Dive Review of Sea Saba/rented a house in
Saba

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Sea Saba/rented a house: "Unspoiled Queen lives up to its name!", Dec, 2023, by Rick Feinleib , VA, US ( Sr. Contributor 20 reports with 9 Helpful votes). Report 12871 has 2 Helpful votes.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
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	Saba is a remarkably charming island! Unlike most islands, most everyone lives above 300m elevation, instead of around the edges on the sea. There are under 2000 permanent residents, no chain hotels or restaurants, 1 main road, and currently 1 dive operator. There are 3 hotels on Saba with a 4th being rebuilt, all with under 30 rooms, and a couple small cottage rental outfits. If traveling with a family or close friends, there are around a dozen or so houses available for vacation rentals perched 400m above the sea on the side of the volcano. We stayed very comfortably in the latter category and were very pleased. There are 3 or 4 very good restaurants on the island, plus a few casual eateries that were absolutely fine. I know of 2 groceries in each of Windwardside and The Bottom. Be mindful: restaurants, groceries, stores are closed at least 1 day a week, plus may be closed on holidays. Diving was terrific! Visibility was usually well over 30m, water temps were nice for a thick rashguard or a shortie (some divers wore 3mm wetsuits), and subsurface topographies varied greatly, with occasional narrow swim-through opportunities. Seas were like glass all week (a rarity) and all sites are a short 5 to 20min from the harbor. I consider Man O'War Shoals one of the 3 best dive sites I have ever visited: even though you are never more than 30m from the boat, you will find clouds of fish (durgons, triggers, parrots, angels, chromis, wrasse, damsels, butterflies, tangs, squirrels, fairy basslets, drums, files, yellowtail snappers, grunts, and more), turtles, lobsters, rays, nudis, barracudas, puffers, ... all among 2 pillars that extend from 32m up to 6m of depth. Even the safety stop is a show! Green Island offered a great dive with a huge green moray eel and a shallow cave. I spent the last 20min of a 25meter dive at Tent Shallow at 5m, watching a turtle munching on the sea grass on top of a ledge. Abram's Hole, Core Gut (reef sharks), and Ladder Labyrinth were also highlight sites. I found Sea Saba to be an excellent dive operation. They take out 2 new (2022) boats, each with broad, double hulls, good spacing between divers, a long padded bench along each gunwhale for seating, tank tubes at exactly the right height, easy stride entries and good exit ladder, sunning areas, camera rinse buckets, water and gatorade in coolers, freshwater rinse hose sprayer, and good dry storage areas. They set up gear for you, switch gear for 2nd tank, and tear down afterward. The best feature is the personalized bins (large milk crates) with your name and a number that allows them to store your gear for multiple days of diving. Gear is rinsed, dried, and all set up on the right boat the next day you dive, even if a gap day is in between. Sea Saba provides a shuttle van to pick up and drop off divers from hotels and houses. They will even rinse and dry your gear and return it to you (at your hotel or house) the day after your last dive. Vicky is a magician at orchestrating it all -- the system went flawlessly. Otto, Richard, Chad, and Lenny were friendly, engaging, and highly competent divemasters (and boat captains) who knew the reefs and currents well. When we started to moor at one site, the crew realized viz would not be ideal, so they moved the boat to a better site halfway around the island. Safety and dive site briefs are clear and thorough and accompanied by hand-drawn maps. DMs lead groups of 4 to 6 divers in circles or figure-8s from the mooring line, and then position themselves toward the boat, so divers will be able to ascend at different times according to their air consumption. All staff were adamant about respecting Marine Reserve rules about touching and staying off the bottom; they also speared lionfish we spotted to help the reefs thrive. They call the turtles their "co-workers," so they are mindful of the boat speed and routes they take between sites. All-around, a wonderful island to visit, great diving, and a 5-star op!
Websites	Sea Saba
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Coz, Bahamas, LilCayman, GBR, Galapagos, Okinawa, Culebra, San Andres, Belize, Fla Keys, Croatia
Closest Airport	SXM, SAB	Getting There	Fly to SXM, then choice of 2-hr ferry to Saba harbor or 15min flight to SAB -- the shortest commercial runway in the world!
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm, no currents
Water Temp	78-81°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	30-45 M / 98-148 Ft
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Must stay within sight of DM
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Lidded rinse bins onboard dive boats and some table space

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

Subscriber's Comments

By Robert (Dean) McCurdy in AB, CA at Dec 05, 2024 10:25 EST

Thanks for the details regarding Man O'War Shoals. I have noted in my dive book as a recommended site to request when there in Feb 2025

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Dive Review of Sea Saba/rented a house in Saba

Sea Saba/rented a house: "Unspoiled Queen lives up to its name!", Dec, 2023,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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/rented a house in
Saba