thevalkyry
Queen of the Turtles
My new husband TwobitTxn and I went to Saba for our honeymoon. Since there seems to be a lot of interest here I thought I would post this report. It is an amalgamation of multiple emails out to friends about the trip. Hope this answers any questions!
Our photos can be seen here: Collection: Saban Honeymoon
Saba was OMG effing paradise. Every flight on the way left on time, every piece of luggage showed up where it was supposed to. It was so charmed even before we left. We dove with an outfit called Sea Saba (Sea Saba Dive Center - Saba Dutch Caribbean - "Dive the Sea Saba Difference" - Dive Saba!) and if you are going to be with them for more than 3 days they basically roll out the red carpet in all kinds of ways. Exhibit 1 was that we were met at the airport by Garvis, one of Saba's cab drivers and driven to our cottage, Shell Cottage, when we landed. Garvis became, more or less, our man for the week. Being a volcano, Saba has one main road, The Road, that goes from the Airport up through Hell's Gate, through Windwardside (where we were staying), around through St John to The Bottom (the 'capitol'), and from there down to Fort Bay where we would catch the dive boat daily. I know 5 sq miles doesnt sound like much when you come from prairie, but when you add a lot of uphill and down dale alongside a very lush and expansive rainforest then 5 sq miles becomes daunting indeed!
We decided, very quickly, that we had the BEST place to stay on the island. Shell Cottage was tucked in the other side of Juliana's Hotel and has an isolated view of the ocean. With double french doors and windows, we basically lived outside for the entire week. Shell Cottage is about 1200 feet up and overlooks a garden and then down a ravine into the ocean. Aside from a house WAY over there, you feel like you have the island all to yourself. But we could nip around Juliana's and up the hill and be on The Road in less than 5 minutes with no taxi required. There were other nicer and posher places to stay, but they were much more inaccessible. Honestly, our first night I must have asked Tom about 25 times, "What did we do right?!" It was just so nice to have our very own cottage. (We also discovered half-way through the week that Shell Cottage has laundry. Like most humid islands, nothing gets all the way dry so we were running towels through the dryer every morning. All the way dry towels were SO nice!!) And the kitchen was a godsend! Like islands everywhere, food has a plane or boat ticket attached to it. So we ate in almost every breakfast and lunch and only went out for dinner. There are two grocery stores on The Road to choose from. We found one to have yummy fresh bread, all the cheap gouda we wanted to eat, and standard Oscar-mayer deli fare plus a selection of chips for easy sandwiches for lunch either in or out every day. There are also some fresh fruits pears were good! We picked up some eggs and bacon plus a jar of salsa (yes, were from Texas) to make easy breakfast in the AM. There are variety of yummy fruit drinks to be had I really liked the guava-blueberry. There is also some meat plus your standard pasta, etc if you wanted to do hot stuff, but we preferred to eat out for dinner.
And what yummy dinners! There is a place called Eden ($100 for two with bottle of wine) that makes melt-in-your-mouth scallops. The mussels at Shearwater are to die for ($80 for two with wine). Shrimp Michael at Brigadoon ($85 for two with adult beverages) is a must. And no one can miss Sunday steak dinner and Tues/Fri ribs at Swinging Doors. OMG - we got like half a cow, baked pot, salad, and beans for just $20! You couldnt have found that meal in the States anywhere! Saba Treasure has excellent pizza as well. Sea Saba will make all of your dinner reservations for you either for the night you arrive (just email) or that day as you head for the boat. We went on 2 night dives and the first night Swinging Doors held us a rib dinner AND let us pay the next day because we forgot to bring money (who needs to pay fish??) and the Treasure had hot pizza waiting the second night. Dinner pretty much stops by 9 PM. If you want to eat after that you are making it yourself or getting the greasiest pizza ever known to man (but excellent panacea for excessive alcohol) up the hill at Guidos.
And the diving. We packed in 21 dives in 9 brief days. I am so used to diving in Cozumel where you go floating by at the speed of the current waiting to be dazzled by sharks, turtles, and groupers. But the water in Saba is still - almost no current. We were able to really go slow and look. I had a whole new macro world opened up to me. We went to Torren's Point - the Nursery Reefs of Saba and found juvenile drums, teeny baby trunk fish, and blennies galore. It was such a treat. But we saw barracuda, shark, and turtles too. Torrens Point is way shallow, but I think most dives were your basic average 40-70 feet unless out at the Pinnacles which means 100+ really easy and in a hurry.
