vetdiver
Contributor
Just back from an 8 night trip to Saba/Statia, 4 nights on each island. We booked through Jan at Caribbean Dive Vacations. She was absolutely wonderful to work with, knowledgeable and responsive. We will definitely use her to book future travel and would wholeheartedly recommend her!
Flights flew US Air to St. Maarten, then WinAir to Saba, from Saba to Statia, and Statia back to St. Maarten. A bit surprised by US Air, as we had to pay for headphones (and a beer for my husband) on the (international!) flight down we flew through Charlotte on the way back, and they were completely unable to handle the international flights coming in. The immigration line was a mile long (not such a big deal, as it moved quickly), but customs was the real mess. EVERYONE coming from St. Maarten who was on my connecting flight back to Boston had their luggage lost. I mean it absolutely everyone. We were all standing around in the lost luggage room laughing. It was not so funny, though, when we didnt get our bags back for 48 hours! The connection was tight, but not terribly so the connection was delayed quite a bit, so much so that we had time to go to the wrong gate in the wrong terminal before heading to the new gate/terminal, so I am not really sure what happened. Guess the bright side is that the luggage loss happened on the way back Win Air was a breeze. Flight to Saba was quite entertaining, as advertised!
Saba Stayed at the Orchid Cottage at Julianas and dove with Sea Saba. Julianas was wonderful, the cottage was lovely and spacious. Wim and Johanna (and their awesome dogs) were fantastic. Sea Saba was also great - the boats were not crowded, and we were allowed (in most cases) to do independent profiles. We did 3 dives a day usually a deep pinnacle dive first followed by two progressively shallower dives. We dove EAN 32%, only a pain when watching depth during the morning dive. The diving was fantastic and we loved divemasters Leda, Dick, and Bruno as well as owners Lynn and John. We would not hesitate to use this operation again.
(One comment about Sea Saba that must be made - we did notice that with one of the divemasters, there was an air of Im better than you, dont you forget it. We heard complaints about this person from several people on our boat - one person witnessed the guy rolling his eyes at someones references to an earlier dive trip. Another woman was nearly in tears her first morning on the boat when she let him know that shed had recent surgery and would signal him and ascend if she was having trouble, he informed her, Either you are diving or you arent. Thats all I care about. Nice, eh? If that particular person should read this, he may want to remember that he may not be able to tell who has what certifications/experience just from their appearance and no matter what, we are paying customers who deserve to be treated nicely!!!! That said we did not feel he was representative of the operation as a whole by any means and we just avoided him as much as possible.)
Windwardside was fun and quiet we ate at Swinging Doors (famous BBQ night), Brigadoon, Ecolodge (we hiked up and back down take a flashlight!), and the tavern for pizza. Ecolodge was the hands-down favorite! My husband loved the banana chocolate chip cake at Tropics Café, as well. We did not get a chance to hike to Mt. Scenery, which we regret except that we were diving constantly, so its hard to regret it too much, right?
Statia we stayed at the Old Gin House and dove with Golden Rock Divers, both run by Glen and Michelle, who are a lovely couple. We absolutely loved Statia and will definitely be back! The Gin House was beautiful we had an oceanview room, and we were lulled to sleep every night by the waves. Heaven. The chef, Mark, is amazing try to hit the inside dining room on a weekend night you will not regret it! Also, if you can work it in with your diving, hike the Quill keep an eye out for free-roaming roosters (omnipresent on both Saba and Statia!) and mountain crabs.
Golden Rock Divers was amazing. I have not encountered a more friendly, laid-back, and wonderful dive operation in my 13 years of diving. The schedules were somewhat loose and we only had a few divers, making for a stress-free, fun few days with them. They arranged a night dive to wreck city one evening, and that was a fantastic experience. Our divemaster for 90% of our dives was Mike, who very obviously loves his job it shows in everything he says and does. Although my husband and I were diving a more independent profile, he sought us out during dives to show us amazing little stuff tiny crabs, nudibranchs, juveniles not just the standard eel/ray/shark stuff. Lisa was also wonderful, but thanks to a cold, she was out of commission during our trip. Winston is the newbie of the group he took us on two dives, was very shy at first and opened up towards the end. Hes got some great potential. Statia has some nice wrecks we did the newer Charlie Brown and Chien Tong as well as the older wreck sites, very nice.
