We had some time to kill in Sint Maarten while waiting for Douglas’ sister to arrive for a few week visit. We started to look into possible other islands to sail to while we were waiting and came across Saba. After doing some research and talking to some other cruisers who had sailed there in the past, we learned that anchoring is prohibited because of the coral, and the mooring field is extremely rolly all the time. We decided to park the boat and take a ferry.
We got an early morning taxi to the main town on the island, Philipsburg, for a 7:30 AM ferry, arriving in Saba at 9AM. Once we cleared customs we were picked up by the owner of the hotel we were staying at. She dropped us off at the town of Windwardside, which is close to the major hike that we wanted to do. First we had some coffee and sandwiches at an adorable little cafe, and then we set out on the 3 hour hike straight up a mountain.
There is not enough room in this blog to drop all the pictures to show you how amazing that hike was! It was incredible, one of the top ones we have ever done, and we count hiking in Peru, Switzerland and Cape Breton Island when we say this. Yes, absolutely that amazing! Beautiful rainforest with a huge variety of plants and birds, and breathtaking vistas at each viewpoint.
After the hike we made our way back into Windwardside and found a lovely restaurant overlooking another beautiful mountain to have a drink and a gourmet popsicle. Then we walked basically straight up another hill to the glass artisan shop on the island where I found the most beautiful pair of earrings and got to watch one of the artists make a glass fish. We also visited an art gallery and a shop that makes local products. It was really the cutest town in the Caribbean, very European yet also tropical if you can imagine that.
We were meant to call our host for a drive back to the hotel, but our phone call wouldn’t go through. No matter, Carmen showed up after getting worried that we weren’t out yet. She brought us back to the hotel where we ate dinner of traditional goat curry and got a deep sleep after all that hiking!
The next morning we walked to the next village, called The Bottom, for a rather unusual hike called “The Ladder”. It is basically over 500 rock steps that lead from the ocean to the town. Before the port and road to the port that we arrived in were built, the ladder was the only access to the island. All people and supplies came up this path and let me tell you, people used to be in better shape I think because after hiking the previous day we barely made it back up the ladder!
After the ladder we walked around the town a bit and then found a brunch place where we got some eggs benny. The seating was on an outside patio under a beautiful lush tree. While we were waiting for our food a little tree frog jumped on our table. We showed the waitress when she came with our food and she said, “Oh wow, I have never seen a frog on this table before, snakes yes, all the time snakes come out of this tree, but frogs not so much.” Oh my god, I almost died…. It makes sense though. Gab had seen two snakes on the previous day’s hike.
After brunch, Carmen came and picked us up. She gave us a tour of the island where we saw the famous airport and a lot of other beautiful sights along the way. She then drove us back to the hotel to collect our bags and then dropped us off at the port to wait for our ferry. We had a nice late lunch and then had to literally run to catch the ferry as it decided to leave a bit early.
Although we were only there for a short time we totally fell in love with Saba, and we can’t wait to return with more time to do more of the hikes and get to know the place better. It has been one of the highlights of our time in the Caribbean.
