St. Maarten and Saba

[malley1717]

Hello everybody-

I will be going to St. Maarten in about a month with my family. I was certified there about 3 years ago, and returned 2 years ago. I have heard that the neighboring island of Saba has much better diving, because of the protection from hurricanes and the marine park. The problem is i am only 16 and nobody else in my family dives. Does anybody know of a source of reliable transportation from St. Maarten to Saba and back for a day of diving. My mom isnt really into the idea of me diving in St. Maarten, so some good information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.


Max

[scubasamurai]

ok, depends on where you are staying?? i went to dive adventures and had a top notch crew. they were on the dutch side by pelican resorts. they have day charters to saba but it is a long day for that. most of the stuff at saba is pretty deep 100 plus feet for most dives.
dive adventures at least listens to you and we did a couple of wreck dives.
there are also a couple of other dive operators by the cruise ship terminal in town, but those are very bad cattle boats, most of dive adventures boats took out only 8 people and we had no problems.
let me know where you are staying, i go to st maartens yearly, the reefs are a littled washed out, but nothing beats a 5 minute ride to the dive site. saba i know is about an hour maybe two.

[malley1717]

thanks-
i am staying at Divi Little Bay, which is about a 10 minnute ride from philiipsburg. I have dived with Dive Safaris, which is one of those cattle boats near the cruise ship dock.

I am looking into possibly taking a 12 min winair flight for the day, but only if i can get it cheap. (Travelocity has em for $175!) Apparently the diving and flying is not a problem becasue the flight stays below 2,000 ft.

[boates]

Originally Posted by malley1717

thanks-
i am staying at Divi Little Bay, which is about a 10 minnute ride from philiipsburg. I have dived with Dive Safaris, which is one of those cattle boats near the cruise ship dock.

I am looking into possibly taking a 12 min winair flight for the day, but only if i can get it cheap. (Travelocity has em for $175!) Apparently the diving and flying is not a problem becasue the flight stays below 2,000 ft.

if you choose to fly, the landing strip on Saba is a real experience! I believe it's one of the shortest in existence, and sometimes they have to do a fly by to buzz the goats off of it. Have fun!

[scubasamurai]

yes i ran into that cruise shipt group once too!! very crowded but still if you have the time. good luck on the plane ride at least your not flying lait airlines if you can call them that.

[yankeefan21]

Hi Malley,

Fist - have a great time on your trip! The Divi resort is fairly nice so I think you will be happy with the recreational options there [I think they rent jet skis right from your beach].

Second - speaking of jet skis, if you have the opportunity to take a jet ski tour of the island? Do it! We had so much fun on that outing.

Third - if you can do it, FLY to Saba! I took the banana taxi from St Maarten to Saba and it was a tough trip! My father and I sat in the back of the boat and it was drizzling so they had the plastic side tarps down. It was in the mid 90's and there were 4 or 5 foot swells. The lady in front of me got sick about 10 minutes in and the smell was less than pleasant. Then the aroma of diesel fuel mixed in with the smell of her partially digested breakfast... Combine that with the motion of the ocean and the life sapping heat? Yeah - I was lucky to keep my saltines down! Even my father, who NEVER gets sea sick, was having a tough time... I had to buy some dramamine for the trip back and passed out in a near coma for the next 11 hours. So, there's my nightmare story for you! Lesson learned - fly next time.

Fourth - do your shopping before or after the ships dock at the port. There will be as much as a 200% rise in prices while ships are ported!

I hope you have a great trip! Don't spend too much money shopping on the French side!

[malley1717]

yea i read somewhere that the saba runway is the smallest international runway in the world. I booked a flight, and am doing 3 dives with seasaba. CANT WAIT!

[scubasamurai]

drop us a report i usually go down there in june

[wgt]

One's best bet might be to make an arrangement through one of the dive ops on Saba for a day-trip, either via air or water. Although some report discomfort if the sea crossing is rough (Aqua Mania - ...just add water! - HOME), standard precautions ought to prevent significant illness. Air travel is also exciting, but air travel-related delays (common to the airline) that would be a "charming" nuisance on a long stay can seriously curtail a single day's dives (Fly Winair). Nevertheless, trip-killing delays are not the norm.

Links to the Saba Dive ops are:

Saba Divers - Caribbean Diving and Scout's Place Hotel : Your all-in-one resort on Saba in the Dutch Caribbean - Saba cottages!
Sea Saba Advanced Scuba Dive Center is the premier dive shop in the northeastern caribbean. As a PADI Gold Palm Resort, you are assured of the highest safety and professional standards. Sea Saba offers PADI National Geographic program in addition to
Saba Deep