Guidance needed for St. Maarten w/possible Saba Stay

[moeronn]

I tried tacking this on to an existing thread, but didn't get much attention, so here's an entirely new one

My wife and I are heading to St Maarten for a week the second week in August. We're also thinking of doing an overnight trip to Saba. The main thing we need to find is a very good dive operation that does all the (what should be) standard predive "orientation" and will take a little extra time at the beginning of the dive to ensure everything is set before swimming off.

Both my wife and I are AOW certified, but really only dive on vacation so she needs to be extremely confident in the dive operator to feel comfortable enough to dive. The smaller the group the better. We've had a few trips aborted due to insufficient comfort level for her.

The ideal situation would be to get at least one day of diving off of St Maarten to get comfortable and then book an overnight to Saba. I'm just concerned that we would need more advanced reservations for diving, lodging and perhaps even transportation to Saba.

Any input on who to dive with to make my wife more comfortable and the best way to arrange for the Saba overnight is appreciated.

One last thing - my wife is Nitrox certified, but I am not. Would it be worth while to get certified before the trip, especially now (IIRC) that it can be done out of the water?

Thanks.

 

[morecowbells]

Quite honestly I would look into at least two to three days on Saba. There really is no place like it. The scenery, the people and the overall vibe of the island make it stand out from anywhere else I have been. We flew Winair without any problems. I know there are some recent posts on Scubaboard where people had some unpleasant experiences with them. You can also look into the ferry boat. I am horribly prone to seasickness and decided against the ferry ride because of the nickname 'The Vomit Comit'.

All three of Saba's dive ops are highly rated. We were happy with Sea Saba. I believe all these dive ops have lodging/dive packages. We stayed at The Cat's Eye Cottage(through Sea Saba) and could not be happier with the accomodations. Dinner at The Eco-Lodge and Brigadoon is a must. I am not a big shopper but found some unique and affordable pieces at Joe Bean's Glass and Bead store.

I don't know how deep you prefer to dive. Keep in mind that many of Saba's dive sites are deep which could be a problem with Nitrox. Most people on our boat did 2 tank dives. A few opted for a 3rd. So really I don't know how beneficial Nitrox would be for you. I believe that Saba Divers does not charge extra for nitrox. Have a great vacation!

 

[moeronn]

moercowbells -

Thanks for the input. If our St Maarten hotel wasn't already paid for for the entire week, we would definitely consider staying longer in Saba. I guess this means that we'll just have to plan another trip in the future.

As for nitrox, wouldn't it actually be more beneficial for deeper/longer dives - especially if diving more than two tanks a day?

 

[TwoBitTxn]

If you stick to 32% 1.4ppO₂ puts you at 111ft. I have never dove Saba (someday) so I don't know if the dives regularly exceed that depth.

Nitrox is a good course though.

 

[DiverDonn]

moercowbells -

Thanks for the input. If our St Maarten hotel wasn't already paid for for the entire week, we would definitely consider staying longer in Saba. I guess this means that we'll just have to plan another trip in the future.

As for nitrox, wouldn't it actually be more beneficial for deeper/longer dives - especially if diving more than two tanks a day?

Moeronn:
Actually you really don't need Nitrox since it sounds like you might do 3 dives on Saba and maybe 1 or 2 more on SXM. Your probably not building up a Nitrogen deficit with a regimen like that. Saba can offer some dives in the 120 foot area but you would only be doing one of them anyway.
That being said, any of the shops can handle all your reservations and plans and may not need a lot of advanced notice. I always use Sea Saba now but over the years, have used them all.
Once you dive Saba, you WILL go back. My wife and I started with a similar day trip from SXM and now I probably have 10-14 trips logged to Saba alone. In fact I am taking 3 good friends there in January who have never made it down there before.
Enjoy!!! DD

 

[moeronn]

DiverDonn -

Thanks for the aditional info. We were planning on doing more than 5 dives total (hopefully 4 on Saba and 2-4 on SXM), but I'll probably skip the Nitrox cert for this trip. It just seems that many of the best Saba dives approach or exceed 100'. I'll just make sure to go deep first.

