st. maarten question

[nwflyboy]

Thanks, DD, for the info, very useful. Right now I'm looking at two slightly different windows of availability in spring 08 - one would give us 8 or 9 days there (not including the long flight from US west coast), the other would give us 14 or 15 (!). The longer trip would be wonderful, but might be difficult for us to be away from home/work/etc. that long (although with a few extra days...maybe add Nevis? St. Barts? hmmm....). The shorter version would be nice, too, although I guess I'd prefer another day or two. In any case I'll discuss with the missus tonight and try to make a decision soon. Will probably have more specific questons once we nail down the long flights.

Thanks again.

 

[nwflyboy]

OK, the tickets are booked.

We'll have 2 weeks there in late March (we decided to take the longer trip - we're coming all the way from the US west coast, so we figure the extra days there will be worth it). We fly in to St. Maarten, where we will spend a day or two each at the beginning and end of the trip. We'll hop to Stacia for a few days, and then hop again for a few more days on Saba. Lots of diving, lots of relaxing on quiet islands away from the crowds, and enough time to sample the beaches, cuisine and Dutch/French charms of the split personality "main" island. Mmmm....sounds good.

I'll work out the details of exactly how many days we'll spend where, accommodations and dive ops, etc. later - for now, we've nailed down the dates, flights - and most important of all, the tickets (a good use for our frequent flyer miles), so I can relax a bit.

Thanks again for the info/advice here.

Looking forward to it!

 

[DiverDonn]

I am assuming that you have made your California-SXM flight reservations, not the inter-island ones yet. It may have changed, but in the past it was much easier to go from Saba to Statia rather than the other way around. It used to be that for the most part when going Statia-Saba, you had more choices if you went back to SXM and changed planes- Really a PIA. Check with Winair before you finalize- you might want to do Saba first, and then go to Statia.
Remind me when the trip is closer and I will get some suggestions for dive sites, restaurants etc for you.
DD

 

[nwflyboy]

Yes, we've got just the long flights nailed down (Seattle - IAD - SXM). Using frequent flyer miles to book any trip to a popular destination, I try to book well in advance due to the scarcity of award seat availability (the trip is the last 2 weeks of March 08). I'll worry about the inter-island hops on Winair much later. Actually, I don't think I'll "worry" much - the most difficult thing about doing this trip was probably securing the award travel seats, which is now done....considering that we paid a total of about $120 for two of us to fly round-trip from Seattle to SXM in high season (a pretty sweet deal), I'm not going to "worry" much about other details.

Thanks for the offer of more info - I will take you up on that once we start getting a little closer to the actual trip itself....although I do have one more general question now: since we'll be going during the popular spring season (I assume end-of-March is still high season), and since accommodations are somewhat limited on Saba and Stacia, would it be wise to book fairly soon - i.e. do the nice places book up early?

Thanks again.

 

[DiverDonn]

There is not a plethora of rooms on either island. Although I just heard that there may be a new motel on Saba. In either case, most of the Hotel/motel rooms are "controlled" by the 2 or 3 DO's on each island. I know that if you contact Sea Saba, or even Saba Deep, and the guys at Golden Rock Divers, if they have room on their boats they will be able to get you a place to stay on a months notice. Both of these islands are not the typical tourist destinations, the people who visit are mostly divers, and the connection with the DO's make rooms available.
When I got my Nitrox cert on Saba several years ago, I met a couple who were doing the same thing and the DO got them a small private house ( complete with it's own pool)for 4 days because they wanted more privacy.
All-in-all, I would not wait until you get on island, but right after the first of the year, would be plenty of time. Pick a dive op and let them handle all arrngements. DD

 

[LekicINC]

Not sure if its in your plans, but Anguillla has world class beaches and food. Considered the best in the area. The diving is as good or better than st. Martin but nowhere in the class of Saba. I go to Anguilla a couple times a year, and have done day trips to Saba, as its not the most fun place to stay IMO. If Anguilla is something your considering, let me know.

 

[RTRski]

nwflyboy: Sorry, I saw this thread kind of late; haven't been checking in as much since SB was down for a while. A search should turn up my old trip report from 2005 - I think I just had Sint Maarten in the title

(edit - found it, here it is:
http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=1171555&postcount=1 )

I'd second DiverDonn's suggestions, but perhaps with a little more time at St. Maarten. There is fun to be had just driving around the island, seeing the different towns (I was especially fond of Marigot, and yacht-sightseeing in Grand Case), and I found I really needed non-diving days to dry out, especially for the last couple of days before the flight home. Phillipsburg itself is kind of plasticized, not to mention mercenary....the shopkeepers are all trained by the cruise ship passengers too well, unfortunately. Anyway, if you consider yourselves still a bit 'intermediate/beginner level' then a few dives on St. Maarten might be just the ticket before moving on to Saba. I won't say the diving is great - in fact, looking back on it now I've been to the Flower Gardens off the Texas coast, I'd have to say it was kind of bleak by comparison. BUT the Dive Safari's shark dive was really good...not one of the 'chum the water and drive them nuts with a huge fish-sicle' dives, but got you good and close to a few reef sharks just the same.

Planning a couple extra days in SXM, it's also worth it to consider a ferry from Marigot over to Anguilla. I didn't scuba there, but I still think Shoal Bay is one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen, and there is some snorkeling to be had right there. I don't think the ferry was more than $30 round trip, probably less, and not a long ride. And it was not crowded by any means, at least when we went in July.