Saba is a volcano that rises steeply out of the water and continues just as steeply below it. So you can be very deep quite close to shore. No turquoise here - just deep, deep blue. Saba is known, because of its volcano, for its pinnacles - magma bumps in the ocean floor now encrusted with coral. My favorite is 3rd Encounter because the first time we went there we 'encountered' a very curious turtle. He got RIGHT in my mask!!! The other divers said that when I descended to get out of his way that he parked himself over my head and tried to eat my hair! We ended up diving together for a good 10 minutes. So Awesome! When we went back on our last day it was to finally make it out to see the Needle. This is a coral tower about 15 ft across that rises from about 300 feet up to 90 feet. It is awesome, in the purest sense of the word, to behold.
3rd Encounter was definitely on my top 3 list. Man o War Shoals is another MUST dive. Two huge corral mounts with loads and loads to see including a frog fish. Whats great is that because the site is so defined you can really just go at your own pace and not worry about the group. The other site that I liked was Hot Springs because you can stick your hands under the sand and feel the heat. The volcano is NOT extinct!
And dont forget night dives! Sea Saba will do a night dive for a minimum of 4 people. So we were able to do 2 night dives. The first we found a BLUE octopus which was just awesome and then cool things like king crab and slipper lobster. But our second took the cake. We went to Hot Springs. We dropped right onto two nurse sharks who followed us like puppies for the whole dive. They like to use the divers' lights to hunt. Kind of spooky and way cool. We also got fab bioluminescence. I spent a good portion of the dive with my light off enjoying my 'disco dive'. Freaking amazing - definitely in my top two (you cant really top the mantas in Hawaii, afterall)
We made awesome friends too. Beka, one of the dive mistresses was a HOOT! She's an artificial blonde and loves blonde jokes. Good fun! We were also some of the only divers to go out drinking with the crew during our week there. That's where I learned that 'Eatin' is cheatin'!
I also learned that "the only way to get over one man is to get under another." Definitely the quote of the honeymoon. Briar, Oswaldo, Nick Sea Saba has some kick ass crew!
I would definitely recommend Sea Saba with 2 thumbs way, way up. They arranged almost ALL transit on the island for us, made every dinner reservation, made sure we got to go night diving, and made sure that we got out to a large variety of sites.
Oh - and I forgot the glass studio! There is an amazing glass studio on the island run by a cooky lady named Jo. She orders all of her glass from Venice (Murano), and makes just exquisite things. She lets you sit right behind her shoulder while she works and will even do classes and let you play yourself.
We did take one day off diving to hike the Sandy Cruz trail. Quoted to us as a 'lovely hike' through the rain forest from Upper Hell's Gate to a hill above the Bottom. However, lovely in my book would require just a little bit less effort. It was spectacular though. The trail is NOT maintained by the US Trail Service - there are no guardrails, stairs, much signage, or even at times a very clearly defined trail - just a path of least resistance. There is no trash or any real evidence of man for a huge majority of the trail. But we got to see a lot of amazing stuff. We got soaked through with sweat and muddy to the knees (and higher in Tom's case as he did a butt plant at one point). The trail pops out on a road into the Bottom and about 10 minutes of very steep downhill later we waltzed into, mud and all, the Queen's Resort for a very posh lunch overlooking the Bottom. It was delish!! We did think about doing Mt Scenery, but since it is always shrouded in clouds we decided to go where we might have more of a view.
On our last day we got massages from Michael and Terry at the Saba Spa (Saba's Spa »). They are really, really excellent. They are very responsive via email and will paypal invoice you so you dont have to worry about that bit of extra cash.
Speaking of cash and internet. There are 2 ATMs on the island that dispense US Dollars. One in Windwardside by the post office and one in the Bottom. There is wifi on the island maintained by SalTel. You can get prepaid cards at the grocery store. But you have to be almost line of sight, which our cottage wasnt, to be able to access it. So we basically went unplugged. However, most of the hotels do maintain a wifi the people at Julianas didnt seem to have an issue with it. You can also go up to Scouts and pay for a $4 coke and ask to use their wifi as well.
