We reserved a flight/hotel package with US Airways and despite the recent complaints, we were very happy with the airline and their service. It’s too bad they had such a bad run during the holidays.
12/18 – Arrived airport, 5 minute ride to Caravanserai Resort on the Dutch side. The place was OK, and for the money it was exactly what we expected (around $100/night). It is right on the beach and is the best place to catch a sunset. The “beach” itself is more of a cove and very small. There is a longer/wider beach along the road that passes to the resort, but this is the strip all the planes to St. Marten fligh over, so it’s not a secluded beach experience if that’s what you want. The hotel does have all level of activities they arrange, and several eating/night spots attached. Bliss has a very decent restaurant ($24, Red Snapper dinner was quite good), and Sunset Beach Bar is THE PLACE to be for the sunset. Good guava berry frozen drinks ($6) too, beer ($2)! They will let you use their Internet laptop from the bar for free. You can also hear the plane dispatcher and watch the planes land and take off. The noise level never bothered us, by the way as they are on the side and away from our rooms.
12/19 – Day trip to SABA for hiking. We took the catamaran Edge at 9AM, which returned around 5PM ($60 round trip). Saba is a unique island, as it is small and has no beaches. It’s like approaching The Lost World, or Jurassic park. We got a taxi ride ($10pp) to the middle of the island and hiked to the top of the island. It’s a neat trip through a tropical rainforest that takes about 2-3 hrs round trip, but we decided if the Queen of the Netherlands can do it, so can we. Beware, though, if you hike to the top, don’t expect views unless you’re on Saba during one of the 10 days it’s clear at the top. We liked the hike because there was beautiful greenery, lovely flowers and even a banana tree. Wear good hiking shoes, as it’s slippery! We ended our hike with lunch at the Eco Lodge where they were out of the great sounding shrimp ($14), so we settled on the grouper ($14), which was excellent! They have regular lunch fare for around $8 too and everything is Eco Fresh (http://www.ecolodge-saba.com/)! The taxi also took us to see the smallest commercial airport in the world on Saba from the top. We ate dinner on the French side in Grande Case, at l’Escapade where the ambiance on the water could not have been better but the food although beautiful was only so-so taste wise. The snapper I ordered ($24) was not as good as the one at Bliss, with the shellfish dishes being pretty Ok. After Saba, by the way, we opted to rent a car at Dollar for $25/day, booked on line at the Sunset Beach Bar bar . Dollar is a bit farther from the airport (5 more minutes) but the service was fast and good.
12/20 –This was our beach day, and we drove up to the French side of the island, to the little island on the north east side, Pinel. You park at the large lot, and take a ferry to the little beach ($5 there, return included) with lounge chairs ($5 all day). Lots of families with kids here! There’s a nice sectioned off area for snorkeling, but get there early to beat the cruise ship visitors who arrive by bus early afternoon. There’s two pricey restaurant shacks on the island, but if you’re in need of a cool drink, head up the hill to Mary’s – it’s the shack with the pirate flag. The lady there is a riot, and very friendly. She also charges a reasonable price for drinks ($1 water) and you get an elevated view. You can also hike 5 minutes to the other side of the island where there’s no lounge chairs or children, if you want that deserted island experience. You can see other isles in the distance. That night we ate at Pineapple Pete’s, right off the main road on the Dutch side (Lobster Thermador $30, great grouper dinner $15). It’s a simple bar/restaurant, but the food was great.
12/21 – Morning snorkel to the rock off of Grand-Case for 3 hours with snacks and drinks ($35). – we saw some great fish, thanks to the boat captain who got in the water with us – the flounder and eel were the highlights. We booked this trip via Caravanserai, and they gave us a buy 1 get 1 free coupon, which was a deal. It was a small boat and we motored along the side of the island (total of 5 people). I really liked the captain, who did not hurry us and joined us – I think the boat is Sand Dollar from the Pelican Marina, but email me if you want more details! We dined at Uncle Henry’s, which servers on a slightly moving barge-like thing, on the lagoon right by the airport. If you sit out back, you may have a chance to see the large tarpon, 3+ feet. We had a 2.5 pound lobster that was awesome ($21 per lb.) and shrimp dinner ($18). The wine was cheap and this dinner was worth every $. Our favorite eating on the island.
12/22 – Departure day for beach and shops. We tried some of the beaches but the surf beat us – Long beach is nice, but there are no amenities. We tried to go into Philipsburg for shopping, but the traffic was too heavy, so we ended up in Marigot since they have many of the same shops. Found the prices to be comparable to metro NYC, maybe a 15% discount but nothing to rave about (in jewelry, that is). Yes, the alcohol is cheaper, with Absolute vodka for $7 per liter. Ate at local bakeries that are excellent!

Some funky stuff about the island (to me anyway)
- Our hotel requested a small $5 deposit to call a cab, which they returned
- The beaches were all small, relative to the 5 mile plus you see in Jamaica or Caymans
- Some place on the French side take $1=1 euro, others you end up paying $20 for a hamburger with the exchange these days
- We saw what’s called the most posh resort on the island, Ramana or something like that, and were not impressed

Great report, lilipad. Glad you had an enjoyable time in our little part of the world.

The next time you go to Saba, you'll have to fly over so you can experience landing on that tiny runway!

I'm sorry to hear the food at L'Escapade is not so good anymore. My husband and I celebrated our one year anniversary there nearly 12 years ago and it was fabulous then.

The fancy resort you referred to in your last paragraph is La Samanna, and I have also heard that it's nothing to write home about, but that it used to be really fabulous.

Thanks for the info.

Hi Statia,
You know, I really enjoyed Saba and our taxi driver said the little house on the hill for sale we passed was $60,000. But when I looked it up on the web, the most reasonable places I could find were well over $160,000. Do you know if there's a listing for houses on Saba for sale in the $60,000 range, or is that a thing of the past?
Thanks!

lilipad, Saba is like our home away from home around here. We go there whenever we have a long weekend that we can get away and enjoy the peace and tranquility the island offers. We like St. Maarten, too, but always end up having an errand running marathon over there, so it's not really relaxing. We're on our way to St. Maarten on Tuesday, as a matter of fact, and after reading your report figured we'd give Caravanserai a try, but they are booked. So, we will be staying at our usual Royal Palm hideaway.

We have checked out numerous cottages for sale on Saba and have honestly never found anything below $150,000. I don't really have any websites for searching since we just look when we are over there. Was the one you looked at on that little pathway in Windwardside near the museum? I'm just wondering since that one has been for sale for quite some time. I thought maybe they've come down on the price.

Who was your driver over there? Was it by chance Eddie or Garvis?

Hi Statia,
The cottage would have been along side the main road, not sure which town but I think it's likely the driver wasn't sure what the price was and just came up with something . If there was a deal, there's not better way to find it than the way you are doing it, by visiting!