Winair from St. Martin offers frequent flights to Saba, and gives you a generous 44kg per person allowance if they know you are divers. This allowed us to bring all of our own gear, including camera housing, strobes, and lights, plus hiking boots and clothes. However, because the planes are small and the runway is short (Saba has the shortest commercial runway), don't overpack. Flight is a memorable 12 minutes. Aerophobes can take the 1hr, 45 min ferry. It is quite a trip coming in on the little plane.
We stayed at the Pirate's Cottage at Scout's place, a 2-bedroom, 1-bath cottage. Accomodations were newer (remodeled in early 2007), clean, and comfortable. Daily maid service was great, and two grocery stores were within walking distance for us to stock the kitchen with snacks and beverages. Air conditioning was not needed -- the steady cool breeze was more than enough to keep cool (we needed sweatshirts at night). We had wireless internet, but it worked best in the restaurant.
The staff a Scout's was very attentive to all of our needs and making sure everything ran smoothly. They handled all of the transportation to and from the airport and dive shop, and were quick to address any problems.
We ate most of our meals at Scout's. The menu was varied and all of the food was good, generous, and reasonably priced. Other restaurants in Windwardside are in easy walking distance -- Swinging Door Saloon has a $16 steak night, and their ribs are great too. Brigadoon has good seafood.
The dive staff at Saba Divers was friendly and professional, and allowed us to run longer profiles when we had more air and bottom time than the guides. Nitrox was free for the entire week, which we used since many of the dives required profiles in the 80-100 foot range.
They took great pains to separate the groups based on ability and interests, even when the total number of divers could have fit in one boat. There can be deep dives in Saba, but there are also shallower sandy bottom dives to be had as well. On three separate days my group of four people had our own boat to tackle some of the more challenging sites, while another boat stayed in to shallower waters.
On the second day of diving we came across 5 gray reef sharks out in the blue near the pinnacle known as the "Needle." This was a welcome sight in the wild without having to feed or chum the waters. Other dives sites varied and included deep pinnacles, walls, patch reefs, and sandy bottoms. We saw turtles and sting rays on nearly every dive. Currents could be strong in some locations, but conditions varied by the hour and day.
While the coral and fish life is better in Bonaire, Saba offers more variety both topside and underwater. As an island, it is pretty comparable to Dominica (lush jungles for hiking, and pretty good diving for the Caribbean), but Saba is much cleaner and friendlier, and the food is much better. For a quiet vacation in a friendly, small community with plenty of diving and hiking, Saba is the place to go. If you are the Beach and Casino type, go somewhere else.
We stayed at the Pirate's Cottage at Scout's place, a 2-bedroom, 1-bath cottage. Accomodations were newer (remodeled in early 2007), clean, and comfortable. Daily maid service was great, and two grocery stores were within walking distance for us to stock the kitchen with snacks and beverages. Air conditioning was not needed -- the steady cool breeze was more than enough to keep cool (we needed sweatshirts at night). We had wireless internet, but it worked best in the restaurant.
The staff a Scout's was very attentive to all of our needs and making sure everything ran smoothly. They handled all of the transportation to and from the airport and dive shop, and were quick to address any problems.
We ate most of our meals at Scout's. The menu was varied and all of the food was good, generous, and reasonably priced. Other restaurants in Windwardside are in easy walking distance -- Swinging Door Saloon has a $16 steak night, and their ribs are great too. Brigadoon has good seafood.
The dive staff at Saba Divers was friendly and professional, and allowed us to run longer profiles when we had more air and bottom time than the guides. Nitrox was free for the entire week, which we used since many of the dives required profiles in the 80-100 foot range.
They took great pains to separate the groups based on ability and interests, even when the total number of divers could have fit in one boat. There can be deep dives in Saba, but there are also shallower sandy bottom dives to be had as well. On three separate days my group of four people had our own boat to tackle some of the more challenging sites, while another boat stayed in to shallower waters.
On the second day of diving we came across 5 gray reef sharks out in the blue near the pinnacle known as the "Needle." This was a welcome sight in the wild without having to feed or chum the waters. Other dives sites varied and included deep pinnacles, walls, patch reefs, and sandy bottoms. We saw turtles and sting rays on nearly every dive. Currents could be strong in some locations, but conditions varied by the hour and day.
While the coral and fish life is better in Bonaire, Saba offers more variety both topside and underwater. As an island, it is pretty comparable to Dominica (lush jungles for hiking, and pretty good diving for the Caribbean), but Saba is much cleaner and friendlier, and the food is much better. For a quiet vacation in a friendly, small community with plenty of diving and hiking, Saba is the place to go. If you are the Beach and Casino type, go somewhere else.
