Dubbed the 'Unspoiled Queen,' low-key Saba (pronounced SAY-ba) has strikingly little tourism. Both the smallest and loftiest of the Netherlands Antilles, the island isn't a typical Caribbean powdered-sugar beach destination - in fact, it has hardly any beaches at all. Instead, ruggedly steep Saba has beautiful scenery, good hiking and pristine diving. Its handful of villages are spotlessly neat, close-knit and quiet - making Saba better for peaceful unwinding than for rollicking nightlife.

Because of the island's rugged terrain, Saba was probably not heavily settled in pre-Columbian times. However, artifacts uncovered in the Spring Bay area indicate the existence of a small Arawak settlement at that site about 1300 years ago.

During his second trip to the New World, in November 1493, Christopher Columbus became the first European to sight Saba. The Dutch laid claim to the island in 1632 and sent a party of colonists from Sint Eustatius in 1640 to form a permanent settlement. These early colonists originally lived at Middle Island and Mary’s Point, where a few cisterns and stone walls can still be found, but soon moved to the Bottom, which remains the administrative center of the island.
As the steep topography precluded large-scale plantations, colonial-era slavery was quite limited on Saba. Those colonists who did own slaves generally had only a few and often worked side by side with them in the fields, resulting in a more integrated society than on larger Dutch islands.

Until the 1940s, Saba’s villages were connected solely by footpaths. When Dutch engineers told residents the island’s steep terrain prohibited roadbuilding, they spent the next 20 years building one themselves. Although Hurricane Georges rolled directly over the island in 1998, no one was killed and damage was relatively light.

Saba’s population is composed mainly of descendants of African slaves; there are also many descendants of the early Scottish, Irish and Scandinavian settlers. Most people can trace their lineage to one of half a dozen families, and just two names, Hassell and Johnson, account for almost a third of the phone-book listings. Incidentally, despite its Dutch government, Saba is home to very few people of Dutch descent.

Catholicism is the predominant religion on Saba, but the island’s eight churches also include Anglican, Wesleyan Holiness and Seventh-Day Adventist denominations.

Although Dutch is the ‘official’ tongue, English is the primary language of the island and the one most commonly spoken in the home. To accommodate this reality, the Dutch government recently allowed the Saban school system to switch from Dutch to English as the principal classroom language.

Saba is located about 1970km (1225 miles) southeast of Miami, Florida, and 310km (195 miles) east of San Juan, Puerto Rico, near the northern end of the Lesser Antilles. The island forms the westernmost corner of a triangle of islands including Sint Maarten (46km/28mi northeast) and Sint Eustatius (32km/20mi southeast). It’s virtually impossible to get lost on Saba. There is only one main road, which runs from the airport at the northeastern side of the island through the villages of Hell’s Gate, Windwardside, St John’s and the Bottom, and continues down to Fort Bay, the island’s main port. A second road connects the Bottom with Well’s Bay on the island’s northwestern side.

Shaped a bit like a heart (think anatomically, not Valentine’s), Saba’s land area is small, but because of its topography of folding mountains the island is far more substantial than any mere area measurement would indicate. As the tip of an immense underwater mountain, the island juts out of the sea with no pause for lowlands or beaches. Saba’s central volcanic peak, Mt Scenery, is 890m (2900ft), its summit cloaked in clouds.

There are no rivers or streams on the island. The leeward (western) side is dry with cacti and scrub, the windward (eastern) side has thicker vegetation and the mountainous interior is given over to lush jungle growth such as tall tree ferns, palms and mahogany trees.
Saba has a wide variety of flowering plants, ranging from the prolific oleander and hibiscus that decorate its yards to the wildflowers and orchids that thrive in the rainforest. Over 60 species of birds are sighted on Saba, including bridled and sooty terns, brown noddys, tropicbirds on the cliffs and frigatebirds near the coast. Red-tailed hawks can be spotted on the lower slopes, while thrashers and hummingbirds are found at higher elevations.

Saba is crawling with harmless racer snakes that sun themselves along trails and roadsides. Expect to see the friendly little Anolis sabanus lizard that’s endemic to the island and to hear the tiny tree frogs whose symphony can be almost deafening at night.
The average monthly temperature is 27?C (80?F), with few degrees difference between summer (June to August) and winter (December to February). Because of the difference in elevation, temperatures are a bit cooler in Windwardside than in the Bottom.

Facts for the Traveler

Visas: US and Canadian citizens don’t need visas or passports, only proof of citizenship. Others need a valid passport, birth certificate or voter’s registration and an ongoing ticket.
Health risks: Sunburn
Time: Atlantic Standard Time (GMT/UTC minus 4 hours)
Electricity: 110V, 60Hz
Weights & measures: Metric
Telephone: 599-4

When to Go

A comfortably warm year-round temperature makes Saba a good stop any time, though prices are lower during the depths of their sunny winter (December to February), when most potential visitors (ie, North Americans) tend to stay away from the tropics