It's good to know that we can probably make the Saba trip on short notice, since it's never certain if my wife will be diving. Thankfully, she is okay with me doing a few dives without her - but I'd prefer if she went, too.

 

[angel in the sky]

looks like we may run into each other over there (we'll be there until the 10th)... should be great... I can't wait... we're with a group that doesn't dive much. And some don't even dive. We are going there to surf and dive... so we'll be underwater most of the trip hahaha... Enjoy your trip

 

[nodecomon]

e-mail Lynn@seasaba.com with your interest and she will get back to you with all of the options.

 

[RTRski]

Seems like everyone else has already hit you on the Nitrox thing, and I'd have to agree with their advice. My wife and I were new-er Nitrox certification recipients when we went to Saba and "had" to dive Nitrox. Was really a waste of their time and our money, in the end. Saba Deep (highly recommended as a very small, personal operator - I don't think they even can take out more than 8 on a boat) mixed to 29% for the first dive since it was the deepest, and then went 32-34% for the subsequent ones. But by the 3rd day we said "heck with it...just give us air". You'll only be doing 3 a day with plenty of surface interval.

I don't know if the other operators do it the same, but with Saba Deep the first dive was the only one likely to exceed 100' (Shark Shoals, Outer Limits) and the second might hit 80-100, then the third afternoon dive they'd find a site at 70 or less. But you do want to do that first dive if you can - they're pretty spectacular. DO watch your gauge -- at 130fsw you're very much air-limited in terms of bottom time with an AL 80 tank, and I hope that they'll want you to run a cautious profile with a deep stop...that's what Saba Deep did with us. There's really little to no margin for error at that depth with a single. I'm assuming you're all diving computers though which will remind you and yell at you if you ascend too quickly.

Don't know if it's still that way but when we went one of the things we really liked about Saba Deep as a smaller operator is that they came in after each dive. The larger boats from Sea Saba went out and stayed moored somewhere between dives 1 and 2, while we were hanging out by the Saba Deep shop, grabbing a drink (water/juice, not alcohol), able to fiddle with cameras if we needed to, etc. The vast majority of the sites at Saba are off the southern and western coast and easily within 15 minutes boat ride (although we got lucky and got one of the few diveable days up to Green Island on the north shore, which isn't usually diveable being more to windward and exposed to Atlantic) so there was no real reason to stay out there except for the fact that a bigger boat is actually a bit more of a pain to bring in, offload everyone, etc. if you're only going to be back on land for 60-90 minutes. I think it was a people-management thing for the other ops, while the small boat (we mostly just dove with 4, two couples and the one guide) doesn't have the same hassle quotient to round the herd back up. Anyway, Saba Deep would bring us back in, let us make our lunch choice between dives 1 and 2, then when we got back after dive 2 lunch was ready and waiting for us by the time we'd rinsed off and skinned out of our wetsuits.

If you do pick Saba Deep and get Big Mike as a guide, be forewarned. He's a no-nonsense, salt-of-the-earth old crust. Yet I mean that in a GOOD way. He's funny as heck in a dry martini sort of way, and great with the ladies. He'd actually be great for your wife's confidence I think as his briefings were thorough and quite calm, as was his dive guidance. I have no idea if he still dives or not though, I hope so, he was a master in the truest sense, made it look easy and probably could dive without a BCD at all with perfect bouyancy control...he just needed something to attach the tank to.

I've learned a lot since I wrote it, so my trip report now reads like it came from a wide-eyed newbie, but there's a report here somewhere from our last trip to SXM/Saba, which was unfortunately several years ago (2005?). Ah heck with it, I'll stop being lazy and link ya to it:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/gr...nt-maarten-diving-report-warning-loooong.html

I tried to describe each dive site in somewhat detail. Hope this helps.

 

[moeronn]

Thanks for all the information here. Going to be a last minute decision whether we end up in Saba or not, but really hope we make it.

Any last minute words of advice on the diving, dive shops, places to eat or visit or just general tips on a trip to St Maarten/Saba? We leave tomorrow night - red-eye through Atlanta.