DiverDonn's got the airfare to Saba right too if I recall - it was between $100 - 200 round trip, depending on what deals you got, and the plane is low enough that you can still dive the last day...just do the 2 morning dives, skip the afternoon dive, and take the last flight out and you should be fine.

I'd strongly recommend SabaDeep for scuba there. The other ops are great I'm sure, but SabaDeep is small and very, very personal. Not only is it not a cattleboat, you can pretty much expect the person driving the boat will be your dive leader too. And Sally does a great lunch in their restaurant between dives 2 and 3, rather than just eating out of a cooler on the boat. We also got to dive with one of the locals (e.g. JoBean who's a glass artist, has a shop near El Momo cottages) as she goes out with them. I considered that an endorsement, but that was our last dive there so we didn't need convincing by that point. Diving in Saba is considered 'challenging' because of the depths involved - your first dive of the day WILL be over 100', generally over 110'. In retrospect my wife and I might've been doing Saba "too early" in our careers experience-wise, but we seemed to do fine, so its up to you how comfortable you are as an intermediate/beginner. I will say I never felt current there anywhere near like what I've since dealt with in the Flower Gardens on occasions, and having a guide with you makes a big difference - the dives are all lead, and are not time-managed except basically by the first person hitting half-pressure (1500). Computers definitely recommended vs. tables.

10 days was almost exactly our itinerary. We stayed in a vacation rental/condo type place in the Dutch Lowlands - Summit Resort, nicely quiet and out of the way, with a fun little bar by the pool to relax after the day's adventures and have a final drink or two) and actually paid to keep the room while we were in Saba for 2 overnights too (I know, sounds wasteful, but that way we only schlepped what we needed to over on the small flight, and had a nice home base to return to after a couple days without air conditioning in El Momo Cottages on Saba. If you prefer more 'comfort' then I've heard the Princess Juliana resort or the Gatehouse in Saba are the recommended places to stay. I've also heard of the Willard's place, but hear about the others more. Not knocking El Momo, but since we were diving all day we do wish we picked someplace with actual hot showers (not just solar) and AC.

I don't have any insight on Statia at all, unfortunately, aside from a divemaster on a Windjammer we took long ago talking about that being the place to go sand-sifting on your dives for the 'slave beads' that used to be used as surrogate money for what little the slaves were permitted to purchase. Kind of a sad historic thing, I suppose. I did find a tiny fragment of what we thought to be old Delft pottery in the sand at Anguilla, but there's no way of proving provenance so for all I know it could've been in the water less than a year. ;-) Made a nice little centerpiece on a shell necklace I made. Sorry, I'm rambling.

To sum up, sounds like you're getting good advice from DiverDonn and hopefully my trip can help as well. My vote would be to spend a full two days in SXM diving 2 tank dives and use the evenings for dinners and a little sightseeing, get your 'feet wet' so to speak, then go over to Saba to dive 3-4 days there. My vote would be for 3 dives each day, but if you want to hike Mt Scenery (or anywhere, frankly - that island is STEEP) you will definitely NOT want to do that on 3-dive days or you're both into 'elevation' concerns as well as kicking your own heiney exhaustion-wise. That gives you time after getting back to take a day-trip over to Anguilla for just plain beach relaxing, and still drive around SXM and do more dry-trip stuff. That way all your wetsuits et al have time to dry out before you pack up for the trip home.

Substituting Statia for some of the time in SXM might not be a bad idea, either, but I can't give advice on that front.

Let us know how it works out, please!!!

And since I see you're coming in from the west coast, I know you've already got the trip booked, but did you consider the Sea of Cortez along Baja Sur at all, or have you already done that? I ask partly because I'm considering Loreto for one of my next trips (I've got a brother in Portland, so that would be a place we could both get for about the same travel time and $$ to go diving).

Anyway, PM me on that front if you've got any info...don't want to hijack this thread.

 

[DiverDonn]

Not to put too fine a point on it, but you are getting pretty good advice from RTRski. I have dived with both Sea Saba and Saba Deep, and much prefer Sea Saba, but they are both small friendly VERY competent operations- personal choice only.
Not real familiar with ElMomo, it's newer. Have always stayed (recent years) at Julianas- although Franklin & Juliana no longer own it- which is not a resort but more like a small Mom & Pop motel- almost a cottage colony, with the advantage of being in Windwardside and therefore walkable to most places. Do NOT stay at the Gate House which is on the other side of the island ( near the airport) and pretty far out from everything else- even though the whole island is only about 5 sq. miles. On the other hand, the restaurant in the Gate House, if still owned by Michel & Lyliane, is the BEST restaurant on the island and the equal to any on SXM- well worth a visit- and they will send a car/taxi for you.
Willards is the one true "resort" on island and has the only Tennis court around. The place is newer, clean and what you would expect, except that it is on the top of a mountain, and even though that is only a 20 minute walk from town, it is virtually strait uphill. At night or after diving that can get to be a long trip.

As to 'statia, I personally would not do one island without the other anymore. The diving is different on both islands, and worth the trips. The Blue beads that are referred to are also the trinkets that Peter Minuet used to buy Manhattan Island from the Indians in the 1600's. In fact, the word is that 'Statia was the first foreign country to recognize the newly formed United States. ENJOY!! DD