Saba
The Unspoiled Queen.....
This tiny island, formed from the top of a dormant volcano, is only 5 square miles in size and has less than 1500 inhabitants in its four villages. There are no beaches and the mountainous terrain descends steeply into the ocean, making access difficult. However, these same features which caused early explorers to pass by Saba in the 1600's, make it a choice destination for today's travelers seeking the peace and quiet of a secluded island, coupled with the opportunity enjoy nature at its best, both above and below the water.
Don't expect to find fancy casinos, splashy resorts, crazy nightlife or lots of tourists. It was 1963 before an airport was built on the only part of the island that could be made flat enough for the purpose. With no anchorages or marinas to speak of, it was as recent as 1972 that a pier was built providing a second and vastly improved place to land. In fact, there is only one main road connecting the few island settlements. But once having surmounted the challenge of arrival, you'll be rewarded with great rock climbing, scenic hiking through lush forests, awesome diving on vertical walls just offshore, and a haven for relaxation.
Saba is particularly safe, and its hospitable people take evident pride in their quaint villages, well-maintained homes, and beautiful gardens. Tourism grows at a modest pace allowing the island to keep its unspoiled character, and Eco-tourism is gaining in popularity, with several operators catering specifically to that interest. Compared with other islands whose annual visitors number in the tens of thousands, visitors to Saba reach just a few thousand each year.
Dive travelers comprise the larger segment of these visitors and have contributed to Saba earning distinction as one of the top 10 dive destinations. The Saba National Marine Park, established in 1987, encompasses ocean surrounding the entire island and contributes greatly to Saba's renown as an eco-friendly location. With its spectacular reefs and walls, coupled with a deep and somewhat challenging underwater environment, Saba is becoming increasingly popular with divers.
Despite its small size, the island supports not 1, but 2 hyperbaric chambers to care for dive-related emergencies throughout this region of the Caribbean. And Saba is also home to the Saba University School of Medicine. Established by American expatriates in coordination with the Netherlands government, the school adds about 300 residents to the island when classes are in session.
History
Though sighted by Columbus and other early explorers, Saba's treacherous coast didn't inspire any landings until 1632 when a group of shipwrecked English explorers, having little other choice, came ashore. They found the island uninhabited although evidence has been found to indicate that either Arawak or Carib Indians lived there at one time during centuries past. Later, in 1640, Dutch settlers were sent over from nearby St. Eustatius to colonize the island, and during the second half of the17th century, Saba was a haven for pirates who had been driven off other islands. Ultimately the island changed hands several times until the Dutch reclaimed it in 1816 making it part of the Netherland Antilles.
Early Dutch colonists made their living through the cultivation of sugarcane and the production of rum, however fishing eventually took over as the main trade for Saba. Over time, Saban men became renowned for their maritime expertise and ended up on ships sailing throughout the Americas. It was during this time, with the men at sea for such long periods, that Saba became known as the "Island of Women". The men would send money back to the island to provide for their families, but with them absent for such extended amounts of time, the women took up lacework and created a thriving export business. This needlecraft had first been brought to Saba by Mary Gertrude Hassell Johnson, who acquired the skill while at a convent in Venezuela where she had been sent by her parents. Today, Saba lace, also known as Spanish lace, is still painstakingly crafted by several skilled artisans and continues as an island export popular throughout the Caribbean.
Even though governed by the Netherlands, very few residents of Saba are of Dutch descent, and despite Dutch being the official language, most people speak English. Having been inhabited by various ethnic groups and people of differing nationalities, the island's current population consists of a mixture of ancestries including Dutch, Scottish, Irish, Scandinavian and African. During the colonial era, some slaves were imported, but the steep, rocky fields didn't make large-scale plantations practical, and slavery was limited. Those colonists who did own slaves generally had only a few and often labored side by side to successfully work the terrain. This was part of the reason Saba was the first Caribbean island to abolish slavery, and why it has a more integrated society than on other larger Dutch islands. In more recent years, the Saban population has included a large group of expatriates, around 300, who are either students or teachers at the Saba School of Medicine.
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