Saba’s capital, The Bottom, features white buildings with red roofs that can be found in all of the island’s four villages.Kai Wulf/Supplied
Wandering through the King’s Day Street Fair on Saba is an eye-opening look at the hybrid culture on this Dutch Caribbean island. While walking through the crowds of the island’s capital, the Bottom, I see people dressed in orange, the traditional colour of the Dutch monarchy, in honour of Koningsdag, the King’s birthday.
Friends and neighbours greet each other, toddlers run around and people dance to warm soca tunes. At the food stalls, I sample the Caribbean classics pig tail soup (a tasty stew with dumplings) and jerk ribs (grilled on an oil drum as ear-splitting reggae tunes blare). Other stalls offer Filipino and Mexican fare brought in by new waves of immigrants. I marvel at this wonderful blend of cultures that make up the little-known island of Saba.
Canadians tend to think of the Caribbean as a place for seaside resort vacations, where we can lie in the sun and unwind from the grind of daily life. Saba (pronounced “Say-bah”) gives me a glimpse into the Caribbean off the beaten path. The 13-square kilometre island – technically a dormant volcano – has a population of just 2,100. Saba has no real beaches, no cruise ships and no chain restaurants. Known as the “unspoiled Queen” of the Caribbean, its draw is the dense tropical rainforest and the surrounding seabed filled with spectacular formations from past underwater volcanic activity.
Divers rave about seeing reef sharks and turtles, while snorkelers enjoy watching brightly coloured tropical fish flitting around the reef.Trent Reid/Supplied
I arrived after cramming into a tiny 19-seat Twin Otter plane from nearby Sint Maarten. Landing on the world’s shortest commercial runway – just 400 metres long – might sound harrowing, but I found the 20-minute journey blissful. The plane glided smoothly over the Caribbean blue sea, landing quickly and gracefully on the runway, like a cat jumping off a windowsill.
The small-town vibe is great for mingling with locals and the adventurous Americans and Europeans who are drawn to the island. Visitors tend to be older, with more money to spend than your typical Caribbean tourist. They enjoy the safety and ease of travel on the island, which despite its status as a special municipality of the Netherlands uses English as its principal language. And while Saba isn’t known for its nightlife, its friendly atmosphere keeps the evenings lively.
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Within a day of my arrival, I’m regularly running into locals and sharing updates on my trip. Learning about their backgrounds reveals the history of the island, which changed hands many times before ending up under Dutch rule.
Many are the descendants of English settlers, Irish indentured servants or enslaved Africans, and have lived on other Dutch Caribbean islands, such as Curaçao. Dutch and Americans have settled here in recent decades, while Filipinos, Colombians and other foreigners have come more recently to work. They all live in the island’s four picturesque villages, each made up of only white buildings with red roofs.
Technically a dormant volcano, Saba has rocky cliffs instead of sandy beaches.Kai Wulf/Supplied
Historically, Saba’s rocky cliff edges deterred many sailors from landing here, including Christopher Columbus. I’m not surprised to learn that in the 1600s, it became a haven for pirates, given that walking up Saba’s mountain slopes easily conjures scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean.
Hiking is a big draw, and well-maintained trails cross the island. Walking alone doesn’t feel solitary with tiny Saban Anole lizards scampering through the greenery, and black snakes slithering along the path. During my early morning hike up Mount Scenery, wild roosters crowed and colourful bananaquit birds chirped as I ascended past mossy rocks and wet vines into the cloud forest. At the top, I was rewarded with glimpses of the blue sea and verdant slopes peeking through the cloud cover – plus I now have bragging rights (modest though they may be) for reaching the highest point in the infamously low Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Saba’s National Marine Park, which circles the island, is another big draw. On the Sea Saba Dive Centre’s boat, divers raved about seeing reef sharks and turtles, while snorkelers such as myself enjoyed watching the brightly coloured tropical fish flitting around the reef. There are no natural beaches, unless you count Cove Bay, constructed by bringing in sand from Sint Maarten, and Well’s Bay, a black sand “wandering beach” that appears occasionally, depending on the patterns of the waves.
Back on the Twin Otter leaving Saba, I’m amazed at how restorative a few short days on the island have been. It’s jarring to return to the real world, but the feeling is softened by the discovery that the Caribbean is so much more than a beach holiday. So many little gems like Saba await for future island-hopping adventures.
Views captured at the Scenery Hotel in Windwardside.Supplied
If you go
There are no direct flights to Saba. Canadians can fly to Sint Maarten and take a 20-minute flight on WinAir. If you get a good connection, you can leave Canada in the morning and be enjoying a drink on your hotel terrace by 5 p.m. Alternatively, visitors can take the one hour 40 minute Makana Ferry from Sint Maarten.
English is the main language on Saba, and the currency is the U.S. dollar. You can use credit cards, but cash is useful. The electrical outlets are the same as in Canada.
The Scenery Hotel, which opened in March, adds a luxurious option for visitors, bringing the island’s total up to just 140 hotel rooms. The service in its opening weeks was bumpy, but the facilities shine, with spellbinding views from the terrace and a sleek infinity pool. It’s right in the centre of the village of Windwardside, within a block or two of all the restaurants and bars. Between $400 to $720 a night. sceneryhotelsaba.com
You won’t have a bad meal on the island, although the culinary culture is more limited than some of the bigger Caribbean destinations, in part owing to the high cost of bringing in fresh food. Tropics Cafe in Windwardside is the perfect place for a sunset drink and poolside dining on fresh lobster.
On Sunday nights, people gather on the Fort Bay dock outside the Ocean Club to listen to high-octane Caribbean tunes. The Colibri Cafe, nestled onto forest’s edge and crammed with trees and vines, is a great spot for multilingual travel story-swapping and for sampling guavaberry liqueur, a sweet mix of wild guavaberries and rum.
The writer was a guest of the Saba Tourist Bureau, which did not review or approve this article. Stories are based on merit; The Globe does not guarantee coverage.