after each dive for the SI. Sea Saba stays out at sea. Both operations are excellent. I cannot comment on the other two dive shops because we did not speak to anyone who went with them. There are two DM's at Saba Deep--"Big" Mike and Andrew. Mike is a character with a heart of gold. Andrew is a laid back expat Brit with the most pleasant style of doing business. Little" Mike runs the shop and is just, simply one of the most helpful people I have ever had the pleasure to meet.
(f) You can arrange for a package with Juliana's for either dive shop (julianas@unspoiledqueen.com). Vanessa, who runs the office, is a gem. The package includes transportation to and from the A/P, but not to and from the dive shop(that will cost about $US 10 per day).
(g) I want to emphasize again that you go to Saba to dive. It is not a typical Caribbean resort. There are not white sandy beaches, not much night life, no stores catering to cruise ships, etc.

All that said, we loved it, but it is not for everyone.

Sorry for all the verbiage...and I did not have time to check the spelling!

Joe

 

[Grendel]

Burt,
If I may pipe in in support of Joewr, I too recently returned from Saba (and cooincidentaly met and dove a few times with him) and I cannot more strongly reccomend it. I say that, however, with one caveat. If you are looking for night life, forget it. As has been already mentioned, Saba is no metropolis. If you are looking for peace, quiet and an escabe from the everyday world, Saba is pure magic.
My wife and I went to Saba as a celebration of our first anniversary and to reward ourselves for getting our OW certifications. After seeing quite a bit about it on this board and researching further through the internet and various magazines we thought it sounded perfect to detox from reality for a few days. We were right. Without fail the locals were friendly, generous and helpful to a fault. Saba deep was wonderful and Joewr's description is right on the mark. I cannot compare Saba to other dive locations- as previously stated it was our first diving outside of our class (in Puerto Rico)- but I can say that it was wonderful. Diving to 130' so early in our diving "career" was a bit harrowing but we ended up loving it and felt very safe under Big Mike or Andrew's supervision.
We met another diver at our hotel (the El Momo Cottages- which, while basic were ABSOLUTELY GREAT!- Oliver and Angelika are the BEST!)who was diving with Sea Saba but came for one day with Saba Deep to take some video of us under water. He is a very experienced diver but this was his first trip to Saba. He had choses Sea Saba because they have covered boats and he prefers to stay out of the sun (a fact which is negated by Saba Deep's boats returning between dives). After diving with Saba Deep for one day, he said he wished he had gone with them for the whole trip. That is not to say that Sea Saba was in any way bad, but rather that they seemed to treat everyon with "kid gloves" and bring the experience down to the lowest common denominator which, as an experienced diver he found limiting and somewhat frustrating. Saba Deep appears to take out fewer divers on their boats and to cater to their desires more (within the bounds of what is safe/prudent). Also, both of the Mikes and Andrew have been around the block a few times and their experience shows. On more than a few occasions, we were surfacing from an excellent dive only to see in the distance the Sea Saba boat still looking for a site with reasonable conditions. Kudos to them for not pushing their luck in bad conditions, but better still to be diving with the guys at Saba Deep who know the island's waters like the back of their hands.

Anyhow, if you have more questions let me know. Feel free to e-mail me direct at erwins@navstarr.navy.mil.

See ya!
Grendel