Tjack
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Saba is often listed as one of the best places to dive in the Caribbean. As well this unique island is listed as one of the 1000 must see places on the planet. Well both are true to some degree.
Saba is literally a mountain rising out of the sea. Referred to by some as the “king kong island” It is a natural wonder shrouded in cloud and mystery. People really weren't meant to live on this place, no harbor, little running water, and steep as the dickens. All supplies used to have to be carried up the ladder, a steep winding stairwell, to Customs house perched 300 feet above the cove which provided a landing. To this day many of the roads are far steeper than standard grade here in the rocky mountains. The original settlers of this island were tough folk who must have made it work through pure tenacity.
The island topside is gorgeous and a little intimidating. Little towns set up in the mountain culls, with whitewash and red roofs set amongst idyllic tropical gardens. The locals are friendly and will recognize you , invariably saying hello, by the second day. A good sense of humor is essential to live here apparently, as they will ask the cabby ‘where you going” when you drive by on the same rout every day. This level of neighborliness is unique in the modern day, and Saba does feel like a link to earlier times.
Being such a remote and unique place, getting here should not be too easy. Yet for some it is quite accessible. Direct flights from Newark to St. Martin (SXM) were running around $300, and frequent flights from SXM to Saba on Winair $70 make it doable in one day for some. On the other hand coming from Albuquerque it required 3 flights and a boat ride to get there with a layover in St. Martin. I opted to take the Edge II ferry as opposed to flying, there is nothing better than a boat ride if you don't get sea sick IMHO. The crossing was pleasant with favorable conditions, other times I have heard it can be a hell ride. The Edge cost $62 including a $5 luggage fee and took 80 minutes. Their web site claims only one bag per person allowed but this is not enforced. I did fly Winair back to St. Martin as no boat was running that day, and that was a good flight with no hassles at the airport even with my luggage being slightly over the 50 pound limit. The 12 minute flight for $70 is low altitude.
There are only three dive shops on the island. Sea Saba whom I dove with. Saba Divers which is owned by Scout’s Place, and is the closest thing to a ‘dive resort’ on the island. Saba Deep is the third and smallest, popular with the local resident medical students. I ended up diving with Sea Saba because they offered me the best price, and I know some of their employees through connections at my work here in Taos, New Mexico. I did look at Scout’ as well because they are conveniently located in Windwardside, where most of the restaurants and bars are located. Scout’s Saba Divers provides free Nitrox as well, but they high balled me on the price of a Nitrox Certification, and their cheapest single rooms were all booked. I did talk with an Austrian couple who were diving with them and they were diving the same sites we were with Sea Saba.
Sea Saba referred me to El Momo, the cheapest place to stay on Saba at US $50 a night for a single, shared bath. I ended up really liking El Momo, with its simple cottages set high up on the mountain side, small pool and resplendent views. The climb up the stairs to El Momo is steep and long, not for the physically challenged. The road up from Windwardside is even tougher, this is Saba. Andries the proprietor is a jovial Dutchman who will make you breakfast in the mornings for $9. Eggs bacon bread, and don’t forget to eat your fruit. He can also make a great ham and cheese sandwich for lunch but they don’t do dinner. One payoff of this difficult location is the wildlife sounds at night, otherworldly. Being away from town the natural tranquillity of Saba really sinks in here.
Transportation on the island is by taxi van or rent a car. Hitchhiking is another option as well, on such a small island most people will stop to give you a ride. The dive shops all have taxi drivers who run their regular shuttle to and from Fort Bay where the small new harbor is. This is included in the price of diving. If you need a taxi from Fort Bay to Windwardside it will run you $15, seemed like most rides were around $15-17. Sea Saba has Peddy as their regular driver, a 7th generation Saban, full of local knowledge. Peddy also was very helpful to me booking airline tickets and calling El Momo to have a sandwich waiting for me upon arrival as I was on a tight schedule to make the afternoon dive the first day I arrived.
