Saba info

We're considering a trip to Saba in December. It appears that there are
3 shops on the island. I'm interested in hearing about experiences with
these shops. (I checked the Google archives and didn't see any recent
information).

al

Been to Saba a few times. Dive with Sea Saba. Find them very friendly,
accomodating even arranging transportation around the island.

Here is what I posted to Undercurrent after my July trip: -- Dick


Saba for the 4th of July.

In short: good diving, good food, good scenery, good folks.

Cardonna Travel arranged all. Travel went without a hitch. USAir hubs you
in Charlotte NC, which is a welcome relief after Miami or DFW. And Customs
was a breeze on the return. Alas, the Charlotte VIP lounge is no longer on
Priority Pass. But St. Maarten is.

Winair from St. Maarten to Saba ran on time, lost no luggage, hassled no one
on baggage weight. (A far cry from Island Air in the Caymans.) Saba's first
thrill was the cliff-side landing on the world's shortest commercial runway.
The stall alarm sounded just as the wheels touched.

There are six taxis on Saba. Julianas's was served by Mayyy and Garvis.
Roads are narrow, twisty, cliff-sided, and steep. I longed for my turbo.

We stayed at Flossie's Cottage. Orchid cottage was booked. Rain was
frequent, so the roofed porch at Orchid would have been nice. That is the
only fault I can find. The cottage is attractive and clean. Kitchen
utensils are adequate for light meals. The web site says that Flossie's is
due for some upgrades.

Arrival is usually after supper, so Saba Divers offered to stock the 'fridge
for us. Bread, wine cheese and so on. On arrival, we discovered the wine
was Sancerre, a favorite of me bride and of Inspector Magret. The Windward
market had a decent selection of food, and an excellent wine shelf. Beer is
Heinekins or Caribe.

AM 2-tank dives with Sea Saba were well-briefed, well served and well led.
At all except Diamond Rock one was free to wander. Currents at Diamond
meant "keep the DM in sight." Dive sites are all less than 30 minutes from
the dock. First tank is usually on one of the pinnacles, second inshore.
Underwater formations are volcanic in origin. Sand near the island is
yellow from sulphur, and toasty warm if you stick in a hand. I must concur
with most posters about Saba: the best dives are Diamond Rock and Man O' War
Shoals.

Water was choppy at the outside sites. Made me glad I kept to a toast &
milk breakfast in the cottage, rather than bacon and eggs at Julianas's.
Dive buddy T. felt queasy despite her Scopalimine. Saba divers boats have a
dry cabin and shelter from sun and rain. I could have wished for more sun
from which to be sheltered. Head not working. There is a fin-on ladder.
Sit on the transom while the crew takes your gear, and rigs it for the next
dive.

The pinnacles would have been better with more than 60' vis. Next time I'll
come in the dry season.

Small fish abound, and are unusually tame. I got some really good close-up
video. There were few fish bigger than a frying-pan. Although some divers
spotted a hammerhead, I missed him. Juvenile Spotted Drum were at almost
every site. One soft coral held multiple cleaning stations manned by Coral
Shrimp, and patrolled by a teeny pipefish.

A young hawksbill posed for us. Barracuda hung around, but were shy of
divers. A pair of Red Snappers escorted us through the night dive. We had
to get tricky with our lights to keep them from chowing down on some of the
small fry we scared up.

Although Saba is a fishing community, resturant fish is flown in from Miami.
Best resturants were Brigadoon, and the Eco-Lodge. Brigadoon had
sushi-grade tuna, expertly prepared. The Eco-Lodge dinner is preceeded by a
slide show on Saba ecology. Manny joined us for dinner. His view as a kid
growing up on Saba was interesting counterpoint to Dr. van tHof's lecture.

The port on Saba is being upgraded to handle larger boats. Larger yachts,
really. A large part of Saba's charm is that it is unreachable by cruise
ship. A contribuiting factor to the courtesy of the Sabans and to the
brilliant health of the sea life.

The web site suggests sneakers rather than boots to climb Mt. Scenery on
your non-diving day. Bad idea. Mt. Scenery is cloud/rain forest. Take
hiking boots with big, Vibram lugs on the sole. The climb is wet, mossy
rocks. The last 100 meters to the cairns at the overlooks are wet, mossy,
muddy rocks. Slick as OJ's lawyer. Yes, I did a pratt fall. Clouds rolled
in as I stood on the highest point in the Netherlands. So my video looks
like a set from Jurassic Park.

Return to Saba? You bet!

"Al Wells" <al.wells@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1bb7f1751f931df39896fb@news.verizon.net.. .
> We're considering a trip to Saba in December. It appears that there are
> 3 shops on the island. I'm interested in hearing about experiences with
> these shops. (I checked the Google archives and didn't see any recent
> information).
>
> al