Sad to be back although this means we can start planning our 2006 trip to PNG! Any questions, PM me.
Flights flew US Air to St. Maarten, then WinAir to Saba, from Saba to Statia, and Statia back to St. Maarten. A bit surprised by US Air, as we had to pay for headphones (and a beer for my husband) on the (international!) flight down we flew through Charlotte on the way back, and they were completely unable to handle the international flights coming in. The immigration line was a mile long (not such a big deal, as it moved quickly), but customs was the real mess. EVERYONE coming from St. Maarten who was on my connecting flight back to Boston had their luggage lost. I mean it absolutely everyone. We were all standing around in the lost luggage room laughing. It was not so funny, though, when we didnt get our bags back for 48 hours! The connection was tight, but not terribly so the connection was delayed quite a bit, so much so that we had time to go to the wrong gate in the wrong terminal before heading to the new gate/terminal, so I am not really sure what happened. Guess the bright side is that the luggage loss happened on the way back Win Air was a breeze. Flight to Saba was quite entertaining, as advertised!
Saba Stayed at the Orchid Cottage at Julianas and dove with Sea Saba. Julianas was wonderful, the cottage was lovely and spacious. Wim and Johanna (and their awesome dogs) were fantastic. Sea Saba was also great - the boats were not crowded, and we were allowed (in most cases) to do independent profiles. We did 3 dives a day usually a deep pinnacle dive first followed by two progressively shallower dives. We dove EAN 32%, only a pain when watching depth during the morning dive. The diving was fantastic and we loved divemasters Leda, Dick, and Bruno as well as owners Lynn and John. We would not hesitate to use this operation again.
(One comment about Sea Saba that must be made - we did notice that with one of the divemasters, there was an air of Im better than you, dont you forget it. We heard complaints about this person from several people on our boat - one person witnessed the guy rolling his eyes at someones references to an earlier dive trip. Another woman was nearly in tears her first morning on the boat when she let him know that shed had recent surgery and would signal him and ascend if she was having trouble, he informed her, Either you are diving or you arent. Thats all I care about. Nice, eh? If that particular person should read this, he may want to remember that he may not be able to tell who has what certifications/experience just from their appearance and no matter what, we are paying customers who deserve to be treated nicely!!!! That said we did not feel he was representative of the operation as a whole by any means and we just avoided him as much as possible.)
Windwardside was fun and quiet we ate at Swinging Doors (famous BBQ night), Brigadoon, Ecolodge (we hiked up and back down take a flashlight!), and the tavern for pizza. Ecolodge was the hands-down favorite! My husband loved the banana chocolate chip cake at Tropics Café, as well. We did not get a chance to hike to Mt. Scenery, which we regret except that we were diving constantly, so its hard to regret it too much, right?
Statia we stayed at the Old Gin House and dove with Golden Rock Divers, both run by Glen and Michelle, who are a lovely couple. We absolutely loved Statia and will definitely be back! The Gin House was beautiful we had an oceanview room, and we were lulled to sleep every night by the waves. Heaven. The chef, Mark, is amazing try to hit the inside dining room on a weekend night you will not regret it! Also, if you can work it in with your diving, hike the Quill keep an eye out for free-roaming roosters (omnipresent on both Saba and Statia!) and mountain crabs.
Golden Rock Divers was amazing. I have not encountered a more friendly, laid-back, and wonderful dive operation in my 13 years of diving. The schedules were somewhat loose and we only had a few divers, making for a stress-free, fun few days with them. They arranged a night dive to wreck city one evening, and that was a fantastic experience. Our divemaster for 90% of our dives was Mike, who very obviously loves his job it shows in everything he says and does. Although my husband and I were diving a more independent profile, he sought us out during dives to show us amazing little stuff tiny crabs, nudibranchs, juveniles not just the standard eel/ray/shark stuff. Lisa was also wonderful, but thanks to a cold, she was out of commission during our trip. Winston is the newbie of the group he took us on two dives, was very shy at first and opened up towards the end. Hes got some great potential. Statia has some nice wrecks we did the newer Charlie Brown and Chien Tong as well as the older wreck sites, very nice.
Sad to be back although this means we can start planning our 2006 trip to PNG! Any questions, PM me.