There is a good variety of restaurants available in Windwardside. The Swinging Doors does BBQ on Fridays and steak night on Sundays. The friendly couple who run this place provide a good deal popular with the dive shop employees. Saba Treasures does good pizza at their cool bar, with walls covered in nautical charts. Brigadoons is high end with great food, my dive buddy Ed insisted I have the seared tuna salad which was excellent. I also ate one night at Shearwater Resort decent but expensive italian food with awesome views. The Snack shop came highly recommended for cheap eats but I did not check it out. Overall food is expensive here with meals running from $20 -$40 with drinks.
For drinks Karaoke night on Friday at Scout’s is the place to be. The German proprietors start things off all dressed up for the occasion and doing their best to sing with their German accents, humor. I liked Guido's disco for a bit of local character as well.
So what about the diving? Sea Saba does 3 dives a day, that will run you around $130 for three tanks with taxi shuttle, ouch. It seems like the price of diving has crept up considerably in the last few years. What ever happened to two tanks for $50? I did a Nitrox certification for $130 with Scott who was an excellent instructor. Unlimited Nitrox for the week runs $59. We dove the Sea Dragon, a 38’ Canaveral with no more than 10 divers, strictly enforced. They did run a second boat the one day they had more than 10 divers. These are the largest boats of the three shops and were never crowded. They leave the dock around 9:30, go out for two tanks and back in for a quick turn around to do the third. Most days there were people who needed to be back to catch the Edge ferry in the afternoon and this restricted bottom time on the third dive. Also there were new divers on the boat every morning so this restricted the first dive site selection. Ideally they should run two boats, one for the new people and less adventurous ie. skilled divers. The second boat should be reserved for those who want to ‘dive some current’ and are doing multiple days of diving.
Saba’s premier dive sites are their pinnacles. The precarious topography topside is carried on under the water. Dramatic pinnacles and vertical spires of rock like at Diamond
Rock provide some spectacular vertical reefs. Every morning we would head out to The Pinnacle to assess conditions. Every day the current was running strong so the boats would head inshore to more protected sites. Sea conditions were not ideal while I was on Saba and this might effect my opinion of the diving overall. Visibility was around 60’ on average, with water temperatures from 83 to 84 degrees.
We did finally ‘sea lawyer’ up a dive on the pinnacle called 3rd Encounter. The one morning we went out with 2 boats, our boat had all experienced divers. When the crew put down a line with 16 lbs of lead it ran out at 45 degrees from the boat indicating strong current. The crew suggested we should go elsewhere. Myself and a Dutch couple had been conspiring at the bar the night before to dive that damn pinnacle. At our insistence that we at least try and dive it, the crew said ok but if conditions are too bad we will abort the dive. Ok sounds like a plan. I have to give it to Dave and Scott our fearless DMs for taking the risk. Using a granny line to get to the mooring, we made it down to 15’ waiting for the rest of the group. The current was ripping indeed, but as we made it down to the top of the pinnacle at 110 feet the current was light. Milling around the pin, waiting for the rest of the group I spotted a big Caribbean Reef Shark, at least 6’, cruising the top of the sea mount. Sweet! Buddied up with a skilled diver working for National Geographic, we headed out across the sea mount towards the Needle. The Needle is a thin spire of rock which rises up from the edge of the sea mount to about 80 feet. It was inhabited by two big grouper and surrounded in Brown Chromis. Spiraling around the Needle a few times it was time to head back to the mooring line. Short but sweet at 36 min this was a truly exciting dive, great topography and big fish.
The second morning dive is typically done closer to shore, of these Man-o-War Shoal and Diamond Rock were my favorites. Again great vertical topography, with walls covered in every color imaginable. Primarily covered in encrusting sponges, there is good variety of life to keep things hopping. Big schools of reef fish were somewhat lacking though. We did have interesting encounters with Hawksbill turtles feeding, oblivious to the divers. Cow fish chasing each other around, and lots of Peacock flounders. Barracuda were there on every dive as well. These dives tended to be maximum depth around 80’ for just under an hour.
The Afternoon dives were mostly on Tent Reef, there are at least 6 moorings in this area. Closes to the harbor but reputedly DMs favorite site. The topography here is less dramatic, with a boulder strewn bottom. Parts of Tent Reef have a nice overhanging ledge, and some swimthroughs. This area actually grew on me over time and we did see the biggest Longsnout Seahorse I have ever seen at over 7” long.