Saba was almost perfect in every way. The only sour note was that our plane out of Miami was late, we didnt get home until midnight, our bags decided to take a longer vacation than us, and the A/C was on the fritz when we got back. But that was all when we had to face up to real life anyway.
Our photos can be seen here: Collection: Saban Honeymoon
Saba was OMG effing paradise. Every flight on the way left on time, every piece of luggage showed up where it was supposed to. It was so charmed even before we left. We dove with an outfit called Sea Saba (Sea Saba Dive Center - Saba Dutch Caribbean - "Dive the Sea Saba Difference" - Dive Saba!) and if you are going to be with them for more than 3 days they basically roll out the red carpet in all kinds of ways. Exhibit 1 was that we were met at the airport by Garvis, one of Saba's cab drivers and driven to our cottage, Shell Cottage, when we landed. Garvis became, more or less, our man for the week. Being a volcano, Saba has one main road, The Road, that goes from the Airport up through Hell's Gate, through Windwardside (where we were staying), around through St John to The Bottom (the 'capitol'), and from there down to Fort Bay where we would catch the dive boat daily. I know 5 sq miles doesnt sound like much when you come from prairie, but when you add a lot of uphill and down dale alongside a very lush and expansive rainforest then 5 sq miles becomes daunting indeed!
We decided, very quickly, that we had the BEST place to stay on the island. Shell Cottage was tucked in the other side of Juliana's Hotel and has an isolated view of the ocean. With double french doors and windows, we basically lived outside for the entire week. Shell Cottage is about 1200 feet up and overlooks a garden and then down a ravine into the ocean. Aside from a house WAY over there, you feel like you have the island all to yourself. But we could nip around Juliana's and up the hill and be on The Road in less than 5 minutes with no taxi required. There were other nicer and posher places to stay, but they were much more inaccessible. Honestly, our first night I must have asked Tom about 25 times, "What did we do right?!" It was just so nice to have our very own cottage. (We also discovered half-way through the week that Shell Cottage has laundry. Like most humid islands, nothing gets all the way dry so we were running towels through the dryer every morning. All the way dry towels were SO nice!!) And the kitchen was a godsend! Like islands everywhere, food has a plane or boat ticket attached to it. So we ate in almost every breakfast and lunch and only went out for dinner. There are two grocery stores on The Road to choose from. We found one to have yummy fresh bread, all the cheap gouda we wanted to eat, and standard Oscar-mayer deli fare plus a selection of chips for easy sandwiches for lunch either in or out every day. There are also some fresh fruits pears were good! We picked up some eggs and bacon plus a jar of salsa (yes, were from Texas) to make easy breakfast in the AM. There are variety of yummy fruit drinks to be had I really liked the guava-blueberry. There is also some meat plus your standard pasta, etc if you wanted to do hot stuff, but we preferred to eat out for dinner.
And what yummy dinners! There is a place called Eden ($100 for two with bottle of wine) that makes melt-in-your-mouth scallops. The mussels at Shearwater are to die for ($80 for two with wine). Shrimp Michael at Brigadoon ($85 for two with adult beverages) is a must. And no one can miss Sunday steak dinner and Tues/Fri ribs at Swinging Doors. OMG - we got like half a cow, baked pot, salad, and beans for just $20! You couldnt have found that meal in the States anywhere! Saba Treasure has excellent pizza as well. Sea Saba will make all of your dinner reservations for you either for the night you arrive (just email) or that day as you head for the boat. We went on 2 night dives and the first night Swinging Doors held us a rib dinner AND let us pay the next day because we forgot to bring money (who needs to pay fish??) and the Treasure had hot pizza waiting the second night. Dinner pretty much stops by 9 PM. If you want to eat after that you are making it yourself or getting the greasiest pizza ever known to man (but excellent panacea for excessive alcohol) up the hill at Guidos.
And the diving. We packed in 21 dives in 9 brief days. I am so used to diving in Cozumel where you go floating by at the speed of the current waiting to be dazzled by sharks, turtles, and groupers. But the water in Saba is still - almost no current. We were able to really go slow and look. I had a whole new macro world opened up to me. We went to Torren's Point - the Nursery Reefs of Saba and found juvenile drums, teeny baby trunk fish, and blennies galore. It was such a treat. But we saw barracuda, shark, and turtles too. Torrens Point is way shallow, but I think most dives were your basic average 40-70 feet unless out at the Pinnacles which means 100+ really easy and in a hurry.
