Dive Review of Sea Saba/Juliana's Hotel in
Saba

Other Saba reports
Subscriber Content Preview
Active subscribers go here

Sea Saba/Juliana's Hotel: "Diving Saba", Nov, 2023, by Michael Wood, WA, US ( Sr. Contributor 22 reports with 15 Helpful votes). Report 12772.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food	N/A
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Booked Saba early in the Covid pandemic as one of the few that was open still without draconian rules, but backed out when US required negative test to get back into country. Just got around to going Nov. 2023. My third and likely last trip to Saba. Limited number of healthy dive sites--Diamond Rock, Man-o-War, Green Island, Tent Reef Deep. Rest were lackluster, algae covered, with 20% of coral coverings bleached. Skipped deep pinnacles--not worth the 10 minutes of bottom time looking at the same stuff as shallower dives. Typical tropicals--angelfish, durgeons, filefish, wrasses, trumpetfish, a few spotted drums, porcupines, trunkfish, puffers, many butterflyfish, etc. Lots of lobsters, turtles. Sponges pretty and healthy. Caribbean reef sharks regularly patrolling the dive sites. Good viz, little current, some surge once in a while. 83F water temp. Dive operator Sea Saba the only one in town, and thankfully very capable and customer-oriented. New, roomy boats, no head on board, small rinse tank for small cameras. Transported us from our hotels at 8:30am every morning. Good dive briefings, help on board, lifted tanks/BCD out of water when requested. Dive guides didn't really point anything out, because there wasn't anything unusual and virtually no small critters except an occasional lettuce slug. We were free to explore but keeping our buddy & dive guide in sight. Afternoon dives at 1pm, so if you want to do a 3rd dive, bring a sandwich to eat on the boat between second and third dive. Great place for beginners. Diving for experienced is typical Caribbean and no comparison to Asian diving. The island is friendly and picturesque, good restaurants. Hiking available and classes in fabric dying, glass blowing (making beads, not big object glass blowing). Juliana's Hotel is lovely. I would highly recommend, great view, good breakfasts (included), decent dinners. Best dinner we had was at Che Bubba, best lunch of curried goat at Lollipops in the Bottom, Dimples for BBQ on Saturday. Taxis $15 to get to the Bottom. Free tour of the island on Mondays, which was fun and informative with Michael, the resident driver of their van. Every night around the island had an event--BBQ, DJ, movie night about Saba, Karaoke, Lobster Fest. Locals very friendly.
Websites	Sea Saba Juliana's Hotel
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Caribbean, Indonesia, Maldives, PNG, GBR, Philippines, Hawai'i
Closest Airport	Saba via Twin Otter	Getting There	Through Charlotte or MIA to St. Martin, then by WinAir or a ferry to Saba
Dive Conditions
Weather	dry	Seas	no currents
Water Temp	83-84°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	50-80 Ft/ 15-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	60 minutes, depths by dive briefing
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Small rinse tank for GoPros and small cameras. Nothing for big rigs, which I left home because I knew there was nothing remarkable to photograph after 20 years of Caribbean diving.

Subscriber's Comments

By Chad Nuttall in NC, US at Jan 02, 2024 07:44 EST

Just a quick clarification, all 3 boats have marine heads, but we brief that they are "emergency use only" due to no facilities on Saba to empty them.

Leave a comment (Subscribers only -- 200 words max)
Subscribers can comment here

Subscribers can post comments, ask the reviewer questions, as well as getting immediate and complete access to ALL 124 dive reviews of Saba and all other dive destinations. Complete access to all issues and Chapbooks is also included.

Other dive reports on Sea Saba

All Saba Dive Reviews and Reports
Diving Guide to Saba
Diving Reviews for All Dive Destinations

Want to assemble your own collection of Saba reports in one place?
Use the Mini Chapbook Facility to create your personalized collection.

Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

Undercurrent Home

Page computed and displayed in 0.43 seconds

Get more dive info like these and other important scuba updates sent monthly to your email. And a FREE Recent Issue of Undercurrent
Get a free monthly email and a sample issue!

Dive Review of Sea Saba/Juliana's Hotel in Saba

Sea Saba/Juliana's Hotel: "Diving Saba", Nov, 2023,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subscriber's Comments

Dive Review of Sea Saba/Juliana's Hotel in
Saba