Most of the inshore reefs did not appear healthy too me and this was my biggest disappointment with Saba diving. Much of the bottom is covered in sediment and algae. To me high algae population on a reef indicates bad news. Hard Corals were rare, and I was thinking hurricane damage? Volcanic ash running off of the island may in part contribute to this. For example Tent reef wall was a bit of a wasteland. Little healthy sea life here. Due to the high current running we did a lot of inshore diving. Repeatedly on dive sites like Ladder Labyrinth, Hot Springs and Babylon I would think what is this crap?
Inevitably though some critter or other would keep things interesting. Here is an example; morning dive my last day we go to Customs House, another inshore site. As we descend to 99’ in 60 vis or less we encounter more algae covered reef. My buddy Eric swims by gesturing boring by placing his head on his hands like he is sleeping. Just then our DM Steve starts banging away on his tank like crazy. Looking up, what do I see but a fricking Manta Ray! I’ve been chasing Mantas from Thailand to Costa Rica with no luck for years. Wow, how can I dis Saba diving when I finally get my Manta?
Overall Saba diving was very good, bordering on world class at times. Admittedly I did not hit it with ideal conditions, but the state of their reefs would have me hesitate to say it is some of the best Caribbean diving. For variety of life it is pretty damn good, Manta Ray (rare here, I got lucky) 2 species of Nudibranch, big sea horse, Sharks both Reef and Nurse. Sea Saba and the other shops do their best, but with a large contingency of day divers coming over from St. Martin, it is hard to balance the needs of the hardcores who want to do 5 days of serious diving.
For those with a sense of adventure Saba is a treat, ends of the earth, an island unlike any other. Culturally rich, exotic diving, all good. For those who like an easy resort dive experience, roll out of bed, 4-5 dives a day, all meals same kitchen this ain’t it. I am still conflicted on my final opinion about Saba diving, but as an overall travel experience, including St. Martin I had an awesome trip. And don’t forget to mention the fricking Manta Ray.
I have posted some photos from Saba here...
ScubaBoard Gallery - Saba, Dutch Antilles, 4-10
Saba is literally a mountain rising out of the sea. Referred to by some as the “king kong island” It is a natural wonder shrouded in cloud and mystery. People really weren't meant to live on this place, no harbor, little running water, and steep as the dickens. All supplies used to have to be carried up the ladder, a steep winding stairwell, to Customs house perched 300 feet above the cove which provided a landing. To this day many of the roads are far steeper than standard grade here in the rocky mountains. The original settlers of this island were tough folk who must have made it work through pure tenacity.
The island topside is gorgeous and a little intimidating. Little towns set up in the mountain culls, with whitewash and red roofs set amongst idyllic tropical gardens. The locals are friendly and will recognize you , invariably saying hello, by the second day. A good sense of humor is essential to live here apparently, as they will ask the cabby ‘where you going” when you drive by on the same rout every day. This level of neighborliness is unique in the modern day, and Saba does feel like a link to earlier times.
Being such a remote and unique place, getting here should not be too easy. Yet for some it is quite accessible. Direct flights from Newark to St. Martin (SXM) were running around $300, and frequent flights from SXM to Saba on Winair $70 make it doable in one day for some. On the other hand coming from Albuquerque it required 3 flights and a boat ride to get there with a layover in St. Martin. I opted to take the Edge II ferry as opposed to flying, there is nothing better than a boat ride if you don't get sea sick IMHO. The crossing was pleasant with favorable conditions, other times I have heard it can be a hell ride. The Edge cost $62 including a $5 luggage fee and took 80 minutes. Their web site claims only one bag per person allowed but this is not enforced. I did fly Winair back to St. Martin as no boat was running that day, and that was a good flight with no hassles at the airport even with my luggage being slightly over the 50 pound limit. The 12 minute flight for $70 is low altitude.