Saba is a volcano that rises steeply out of the water and continues just as steeply below it. So you can be very deep quite close to shore. No turquoise here - just deep, deep blue. Saba is known, because of its volcano, for its pinnacles - magma bumps in the ocean floor now encrusted with coral. My favorite is 3rd Encounter because the first time we went there we 'encountered' a very curious turtle. He got RIGHT in my mask!!! The other divers said that when I descended to get out of his way that he parked himself over my head and tried to eat my hair! We ended up diving together for a good 10 minutes. So Awesome! When we went back on our last day it was to finally make it out to see the Needle. This is a coral tower about 15 ft across that rises from about 300 feet up to 90 feet. It is awesome, in the purest sense of the word, to behold.
3rd Encounter was definitely on my top 3 list. Man o War Shoals is another MUST dive. Two huge corral mounts with loads and loads to see including a frog fish. Whats great is that because the site is so defined you can really just go at your own pace and not worry about the group. The other site that I liked was Hot Springs because you can stick your hands under the sand and feel the heat. The volcano is NOT extinct!
And dont forget night dives! Sea Saba will do a night dive for a minimum of 4 people. So we were able to do 2 night dives. The first we found a BLUE octopus which was just awesome and then cool things like king crab and slipper lobster. But our second took the cake. We went to Hot Springs. We dropped right onto two nurse sharks who followed us like puppies for the whole dive. They like to use the divers' lights to hunt. Kind of spooky and way cool. We also got fab bioluminescence. I spent a good portion of the dive with my light off enjoying my 'disco dive'. Freaking amazing - definitely in my top two (you cant really top the mantas in Hawaii, afterall)
We made awesome friends too. Beka, one of the dive mistresses was a HOOT! She's an artificial blonde and loves blonde jokes. Good fun! We were also some of the only divers to go out drinking with the crew during our week there. That's where I learned that 'Eatin' is cheatin'!
I also learned that "the only way to get over one man is to get under another." Definitely the quote of the honeymoon. Briar, Oswaldo, Nick Sea Saba has some kick ass crew!I would definitely recommend Sea Saba with 2 thumbs way, way up. They arranged almost ALL transit on the island for us, made every dinner reservation, made sure we got to go night diving, and made sure that we got out to a large variety of sites.
Oh - and I forgot the glass studio! There is an amazing glass studio on the island run by a cooky lady named Jo. She orders all of her glass from Venice (Murano), and makes just exquisite things. She lets you sit right behind her shoulder while she works and will even do classes and let you play yourself.
We did take one day off diving to hike the Sandy Cruz trail. Quoted to us as a 'lovely hike' through the rain forest from Upper Hell's Gate to a hill above the Bottom. However, lovely in my book would require just a little bit less effort. It was spectacular though. The trail is NOT maintained by the US Trail Service - there are no guardrails, stairs, much signage, or even at times a very clearly defined trail - just a path of least resistance. There is no trash or any real evidence of man for a huge majority of the trail. But we got to see a lot of amazing stuff. We got soaked through with sweat and muddy to the knees (and higher in Tom's case as he did a butt plant at one point). The trail pops out on a road into the Bottom and about 10 minutes of very steep downhill later we waltzed into, mud and all, the Queen's Resort for a very posh lunch overlooking the Bottom. It was delish!! We did think about doing Mt Scenery, but since it is always shrouded in clouds we decided to go where we might have more of a view.
On our last day we got massages from Michael and Terry at the Saba Spa (Saba's Spa »). They are really, really excellent. They are very responsive via email and will paypal invoice you so you dont have to worry about that bit of extra cash.
Speaking of cash and internet. There are 2 ATMs on the island that dispense US Dollars. One in Windwardside by the post office and one in the Bottom. There is wifi on the island maintained by SalTel. You can get prepaid cards at the grocery store. But you have to be almost line of sight, which our cottage wasnt, to be able to access it. So we basically went unplugged. However, most of the hotels do maintain a wifi the people at Julianas didnt seem to have an issue with it. You can also go up to Scouts and pay for a $4 coke and ask to use their wifi as well.
Saba was almost perfect in every way. The only sour note was that our plane out of Miami was late, we didnt get home until midnight, our bags decided to take a longer vacation than us, and the A/C was on the fritz when we got back. But that was all when we had to face up to real life anyway.
