Anyone been to Saba?

[smfcpacfp]

I am heading there tomorrow afternoon to scuba dive.

 

[Heywood Jannockitov]

Cool. Have a great time. I always wanted to go there. Where do you fly into? St Kitts?

 

[Stimw]

Just make sure you watch you dive tables, flying effects them in case you overlooked that. ???
I enjoy the Florida Keys, hundreds of miles of water 45' or less.

 

[jeffinsgf]

Have a great time. I've been several places in the Caribbean, but never Saba. I've heard flying in there is a real adventure. If I remember correctly, it is the shortest commercial runway in the Western Hemisphere. Nothing goes in or out except S.T.O.L.'s. Happy landing. :laughing:

 

[Heywood Jannockitov]

How long should one wait after getting off a plane before going scuba diving? Is there a rule of thumb?
I think there is only one tiny beach on the whole island.

 

[jeffinsgf]

The issue is not at the beginning of the trip, but at the end. You can dive as soon as you get your gear off the plane, but should not dive the 24 hours before your flight out.

Forget the tables. Get a computer.

 

[eepete]

That whole area is wonderful. Great diving there too. Have a blast! We also rented a sailboat down there (St. Martins, Arruba, St. Barts) for two weeks.

Flight waiting advice is right on the money. With the clear water there, it's easy to go down too deep before you know it. Not at Saba but I once was going down, got caught up putting my gloves on, kept popping my ears and hit bottom at 110 feet. Sure didn't look that deep

Pete

 

[smfcpacfp]

We fly to St Maartens and then take a puddle jumper.

We have dove in many places in the Carribean (Roatan, Bonaire, Belieze, Barbados, Grand Turk, Little Cayman) and throughout the world: Africa (Mozambique and South Africa), Fiji, Paulu, Saudi Arabia (Red Sea), Socorro Islands (on a live aboard), Cabo San Lucas (Mexico) and in 6 weeks, the Philipines - 172 dives in the last 3 1/2 years.

My wife and I use dive computers which tell us what our no fly time is and we are always cautious (usually 24 hours is safe).

Yesterday I had 9" of snow to blow and today another 9". We have 47" on the ground so this will be a nice change of pace.

eepete, Can you use gloves in Saba, since you mentioned gloves? I checked the Saba site and we e-mailed the dive operator but they didn't get back to us. I don't like to take unnecessary equipment.

 

[eepete]

The "glove sink" was not at Saba, it was either at Curicau or off Bimini (both probably spelled wrong). It was a ship sunk as a reef dive.

Pete

 

[forgeblast]

My wifes uncle has said that st lucia was a great place to dive. We snorkled there and had a blast. Very nice island.

 

[Richard]

We fly to St Maartens and then take a puddle jumper.

You will THINK puddle jumper!

You will actually fly over in a short take off / landing type plane. Once you see the airport at Saba you will undertand why. Sadly, I don't have any of those pictures scanned.

How to say... Saba itself is an extinct volcano coming out of the water. There is a small piece of land on the edge and this is where the landing strip is. Come in too short and you meet the water and/or rocks... come in too long and you are again, going to have issues.

The pilot had his door open when I flew in there and I almost wish he had not!

I had a great time. Wife stayed behind on St. Martin (we stayed a week). We thought Saba was nothing but a rock and I was very surprised.

It is a MOST picturesque place and the most friendly people

Long story...but I'll cut short:

We were at the end of our trip and this was my last thing to do. Wife stayed on St. Martin to shop so I gave her all the cash in my pocket except for a $100 that was for parking issues back home. I had my trusty AMEX card with me.

Got to the dive shop, rented the stuff, rented a camera and off we went on the first of two dives.

Upon getting back, between dives, I had some time so I figured I'd go settle up the bill with them so I could save some time. I pulled my AMEX out and don't you know, they didn't take it!

I realized I didn't have enough cash on me for the second dive so I told her to go ahead & tally up my bill and I'd have to sit out the second dive.

Her comment? "Ohhhh, no.... nobody comes this far to Saba and miss out on diving....I'll tell you what.... you keep the camera with you, go on your next dive. You keep your pocket money for your trip home and when you get home, you can send me a check for the amount"

Huh?

Did I hear you right?

So, to recap, I rented their camera for two dives and had lunch. All on the understanding that I would send them a check in the mail when I returned home.

Upon getting home, the FIRST thing I did was whip a check out to them to get them repaid. Later on, I got a letter from the owner of the establishment (I still have his card at home). He thanked me for the payment and said he was sorry he missed seeing me (he was a fellow American).

My cab driver needed to run an errand as he was taking me either to the dive shop or to the airport (I forget) so we stopped by his home while on the way. This got me out to see a bit more than I would have otherwise seen.

I have NOTHING but glowing things to say and remember about my experience on Saba, including the dives!!