There are only three dive shops on the island. Sea Saba whom I dove with. Saba Divers which is owned by Scout’s Place, and is the closest thing to a ‘dive resort’ on the island. Saba Deep is the third and smallest, popular with the local resident medical students. I ended up diving with Sea Saba because they offered me the best price, and I know some of their employees through connections at my work here in Taos, New Mexico. I did look at Scout’ as well because they are conveniently located in Windwardside, where most of the restaurants and bars are located. Scout’s Saba Divers provides free Nitrox as well, but they high balled me on the price of a Nitrox Certification, and their cheapest single rooms were all booked. I did talk with an Austrian couple who were diving with them and they were diving the same sites we were with Sea Saba.
Sea Saba referred me to El Momo, the cheapest place to stay on Saba at US $50 a night for a single, shared bath. I ended up really liking El Momo, with its simple cottages set high up on the mountain side, small pool and resplendent views. The climb up the stairs to El Momo is steep and long, not for the physically challenged. The road up from Windwardside is even tougher, this is Saba. Andries the proprietor is a jovial Dutchman who will make you breakfast in the mornings for $9. Eggs bacon bread, and don’t forget to eat your fruit. He can also make a great ham and cheese sandwich for lunch but they don’t do dinner. One payoff of this difficult location is the wildlife sounds at night, otherworldly. Being away from town the natural tranquillity of Saba really sinks in here.
Transportation on the island is by taxi van or rent a car. Hitchhiking is another option as well, on such a small island most people will stop to give you a ride. The dive shops all have taxi drivers who run their regular shuttle to and from Fort Bay where the small new harbor is. This is included in the price of diving. If you need a taxi from Fort Bay to Windwardside it will run you $15, seemed like most rides were around $15-17. Sea Saba has Peddy as their regular driver, a 7th generation Saban, full of local knowledge. Peddy also was very helpful to me booking airline tickets and calling El Momo to have a sandwich waiting for me upon arrival as I was on a tight schedule to make the afternoon dive the first day I arrived.
There is a good variety of restaurants available in Windwardside. The Swinging Doors does BBQ on Fridays and steak night on Sundays. The friendly couple who run this place provide a good deal popular with the dive shop employees. Saba Treasures does good pizza at their cool bar, with walls covered in nautical charts. Brigadoons is high end with great food, my dive buddy Ed insisted I have the seared tuna salad which was excellent. I also ate one night at Shearwater Resort decent but expensive italian food with awesome views. The Snack shop came highly recommended for cheap eats but I did not check it out. Overall food is expensive here with meals running from $20 -$40 with drinks.
For drinks Karaoke night on Friday at Scout’s is the place to be. The German proprietors start things off all dressed up for the occasion and doing their best to sing with their German accents, humor. I liked Guido's disco for a bit of local character as well.
So what about the diving? Sea Saba does 3 dives a day, that will run you around $130 for three tanks with taxi shuttle, ouch. It seems like the price of diving has crept up considerably in the last few years. What ever happened to two tanks for $50? I did a Nitrox certification for $130 with Scott who was an excellent instructor. Unlimited Nitrox for the week runs $59. We dove the Sea Dragon, a 38’ Canaveral with no more than 10 divers, strictly enforced. They did run a second boat the one day they had more than 10 divers. These are the largest boats of the three shops and were never crowded. They leave the dock around 9:30, go out for two tanks and back in for a quick turn around to do the third. Most days there were people who needed to be back to catch the Edge ferry in the afternoon and this restricted bottom time on the third dive. Also there were new divers on the boat every morning so this restricted the first dive site selection. Ideally they should run two boats, one for the new people and less adventurous ie. skilled divers. The second boat should be reserved for those who want to ‘dive some current’ and are doing multiple days of diving.
Saba’s premier dive sites are their pinnacles. The precarious topography topside is carried on under the water. Dramatic pinnacles and vertical spires of rock like at Diamond
Rock provide some spectacular vertical reefs. Every morning we would head out to The Pinnacle to assess conditions. Every day the current was running strong so the boats would head inshore to more protected sites. Sea conditions were not ideal while I was on Saba and this might effect my opinion of the diving overall. Visibility was around 60’ on average, with water temperatures from 83 to 84 degrees.
