Dive Review of
Saba Divers/Scout's Place in
Saba

Bonaire, Curacao, Caymans, USVI, NY, NJ, Palau, Dominica, FL

Dive Conditions

Dive time 60 minutes with a depth not to exceed your Max. Operating Depth
of your EaNx mixture.   

Crew was considerate of photographers and equipment. Boats lacked a fresh
water rinse tank, but adequate facilities were provided at the dock. Photo
equipment was well segregated from the rest of the gear on the boats.   

Overall Rating

Winair from St. Martin offers frequent flights to Saba, and gives you a
generous 44kg per person allowance if they know you are divers. This
allowed us to bring all of our own gear, including camera housing, strobes,
and lights, plus hiking boots and clothes.  However, because the planes are
small and the runway is short (Saba has the shortest commercial runway),
don't overpack.  Flight is a memorable 12 minutes.  Aerophobes can take the
1hr, 45 min ferry.

We stayed at the Pirate's Cottage at Scout's place, a 2-bedroom, 1-bath
cottage. Accomodations were newer (remodeled in early 2007), clean, and
comfortable.  Daily maid service was great, and two grocery stores were
within walking distance for us to stock the kitchen with snacks and
beverages.  Air conditioning was not needed -- the steady cool breeze was
more than enough to keep cool (we needed sweatshirts at night).  We had
wireless internet, but it worked best in the restaurant.

The staff a Scout's was very attentive to all of our needs and making sure
everything ran smoothly. They handled all of the transportation to and from
the airport and dive shop, and were quick to address any problems. 

We ate most of our meals at Scout's.  The menu was varied and all of the
food was good, generous, and reasonably priced. Other restaurants in
Windwardside are in easy walking distance -- Swinging Door Saloon has a $16
steak night, and their ribs are great too.  Brigadoon has good seafood.

The dive staff at Saba Divers was friendly and professional, and allowed us
to run longer profiles when we had more air and bottom time than the
guides.  Nitrox was free for the entire week, which we used since many of
the dives required profiles in the 80-100 foot range.

They took great pains to separate the groups based on ability and
interests, even when the total number of divers could have fit in one boat.
There can be deep dives in Saba, but there are also shallower sandy bottom
dives to be had as well. On three separate days my group of four people had
our own boat to tackle some of the more challenging sites, while another
boat stayed in to shallower waters.

On the second day of diving we came across 5 gray reef sharks out in the
blue near the pinnacle known as the "Needle." This was a welcome
sight in the wild without having to feed or chum the waters.  Other dives
sites varied and included deep pinnacles, walls, patch reefs, and sandy
bottoms.  We saw turtles and sting rays on nearly every dive.  Currents
could be strong in some locations, but conditions varied by the hour and
day.

While the coral and fish life is better in Bonaire, Saba offers more
variety both topside and underwater.  As an island, it is pretty comparable
to Dominica (lush jungles for hiking, and pretty good diving for the
Caribbean), but Saba is much cleaner and friendlier, and the food is much
better. For a quiet vacation in a friendly, small community with plenty of
diving and hiking, Saba is the place to go.  If you are the Beach and
Casino type, go somewhere else.  

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