Saba - The Official Website of the Saba Tourist Bureau

 

[Richard]

Got this off their website

 

[Stargazer]

Ah any space left in your suitcase for an oversnowed Iowan???

 

[dfkrug]

We have dove in many places in the Carribean (Roatan, Bonaire, Belieze, Barbados, Grand Turk, Little Cayman) and throughout the world: Africa (Mozambique and South Africa), Fiji, Paulu, Saudi Arabia (Red Sea), Socorro Islands (on a live aboard), Cabo San Lucas (Mexico) and in 6 weeks, the Philipines

The wife and I just got back from Zihuatinejo, and we got in 2 dives. The
Caribbean is great, esp Cozumel. We have also been to St. Lucia and
Turks&Caicos. I think Tahiti and the Great Barrier Reef are better, however.
I would like to try another live-aboard....did you go on one of the Aggressors?

Never been to Saba, but I will put it on the list. I would also like to try
Truk Lagoon. I also love night dives.

 

[smfcpacfp]

We are here and all I can say is wow! I don't think there is any level road - steep and curvy. As we were coming to our apartment in the cab, I was thinking that I would hate to be a beginning driver here with my learner's permit, and I would hate to have my stick Corvette here.

It is as Richard said a valcanic artifact. It has no beach. It took a lot of work to build the roads and houses given the terrain. These must be industrious Our apartment is up pretty high and it was foggy and cloudy.

We dive tomorrow (2 dives a day for 5 days) and a night dive or two.

For the caribbean, this is a very different environment than I am use to. Hopefully it will sunny, clear and warm tomorrow.

 

[Sigarms]

Forget the tables. Get a computer.

Kind of like getting a GPS and relying on it, but not knowing how to read a topo map and how to triangulate with a compass (come to think of it, do people still train to take a reciporcating course with a compass while night diving or in water you can't see your hand in?)

The difference is IMO if a GPS malfunctions, you're lost. If your dive computer malfunctions and you didn't dive your plan (going off your dive tables), you could end up in a pressure chamber.

Don't get me wrong, computers are great. But when your life may depend on them, have a back up system, your brain.

Haven't dived in a good 15 years. Perhaps technology has come a long ways and I'm way off base.

 

[jeffinsgf]

I don't think we're talking about technical dives here. If your computer craps out, you scrub the dive and work your tables backward from your log.

Or, do what I do and dive with two computers. :thumbsup:

Dive tables give no allowance for multi-level diving. I've done a couple of semi-technical dives (160 foot wreck exterior, for one). We worked our tables carefully and then went more conservative than that. However, for dives of 130 or less on compressed air or nitrox, computers give you a lot more bottom time, which is, after all, what recreational diving is all about.

 

[scott_vt]

For the caribbean, this is a very different environment than I am use to. Hopefully it will sunny, clear and warm tomorrow.

Good Afternoon Steve,
Kathleen and I have been to St Martin about 10 times, never to Saba, but we did take a catamaran to St Barts, it was a bit rough but a very nice little island !

My favorite was Anguilla in that neck of the woods, and while although I dont dive I did a bunch of snorkeling off of Shoal Bay, which IMHO is one of the nicest beaches I have ever been on ! In fact all of the beaches on that island are not only beautiful but basically uninhabited !

Be safe and have fun !

 

[cisco]

Yup. The reefs are reasonable, and being fairly well preserved via the island's "marine park" initiative (you'll pay a user fee each day) It's a rock (well, OK, old volcano) sticking up out of the ocean, and beach diving is, essentially, non-existent. From the dock you drive up the mountain to the villages (forget walking - it's steep and boring), and down again to catch a dive boat. Saba is best dived via a liveaboard approach, of which a number make the St. Kitts, Saba, St. Martin, etc tour...
The best diving is somewhat deep, say the "Pinnacles" at 90', so watch your bottom time - many of the sites are a bit off the island and surrounded by fairly open water, so there's frequently no "bottom" in view for purposes of orientation. Currents tend to be modest.
Ain't no Galapagos, but....still, reasonable diving and friendly people - Have fun.

 

[smfcpacfp]

Don't get me wrong, computers are great. But when your life may depend on them, have a back up system, your brain.

Haven't dived in a good 15 years. Perhaps technology has come a long ways and I'm way off base.

Everyone learns with the dive tables, even using nitrox, but in practice no one uses manual dive tables that I have dove with. Some places require dive computers. Have regular computers changed in the last 15 years? I am sure that dive computers have changed similarly, although I have only been diving for 3 1/2 years.

My wife and I bring 3 computers with us, in case one fails. As jeffinsgf said you get much more dive time with a dive computer, especially if you dive at different depths. In any event, I wouldn't consider going back to the old table. I don't even bring one,

We did 2 dives today and didn't have any problems. Nothing to exciting to report however.