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Experiences You Should Have Podcast Show Notes
Saba is a beautiful, exotic island, part of the Netherlands located in the Northeastern Caribbean Sea. This 5 square mile island boasts friendly people, excellent food, and amazing diving. It’s a mere 3-hour flight from Florida, but it will feel like you’ve traveled thousands of miles to get to paradise.
Listen to the above episode of Experiences You Should Have Podcast with Lynn Costenaro and Chad Nuttall, owners of Saba Island’s preferred dive center, Sea Saba about diving Saba.
Why Dive Saba?
Saba’s nature isn’t exploited and has been protected for 30 years. This is where you can come and dive in warm water year-round, dive with friendly turtles, see some sharks and experience diverse underwater topography like the Pinnacle. The pinnacle, a well-known dive site on Saba Island, is a structure that is out in blue water, it attracts both little and big things–so you always need to keep your head on a swivel to experience everything it has to offer.
Saba island diving also offers seahorses, frogfish, manta rays, nurse sharks, reef sharks, and if you’re lucky humpback whales (who may be sighted January through April). Plus if you’re a digital nomad, there is great wifi, so you can easily work and dive while on Saba.
Another Reason to Dive Saba: Ostracods Night Show
Night dives in Saba are unique because you can see a show with ostracods. In the Caribbean, they emit a mucus bead of light; the male strings them together to tell a female what species he is. Because they don’t have coastal development, there is a great opportunity to see this phenomenon. Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to capture this on camera, only more reason to see it with your own eyes (or rise to the challenge to photograph/film it).
When to Go Diving in Saba?
The diving on Saba is great year-round, but the month of October is a special event called Sea and Learn which provides environmental marine programs to the island of Saba. Marine Biologists come to Saba island from around the world and give interesting presentations on their studies in the evening around the island. Divers have the opportunity to dive with these experts without an additional charge. Essentially, there is the added value of diving in Saba in October.
Getting to Saba Island
You have to be vaccinated and show proof of a negative test to arrive and travel to Saba. Read the full travel guidelines from the CDC as information could have changed since writing this. All the major air carriers fly into St. Maarten (SXM) from the US; from there to Saba (SAB) is a 12-minute flight or a 90-minute ferry ride.
Looking at current prices, Ferry rides are approximately $150 round trip and flights are around $200 roundtrip from St. Maarten.
From the US you can fly to St. Maarten direct from
- Atlanta
- Chicago
- New York
- Washington D.C.
- Boston
- Miami
- Newark
- Charlotte
- Fort Lauderdale
- Philadelphia
Other notable airports outside the U.S. with direct flights to St. Maarten are Amsterdam, Paris, Montreal, Toronto, Panama, Antigua, St. Thomas (and more Eastern Caribbean Islands).
Lodging and Accommodations
When looking to stay on Saba Island you can go budget or high-end. The top recommended budget lodging would be Momo Cottages which can be as low as $60 a night for a single budget traveler. There are more luxury accommodations like the Queen’s Gardens Resort, with an average price of $250 a night (now that’s a deal!).
Essentially if you’re looking for an epic dive trip, call the team at Sea Saba as they can help put together the right package for you. There is something for every taste and budget in Saba, and they can help you make your vacation to Saba unforgettable (and on budget). Check out the recommended accommodations from Sea Saba. Note that the currency on Saba is the U.S. dollar.
Favorite Restaurants on Saba Island to Check Out
- Chez Bubba (new menu weekly, amazing tacos)
- Long Haul Bar and Grill (fish, pizza, burgers, pasta)
- Bizzy B (bakery)
- Brigadoon (open 25+years)
- Tropics Cafe (sandwiches, and salads to steak)
- Queen’s Gardens Resort (known for Gin & Tonics)
Saba and Accessibility
The island of Saba is not very accessible, because of the topography. Most establishments have multiple steps to get in and this is not the preferred place to go if you have limited mobility. Note that there are car rentals, taxi drivers, but you can also hitchhike.