Saba

The sun is still low when I set out to conquer the 1,064 steps that spiral up Mt. Scenery. The island is so wet that it creates its own clouds, and the crest of Mt. Scenery is almost always overcast. At the top I look down on the cloud, and miraculously it parts. The entire island stretches out before me: sweeping precipices, red roofs huddled together, the steeple on the little yellow church. And just as quickly as the cloud parted, it rolls over again. I am left with the feeling that I've seen something special—the same feeling most people get upon discovering this remote island.

One of the Netherlands Antilles, tropical Saba (pronounced say-ba) explodes out of the Caribbean Sea just south of St. Maarten (if you've seen the original King Kong, you'll recognize its majestic silhouette from the beginning of the film), but the island couldn't be more different. While St. Maarten is all beaches, gambling, and duty-free shopping, Saba is ecotourism, diving, and hiking.

Nearly half of Saba's 5 square mi (13 square km) is covered in verdant tropical rain forest; the other half is sprinkled with petite hamlets composed of white, green-shuttered houses trimmed in gingerbread, roofed in red, and built on grades so steep they seem to defy physics. Flower-draped walls and neat picket fences border narrow paths among the bromeliads, palms, hibiscus, orchids, and Norfolk Island pines. The land dips and climbs à la San Francisco and eventually drops off into sheer cliffs that fall right into the ocean, the fodder for some of the world's most striking dive sites and the primary reason for Saba's cultlike following. Divers seem to relish the fact that they're in on Saba's secret.

But word is slowly getting out. Every year more and more tourists are turned on to Saba's charms and make the 11-minute, white-knuckle flight from St. Maarten into the tiny airport (barely the size of an aircraft carrier's, the airstrip is one of the shortest in the world). Indeed, traffic jams along the winding, narrow road (yes, there's really just one) are no longer unheard of. The past few years have seen the opening of a day spa, as well as more restaurants (big advances considering around-the-clock electricity was established only in 1970). But don't fear you will find a booming metropolis; even as it changes, Saba retains an old-world charm.

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