We did finally ‘sea lawyer’ up a dive on the pinnacle called 3rd Encounter. The one morning we went out with 2 boats, our boat had all experienced divers. When the crew put down a line with 16 lbs of lead it ran out at 45 degrees from the boat indicating strong current. The crew suggested we should go elsewhere. Myself and a Dutch couple had been conspiring at the bar the night before to dive that damn pinnacle. At our insistence that we at least try and dive it, the crew said ok but if conditions are too bad we will abort the dive. Ok sounds like a plan. I have to give it to Dave and Scott our fearless DMs for taking the risk. Using a granny line to get to the mooring, we made it down to 15’ waiting for the rest of the group. The current was ripping indeed, but as we made it down to the top of the pinnacle at 110 feet the current was light. Milling around the pin, waiting for the rest of the group I spotted a big Caribbean Reef Shark, at least 6’, cruising the top of the sea mount. Sweet! Buddied up with a skilled diver working for National Geographic, we headed out across the sea mount towards the Needle. The Needle is a thin spire of rock which rises up from the edge of the sea mount to about 80 feet. It was inhabited by two big grouper and surrounded in Brown Chromis. Spiraling around the Needle a few times it was time to head back to the mooring line. Short but sweet at 36 min this was a truly exciting dive, great topography and big fish.
The second morning dive is typically done closer to shore, of these Man-o-War Shoal and Diamond Rock were my favorites. Again great vertical topography, with walls covered in every color imaginable. Primarily covered in encrusting sponges, there is good variety of life to keep things hopping. Big schools of reef fish were somewhat lacking though. We did have interesting encounters with Hawksbill turtles feeding, oblivious to the divers. Cow fish chasing each other around, and lots of Peacock flounders. Barracuda were there on every dive as well. These dives tended to be maximum depth around 80’ for just under an hour.
The Afternoon dives were mostly on Tent Reef, there are at least 6 moorings in this area. Closes to the harbor but reputedly DMs favorite site. The topography here is less dramatic, with a boulder strewn bottom. Parts of Tent Reef have a nice overhanging ledge, and some swimthroughs. This area actually grew on me over time and we did see the biggest Longsnout Seahorse I have ever seen at over 7” long.
Most of the inshore reefs did not appear healthy too me and this was my biggest disappointment with Saba diving. Much of the bottom is covered in sediment and algae. To me high algae population on a reef indicates bad news. Hard Corals were rare, and I was thinking hurricane damage? Volcanic ash running off of the island may in part contribute to this. For example Tent reef wall was a bit of a wasteland. Little healthy sea life here. Due to the high current running we did a lot of inshore diving. Repeatedly on dive sites like Ladder Labyrinth, Hot Springs and Babylon I would think what is this crap?
Inevitably though some critter or other would keep things interesting. Here is an example; morning dive my last day we go to Customs House, another inshore site. As we descend to 99’ in 60 vis or less we encounter more algae covered reef. My buddy Eric swims by gesturing boring by placing his head on his hands like he is sleeping. Just then our DM Steve starts banging away on his tank like crazy. Looking up, what do I see but a fricking Manta Ray! I’ve been chasing Mantas from Thailand to Costa Rica with no luck for years. Wow, how can I dis Saba diving when I finally get my Manta?
Overall Saba diving was very good, bordering on world class at times. Admittedly I did not hit it with ideal conditions, but the state of their reefs would have me hesitate to say it is some of the best Caribbean diving. For variety of life it is pretty damn good, Manta Ray (rare here, I got lucky) 2 species of Nudibranch, big sea horse, Sharks both Reef and Nurse. Sea Saba and the other shops do their best, but with a large contingency of day divers coming over from St. Martin, it is hard to balance the needs of the hardcores who want to do 5 days of serious diving.
For those with a sense of adventure Saba is a treat, ends of the earth, an island unlike any other. Culturally rich, exotic diving, all good. For those who like an easy resort dive experience, roll out of bed, 4-5 dives a day, all meals same kitchen this ain’t it. I am still conflicted on my final opinion about Saba diving, but as an overall travel experience, including St. Martin I had an awesome trip. And don’t forget to mention the fricking Manta Ray.
I have posted some photos from Saba here...
ScubaBoard Gallery - Saba, Dutch Antilles, 4-10
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