mbs
Contributor
Just back from an exceptional trip to Saba! We stayed at Juliana's and dove with Sea Saba. Lynn at Sea Saba took care of the arrangements with the hotel, diving and taxis to/from the airport and the dives each day.
We flew JFK to St Maarten to Saba. Things are still in flux at St Maarten's airport since last year's devastation, but the departure lounge although crowded made due. In Saba there were no obvious signs of damage from the hurricane. Loved the flight into Saba!
This was a relatively pricey trip. If you can get to St Maarten using miles that will help. There are less expensive options than Juliana's and you can manage your food costs down. But we kinda splurged a little on this one and were very happy with what we got.
The island is spectacular. Think Jurassic Park when you are flying in! No beaches on the island. It is volcanic rock rising out of the ocean topped with a beautiful rain forest. If we weren't doing 3 dives/day we would have loved to do some hiking on the trails. Most of the lodging and restaurants are up in the Windward section and that is where we stayed. This is real hilly so be prepared for some decent walks.
There are no chain hotels or restaurants on the island. Juliana's has a handful of regular ocean or garden view rooms, 2 suites and 3 cottages. We stayed in the Mango suite which was above the garden view rooms. It is the only room up there so very private with killer views of the ocean and the mountains. It has a separate bedroom and living area with a kitchenette as well as a large porch with tables and chairs. It was very, very nice. Clean and recently updated. Our package included breakfast which you ordered off the menu and was excellent and super fast. We had dinner in the restaurant 2 nights and the meals were also excellent. There is a nice little poolside bar which had a free wine happy hour most days! We loved the place. The couple that own and run the place do an excellent job.
We ate in a few of the restaurants for dinner and they were all excellent. Brigadoon stands out. Classic French done very, very well. Since we did 2 morning and 1 afternoon dives we did not come back up for lunch. There is one place on the docks for food and drinks, but it did not come highly recommended so we brought lunch from the hotel or the bakery every day and ate on the boat.
The taxi picked us up every morning at 8:45 for the white knuckle trip down to the harbor. I would not have liked to drive on this island. My wife likened it to the Almalfi coast... The Sea Saba boats are nice size and in very good condition. All of the DM's were very friendly and provided detailed dive plans. At the end of the week they give you a detailed dive map with a listing of every dive made including the site, depth, time, DM, sightings and the fish of the dive. The signature dives are the pinnacles. And they are quite extraordinary!
These are deep dives. The pinnacles start at like 90 feet. You descend down the mooring line and need to watch your depth. We were diving 32% nitrox all week so you really did need to pay attention to the 110 mod. Great viz on the pinnacles and tons of sea life! Schools of creole wrasse, sharks, etc. The other dives nearer to shore were also excellent and diverse. Some really good walls, and other formations made for good 2nd and 3rd dives. Lots of turtles and sharks, eels, juvi drums, groupers, rays. Nice barrel sponges, fans and other very healthy life on the reefs. Most days we were the only 2 on the afternoon dive so it was great to have a private tour! Not more than 5-10 minutes out to the sites. Plenty of fresh drinking water on board. You left all of your gear on board all week including hanging your wetsuit up. They hosed everything off with fresh water. Also they swap your gear to fresh tanks for you. So it was pretty much valet style diving. Everyone on board were experienced divers and they said that is the norm. Most were repeat customers.
We thought it was one of the best dive trips we have taken. The island, the hotel and the diving were outstanding. We will be back, but I hope to shave a little off the cost. Either that or I might have to try to stay employed for a few more years
We flew JFK to St Maarten to Saba. Things are still in flux at St Maarten's airport since last year's devastation, but the departure lounge although crowded made due. In Saba there were no obvious signs of damage from the hurricane. Loved the flight into Saba!
This was a relatively pricey trip. If you can get to St Maarten using miles that will help. There are less expensive options than Juliana's and you can manage your food costs down. But we kinda splurged a little on this one and were very happy with what we got.
The island is spectacular. Think Jurassic Park when you are flying in! No beaches on the island. It is volcanic rock rising out of the ocean topped with a beautiful rain forest. If we weren't doing 3 dives/day we would have loved to do some hiking on the trails. Most of the lodging and restaurants are up in the Windward section and that is where we stayed. This is real hilly so be prepared for some decent walks.
There are no chain hotels or restaurants on the island. Juliana's has a handful of regular ocean or garden view rooms, 2 suites and 3 cottages. We stayed in the Mango suite which was above the garden view rooms. It is the only room up there so very private with killer views of the ocean and the mountains. It has a separate bedroom and living area with a kitchenette as well as a large porch with tables and chairs. It was very, very nice. Clean and recently updated. Our package included breakfast which you ordered off the menu and was excellent and super fast. We had dinner in the restaurant 2 nights and the meals were also excellent. There is a nice little poolside bar which had a free wine happy hour most days! We loved the place. The couple that own and run the place do an excellent job.
We ate in a few of the restaurants for dinner and they were all excellent. Brigadoon stands out. Classic French done very, very well. Since we did 2 morning and 1 afternoon dives we did not come back up for lunch. There is one place on the docks for food and drinks, but it did not come highly recommended so we brought lunch from the hotel or the bakery every day and ate on the boat.
The taxi picked us up every morning at 8:45 for the white knuckle trip down to the harbor. I would not have liked to drive on this island. My wife likened it to the Almalfi coast... The Sea Saba boats are nice size and in very good condition. All of the DM's were very friendly and provided detailed dive plans. At the end of the week they give you a detailed dive map with a listing of every dive made including the site, depth, time, DM, sightings and the fish of the dive. The signature dives are the pinnacles. And they are quite extraordinary!
These are deep dives. The pinnacles start at like 90 feet. You descend down the mooring line and need to watch your depth. We were diving 32% nitrox all week so you really did need to pay attention to the 110 mod. Great viz on the pinnacles and tons of sea life! Schools of creole wrasse, sharks, etc. The other dives nearer to shore were also excellent and diverse. Some really good walls, and other formations made for good 2nd and 3rd dives. Lots of turtles and sharks, eels, juvi drums, groupers, rays. Nice barrel sponges, fans and other very healthy life on the reefs. Most days we were the only 2 on the afternoon dive so it was great to have a private tour! Not more than 5-10 minutes out to the sites. Plenty of fresh drinking water on board. You left all of your gear on board all week including hanging your wetsuit up. They hosed everything off with fresh water. Also they swap your gear to fresh tanks for you. So it was pretty much valet style diving. Everyone on board were experienced divers and they said that is the norm. Most were repeat customers.
We thought it was one of the best dive trips we have taken. The island, the hotel and the diving were outstanding. We will be back, but I hope to shave a little off the cost. Either that or I might have to try to stay employed for a few more years