Saba is beautiful and not very touristy. We took the high-speed ferry/catamaran for a day trip, and hiked up the mountain. The views are beautiful. It's a very doable hike, but if you're out of shape like me, you'll need to rest a lot on the way up. A few recommendations:

- Near the top, the trail splits toward the radio tower and the "scenic route". We took the scenic route, which my travel companions had done a previous year, but it was very overgrown and hard to navigate. We turned back halfway through.

- We had lunch at Ecolodge, which is incredibly cute and peaceful. Definitely recommended.

- If you get motion sickness, don't make the trip on a windy day. It won't be a fun trip.

Oct/Nov 2006:

We decided to spend a week on Saba after reading about it in a Dive magazine and seeing its high ratings in other travel magazines. Everything we read on-line indicated that this island would offer all we wanted for a relaxing vacation including scuba diving and hiking. Nothing we read could have prepared us for how beautiful the island is or how friendly everyone there is. It all starts with the exciting flight that lands on the world's shortest commercial runway.

If you're searching for information on Saba, you already know there are NO beaches on Saba barring one small transient stretch (if you call about 50 feet wide and 10 feet deep a stretch) that is difficult to get to. If you're looking for a beach vacation - this probably isn't the place for you.

We stayed at a local rental cottage, Flamboyant Cottage, just outside of Windwardside that was arranged through Sea Saba, one of the dive shops on the island. The cottage is located about a 15-20 minute walk from Windwardside - be prepared, it is a little uphill most of the way! Someone told me that every direction in Saba is UP! I would agree. Coming into town is definitely easier than walking back to the cottage; however, we wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else. The view of Statia, St. Kitts and Nevis from the cottage is incredible - just out the front door! The Caribbean is literally out your front door (and down the mountain!). The gingerbread covered cottage is 2 BR, 2BA, LR, fully-equipped kitchen, large porch and huge patio with its own very private pool! There is also a wonderful covered outdoor eating area where we had our breakfast most every morning. Sea Saba allowed us to send our grocery list in advance of our trip and we arrived with a fully stocked kitchen!!!! Incredible! There are two grocery stores in Windwardside so you don't have to go without anything on your trip. Waking up and looking out the front door at the ocean, islands, clouds....its pure heaven on earth.

We dove every day but our first day which we spent exploring and doing the obligatory climb to the top of Mt. Scenery - the highest point in Dutch territory. The hike was fun going up all the steps (over 1000!) carved in the near vertical mountain. We were so fortunate to have a perfectly clear view from the top of the mountain and took so many pictures of the villages down around us. The pictures of the Elfin Forest turned out beautifully! We saw a big Black Racer snake on the way down.

The next day we started our diving in the afternoon and then 3 dives per day thereafter. This was definitely the highlight of the entire trip. Sea Saba is an incredible dive outfit and I recommend them highly! They were the utmost in service, equipment, professionalism and fun. Their boats are big and clean. We felt like the crew was there just for us and met our every need. The dive masters are knowledgeable, patient and excellent guides - each was fantastic, friendly and warm. We dove nearly all the major dive sites on the western side of the island. The Pinnacles are what Saba is known for but there was nary a dive that wasn't as spectacular as the last. My favorite was Man O'War Shoal - its perfect - but Shark Shoal was fascinating as well for the shark and turtle we saw as soon as we got near depth. We saw reef sharks on many dives, graceful turtles, eels (one large Green Moray), the most beautiful big French and Queen Angelfish, large lobsters, Nurse Sharks, great expanses of sand with hundreds of little garden eels popping their heads up, rays, peacock flounders, barracuda, spade fish, Christmas Tree worms, Flamingo tongues, huge barrel sponges, tube sponges, etc. We went on one night dive that was spectacular.

We didn't hit all the restaurants in Windwardside but our favorites were The Tropics for a very late lunch after our last dive of the day and Brigadoon for dinner. Tricia and Michael at Brigadoon are great hosts and the food is delicious!

This was an incredible experience and it is instantly recognizable once you're there why the island is called The Unspoiled Queen.

What a spectacular vacation. The service was impecable. Accomadations to die for. We will definetly be back.

The island of Saba is perhaps the closest thing to heaven on earth. The people are friendly (there is no crime), there are no bugs so leave your bug spray at home. The staff at Sea Saba (for diving) was wonderful. The restuarants and bars are lovely. Something is happening every night.

I was inclined not to write a review of this trip. It wasn't because anything went wrong or we didn't like the destination, we just don't want anyone else to discover it. Saba was pure bliss. The people were friendly, the island was very clean, there's no crime to speak of, the food was excellent......

We took an Air Canada charter to St. Martin, stayed overnight and then headed out on Winair for Saba. The landing is not as horrifying as we'd heard, I found it quite exciting. We had booked the "Mango Apartment" @ Julianna's Hotel. A couple of nights before we left we had a call from the hotel asking us if we'd mind moving so they could accommodate a large diving group who wanted to all stay on the hotel site. We were promised we'd receive an upgrade as a result. What an upgrade it was!! We ended up just down/up the street from the hotel in a wonderful, fully equipped cottage/house. Views of the other islands from the back deck, full modern kitchen......

If you're not a diver there are wonderful hiking trails, with a trail shop to help you get the feel of the place. If you're not a diver or hiker there's plenty of entertainment at the "Swinging Door" bar. Sunday's it's steak BBQ night ($16), other nights the BBQ offered chicken & ribs ($10) just ask for Pat and you'll feel right at home.