SABA - The Unspoiled Queen

SABA - The Unspoiled Queen

General Information

The Caribbean island of Saba is part of the Dutch Windward Islands and is located 28 miles south of St. Maarten. Getting to the island can be an exciting and trying experience whether by small plane (Winair) from St. Maarten, via ferry from St. Maarten (the Edge) or by private boat (the harbor at Fort Bay is small and was severely damaged by a hurricane).

Saba is an extinct volcano that shoots straight up from the ocean floor creating shear mountains with little flat land and no beaches but it has unmatched blue water diving and excellent hiking. Saba's height provides spectacular views of the surrounding islands of St. Maarten, St. Barts, St. Eustatius (Statia), St. Kitts and Nevis. Saba has small, picturesque towns with roads carved into sheer cliffs and an airport runway with ocean at both ends. Dinning is also pleasure on Saba with excellence restaurants and wonderful hosts. This island is truly a unique spot that few people have experienced and a trip will be remembered for a lifetime. Visit Saba tourism for more information.

Blue Water Diving

Saba is well known for its excellent scuba diving on a variety of sites from coral encrusted boulders, to shallows reefs, to walls, and to the deep blue water sea mounts and pinnacles. I was lucky enough to meet Mike Myers of Saba Deep Dive Center several years ago and recently arranged for an extended trip to enhance my dive master skills in this unique diving environment. Mike has been a key part of Saba diving for over 20 years and he and his dive master, Big Mike, know the island diving like no other shop.

Saba diving can only be described using the inadequate words such as awesome, fantastic, and amazing. For those prepared, trained and experienced divers that want a truly unique encounter, the deep, blue water sites in Saba offer it all - beautiful coral, schools of fish, and deep water. The dive sites, with names such as Third Encounter, Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, Mount Michele and Shark Shoal, start on a mooring buoy about 10 minutes off shore and are underwater pinnacles and sea mounds that reach up out of the depths to within 90 feet of the surface.

As you enter the water to swim to the mooring line, you look down into the deepest blue water of the Caribbean and can see only the vast blue water. This experience of floating in the deep blue makes Saba diving magnificent and intimidates less experienced divers. As you follow the mooring line down into the blue, slowly the sea mound, or pinnacle materializes and you are met with an explosion of colors and life. The Saba deep water dive sites are covered with corals of all sizes and varieties, each exuding their unique hues into the surrounding depths. Squirrelfish, Groupers, Snappers, Grunts, Butterflyfish, Angelfish, Parrotfish, Triggerfish, Filefish, Trunkfish and Eels of all sizes and varieties populate the coral paradise with Blacktip sharks looming in the blue, from time to time checking out the divers intruding on their world. As you swim around the sites, the deep blue edges draw you over to stare into the great blue nothing, waiting and hoping for some creature of the deep to materialize and often they do. As you spend your limited time in these depths, each moment is filled with the wonders and peace of the sea. Diving here is truly like flying with complete control, you can step out over bottomless cliffs of deep blue water, float effortlessly up or down to see whatever you desire. Too quickly the time is up and you return to the line and being the slow climb through the blue water to the surface.

Reef and Wall Diving

Saba also has excellent, more traditional dive sites. Like all Saba dive sites they are part of the Saba Marine Park established in 1987 to preserve this unique underwater environment. These sites each have unique features such as coral encrusted boulders at Hot Springs and Hole in the Corner, patch reefs at Tent Reef Deep and Ladder Bay Deep, true reefs at Giles Quarter Deep Reef and Tent Reef and walls at Tent Reef Wall.

Although each site has unique geological features, all sites include a wealth of fish and coral life. As noted in the blue water sites, fish of all types and size abound on these sites also. In the sandy areas Stingrays, partially buried, dot the ocean floor along with thick fields of Garden Eels. Leisurely swimming Turtles, large and small, greet divers in the coral canyons. Barracudas hang at the edge of diver's vision and the occasional BlackTip shark makes their way past the gaze of enthralled divers. Divers exploring the coral overhangs and swim-throughs are rewarded with lobsters, crabs, shrimp and nurse sharks. Saba diving never leaves the diver disappointed.

Hiking

Saba has a vast network of well-maintained trails. Trail maps and hiking information can be obtained from the Trail Shop located in town of Windwardside near the entrance to the Mt. Scenery trail.

One of the more impressive trails is "The Ladder". This trail is 800 hand-hewn stone stairs that take you from the ocean at Ladder Bay to the town named "The Bottom" - a climb of 800 feet. Prior to the construction of the pier in Fort Bay in 1972, most of the people and goods arrived on Saba by hiking up this strenuous trail.

Another trail is to Mt. Scenery, an extinct volcano and the highest point on the island at 2,800 feet. The trail is a stone and concrete trail with over 1000 stairs. The hike is strenuous and you need plenty of water for the 60-90 minute (one way) trip. The trail climbs through the Saba rain forest providing spectacular views of the towns of The Bottom, St Johns, Fort Bay and Ladder Bay during your climb. Upon reaching the top, the hike continues down through the volcanic cone and up to the communications tower. From various vantage points at the top you have great views down to Hell's Gate and the Airport with the islands of St. Maarten and St. Bart easily visible in the distance. From another vantage point the towns of Windwardside, the Level and St. Johns are awesome downward views with the islands of St. Eustatius (Statia), St. Kitts and, on clear days, Nevis visible in the distance. The views on this hike are incredible and should not be missed.

For the adventurous, the trail from Wells Bay, through Mary's Point, past the Sulfur Mine to Lower Hells Gate is a great trail. This trail takes you along the north coast of the island, past an old settlement and through the rain forest. A local guide is a good idea as the trail is very dangerous at several points and is not well marked at other points. Those that take this hike are rewarded with amazing views of Saba, St. Maarten, ruins from the old settlement and the rain forest.

Dinning

Saba, for it's size, has a good variety of places to eat and drink. On this small island all the places have local flavor where you will meet the friendly Saba people. Starting at the top of my list is The Gate House Cafe in Hell's Gate. This restaurant, that is part of the hotel, features the finest food on the island with a "Wine Spectator" award wining selection of wine. The French style meals are a culinary delight with a wide range of standard menu items and nightly specials. The food is served in a small dinning room that has great views. Do not miss The Gate house Cafe for a great meal while in Saba.

For more casual dining and drink there is Swinging Door, Scout's Place and YIIK in Windwardside. For lunch during a day of diving there is In Two Deep in Fort Bay and when visiting The Bottom, Limetime provides a good time.

Places to Stay

Saba has a wide choice of over night accommodations ranging from luxury hotels to small cottages. For my stay I rented a nice cottage in Windwardside named Effie Cottage. The cottage had a large bedroom and living area with two pull out sofa beds and a nice kitchen. This was a very nice place to stay and convenient to Windwardside stores and shops.

Other places include The Cottage Club, El Momo Cottages, Scout's Place, The Gate House, Juliana's and the luxurious Willards. See the Saba tourism site for more information or drop me a e-mail.

Things To Do

Saba has several local artists and is known for its lace work. Most of the shops are located in Windward side and are worth checking out if you are in the shopping mood. One particularly interesting place is JoBean's hot glass studio. At this studio, JoBean creates beads and custom designs that are beautiful and unique. Her creations include loose beads, necklaces, chokers, earrings, fish, frogs and other beautiful items. JoBean will gladly demonstrate how she creates her designs for those interested. JoBean's should not be missed.

For those looking for a place to relax the Saba Day Spa provides the services you need. Located in Windwardside the spa services include various massages, facial treatments and waxing. Contact the spa with an e-mail for more information.