Saba Trip Review 12/1-12/8/2018

[scubadada]

Hi @mbs

Nice pictures of a Web Burrfish, Green Turtle, and Reef Shark. Hope to get to Saba one of these days

 

[mbs]

Hi @mbs

Nice pictures of a Web Burrfish, Green Turtle, and Reef Shark. Hope to get to Saba one of these days

Ah ha, web burrfish!!!! Thanks for the id!

 

[drrich2]

On further thought, a follow up question about the diving. Since much of the diving was quite deep, albeit using EAN 32, Saba isn't known for topside diversions and on offer were 3 dives/day (that the max?), a question for the benefit of avid divers who mostly travel to dive...

About how long were the dives? Am I correct in speculating that where deep pinnacles are concerned, there wouldn't be a lot of 'multi-level' diving, working your way gradually back up a sloping reef wall as the dive concluded?

Richard.

 

[mbs]

On further thought, a follow up question about the diving. Since much of the diving was quite deep, albeit using EAN 32, Saba isn't known for topside diversions and on offer were 3 dives/day (that the max?), a question for the benefit of avid divers who mostly travel to dive...

About how long were the dives? Am I correct in speculating that where deep pinnacles are concerned, there wouldn't be a lot of 'multi-level' diving, working your way gradually back up a sloping reef wall as the dive concluded?

Richard.

For Sea Saba 3 was the max except I think they offered a night dive although I don't recall them mentioning it when we were there... Yea the dives were square profiles for sure. They listed the times for 50 mins on the deep dives and usually 60 for the others. Most days we were all on nitrox so we had reasonable bottom times. They would send up buddys that were a little less good on air earlier, but for the most part we were all together. And we would ascend very slowly which was great. This was a slow week, but as I mentioned for most of the week we were the only divers for the 3rd dive. I would say one should look at these more as the quality of the dive and not the quantity of dives, if that makes sense...

 

[Ironborn]

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.

When you say that there were no obvious signs of hurricane damage on Saba, do you mean above water, underwater, or both? In other words, did you see any signs of reef damage from the hurricanes?

What airline did you take from JFK to Sint Maarten? Were you able to buy a joint ticket for both the JFK-Sint Maarten flights and the Winair flights between Sint Maarten and Saba, or did you have to buy separate tickets for those two legs of your trip?

 

[mbs]

When you say that there were no obvious signs of hurricane damage on Saba, do you mean above water, underwater, or both? In other words, did you see any signs of reef damage from the hurricanes?

What airline did you take from JFK to Sint Maarten? Were you able to buy a joint ticket for both the JFK-Sint Maarten flights and the Winair flights between Sint Maarten and Saba, or did you have to buy separate tickets for those two legs of your trip?

I was actually talking about damage above water, but I definitely did not see or even hear of any below the water damage.
We flew Delta to St Maarten and they do not share with Winair so it was booked separately. I think Sea Saba had a note that only one of the airlines right now was sharing with Winair, but I don't recall which, maybe United?

 

[howswedeofme]

Saba is on our return list too! But yes, quite expensive to get to and for lodging on the island (we are doing two weeks in Indonesia this year for the same price as one week on Saba). The diving, hiking, and people are amazing. And the bakery! I still miss it. Those apple fritters are perfection. I walked to town from Hummingbird Villa most mornings before our dive pickup to get some bakery goodies.

We actually didn’t do many deep pinnacles while we were there. The sharks had all moved out because it was right before humpback migration season so the pinnacles were pretty bare. Not much fish at all aside from a nosey grouper so not worth the shortened bottom time. We did more of the sites closer to the island. I loved Man O War Shoals the most! We did two night dives while we were there and both were fantastic. I think you need to ask and you also need at least 4 people. Our DM punched a nurse shark in the nose on one night dive to stop him from trying to eat an octopus. Highlight of the trip! Sea Saba runs a very safe and enjoyable op.

I can’t recommend Saba enough. It easily kicks the pants off all the other Caribbean diving we’ve done (Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, Riviera Maya, Nassau, Bonaire). If it’s been on your list, go!