The Island of Saba: the Best-kept Secret in the Caribbean?

Forget everything you’ve heard about the Caribbean. Saba island is different. This isn’t good or bad, it’s just the way it is. There are no true beaches to speak of, and it looks more like Kauai than a nearby island of St. Maarten.

Reportedly, Saba was the inspiration behind Skull island from 1933 “King Kong” movie.

The flight here is truly harrowing. I’ve talked about it in my introductory post, but in case you missed it, here is a 2-minute video  of the landing my husband recorded:

The runway is just a little bit longer than an aircraft carrier:

And the ferry  isn’t less scary either. In fact, it was after a particularly harrowing crossing that a Saba representative pushed for airport development (which he was told could not be built). But lo and behold, the airport (named after said representative) officially began service on July 24, 1963. Sadly, he died a year before it happened, but his legacy lives on.

You get the feeling that folks who settled on Saba in the olden days liked a good challenge. For example, the Dutch surveyors told local residents in 1938 that there is no way that a road could be built on the island. So, a local guy took a correspondence course in engineering and got busy. The road (mostly built by hand) was finished twenty years later. It’s still in use today. And it’s called “The Road.”

If you look at the local houses, you might think you were dropped off somewhere in Europe rather than Caribbean. That’s just another thing that makes the island so unique.

Getting to Saba from the United States certainly isn’t as easy as say, to Cancun or Aruba. But it’s not really that complicated as long as you can fly to St. Maarten from your home airport. We used AA miles and Avios for our flights from Miami, and booked a separate  10-minute hop from St. Maarten to Saba using $300 annual travel credit from my Capital One Venture X  card (our affiliate link).

Some folks visit Saba as a day trip from St. Maarten via ferry or plane, or combination of the two. That’s certainly an option, but I recommend staying on the island overnight if possible. It has a unique charm that is hard to convey in words. The residents are super friendly, probably because there  aren’t that many tourists who come here. I was told that there is virtually no crime, and that being a police officer on Saba is the most boring job in the world. Many drivers leave their car keys in the ignition, and very few residents lock their houses at night. There are only 1,000 permanent residents, so pretty much everybody knows each other.

The island is mostly known for excellent hiking and diving, and my husband and I aren’t into either of those things.

Yet, we still had a great time. Here are a few things we did while on the island:

1) Snorkeling

I called the local diving company Sea Saba and booked two spots for $35 each. My husband decided to stay on the boat, while I went snorkeling by myself.

It was absolutely incredible.

My husband did spot quite a few turtles from the boat:

I’m not a diver, but I was told that diving here is amazing, some of the best in the Caribbean. During winter you might even spot whales.

2) Visiting Harry L. Johnson museum

The museum (see TripAdvisor reviews)  is located in a 19th-century sea captain’s cottage  in the historic district of Windwardside.

It has a lot of interesting artifacts and shows what life in Saba was like over 100 years ago.

Note all the irons of different sizes. Did they let the kids use them?!

A dress made from famous Saban lace:

And that’s basically it. Other than shopping for souvenirs and going to a local restaurant for dinner, our time in Saba was spent chilling:

 

Review of Juliana’s hotel

As you’ve probably guessed, there aren’t any chain hotels on the island. There are some cottages listed on AirBnB, and a few “resorts” (loosely used term), though not all of them even show up on travel booking websites. This was the case with Juliana’s hotel, my ultimate pick. I chose it for several reasons: central location in the village of Windwardside, plus amazing views.

I picked an Orchid cottage, even though we didn’t technically need two bedrooms.  But I really liked the outdoor seating area with amazing views of the mountains and the sea.

Our total price worked out to be a bit over $300 per night, including taxes. The rate comes with a very good breakfast in a hotel’s restaurant.  You  do  have  to  pay extra if you want steak or lobster, so we decided to splurge one morning.  But complimentary breakfast is very good too.

You also get free transfers to/from airport or ferry. Still, definitely not cheap, but as I said, the views are to die for. I also really liked that the cottage is fairly private. If you want something cheaper, you can book a garden-view room for $170+tax. But you might as well pay $20 more and get an ocean view.

The master bedroom with queen bed was fairly comfortable:

If you want the hotel to do your laundry, it will cost you $20 total for whatever you can fit in this bag:

The second bedroom (two twins) was considerably smaller, but would be perfect for  kids:

Both bedrooms were air-conditioned, unlike the rest of the house. Since my husband and I wake up at different times, it was nice to have a kitchen  to make coffee  without  disturbing  him.

I really liked the idea of an outdoor shower, and it was indeed very cool.

However, I didn’t realize that the toilet is outdoors too. Oops.

Definitely not my cup of tea! This experience made me realize that I’m very much an indoor-plumbing kind of gal. Though seeing a crab climbing the rocks early in the morning was kind of neat.

Overall, it was a very nice cottage, and I don’t have any complaints.  I should have researched the toilet situation better. The view was incredible and I liked the unique architecture.

Next time we will probably book two oceanview rooms, since I really want to bring the kids. That way we will have two bathrooms indoors. Plus, I prefer the whole unit to be air-conditioned.

As far as resort amenities go,  there is a small pool and a restaurant and… that’s it. Keep in mind that you will have to swim while the other guests are dining, unless it’s Monday when the restaurant is closed for lunch and dinner.

Our arrival in Saba happened to be on Monday, so my husband and I had a pool to ourselves that night. It was magical. There is very little light pollution, and it felt like we were in a jungle in the middle of nowhere.

There is a sweet dog that belongs to the owners, who roams the premises like he owns the place. 

Several mornings he came over to our table and plopped his whole body on my foot while I was eating breakfast. I think I’m becoming a “dog” person.

Final thoughts

I’ve said many times that if you limit yourself only to points hotels, you are probably missing out. There are so many places on this earth that don’t happen to have a Hyatt or Marriott property that are worth visiting. Saba is definitely one of them. I can’t wait to take my kids here someday.