Saba Vacation The Unspoiled Queen of the Caribbean – THIS SITE HAS MOVED

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Saba

The reason formy absence is that I went on a small vacation to the island of Saba which is the Dutch Caribbean. The official language is Dutch but English is widely spoken. As many of you know I am from Barbados and I had never heard of this island until I moved to the French West Indies. Basically it looks like a big dormant volcano in the sea and that is very strange for the islands as many of them are relatively flat and big but this is just 5 square miles and it looks like a faraway land from a story book with gingerbread cottages and winding roads up to the forest. Saba is not  your typical island getaway it is almost the opposite of what a Caribbean vacation entails and that is great. There is no beach on this island. The temperatures are low in the forest of course and hot as you go closer to the ocean. The population is about 1500 made up mainly of white Sabans and some blacks. In the past Dutch engineers thought this island could not have a road but with the foresight of Joseph Lambert Hassel a road affectionately called “The Road” brought the 4 villages of this island together. When you go to Saba prepare to walk on slopes, something my knees were not use to. This island is very beautiful so I took some pictures of my trip and food of course to share with you. Another thing to note is that Saba is very green. No long showers as water is very scarce on the island and they are into organic farming and low electricity use. Many places are almost totally solar powered.

Things to do in Saba

Dive dive dive. If you do not know how to dive you can learn to dive here. This is the main thing people come to do in Saba. It is actually one of the best places in the Caribbean to dive. There is a small American community who run some dive shops and you can also snorkel. My husband dived with Sea Saba and he really likes this dive company.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hike your pants off. Did you know Saba is home to the highest point in the Dutch Kingdom. It is called Mount Scenery and I did not get to go up as my knees were not cooperating with me but here is a pic of  me on another hiking trail. The hiking trails in Saba are well maintained and there is a lot of signage etc and there are many free literature which tells you the time of the hike and how difficult it is. There are other hikes in Saba which you are required to rent a guide because it  can get a little dangerous esp if you do not know the trail. We did most of the hikes outlined in the book but my knees and ankles started giving out on me which was kinda scary so I took it easy for the next couple of days.

Relax. One of the best things to do in Saba is to relax and listen to the silence. You would forget the noisy traffic the  loud annoying voices from your neighbours. Just lie back and take in the nature.

Eat VeganI would not call Saba a big vegan destination but we think it is great compared to some of the other island in the Caribbean. We stayed at Ecolodge Rendevous and it is a collection of private cottages in the forest. The weather is really nice in the forest not too hot and not too cold and our cottage came with a kitchenette not much for me but I was able to  cook some curries and potatoes etc. The best part of my eating experience was that the Ecolodge has an on site restaurant less than 1 min walk from our cottage and you can tell the chef in advance that you are vegan and he would make you vegan dishes as there are no vegan dishes on the menu. He can cook is socks off and guess what I ate tofu for two out of the 3 dinners we have there and the taste was amazing. I did take photos of the spread because it was so beautiful. So here are the two plates I took pictures of at the Rainforest Restaurant.

We finished our trip watching the small Carnival festivities at The Bottom.