Departin Martin

We've finally left St Marten and not a moment too soon, really. The place was driving us crazy despite all it's practical benefits, and we are pleased to be voyaging again.

Which is why we're moored in one of the more out of the way spots in these islands, a place called Saba. We've travelled here with new friends from a boat called Losloper, who we were introduced to because they live in Calgary, Canada and know the Vancouver Island area very well too. Magnus and Ronel are traveling with their two teenage kids, having come down from The Bahamas this spring. They are going south to Trinidad, and were unsure as to whether it was St Barts or Saba next, so when we said we were going to Saba, the choice was made.

The sail here was very pleasant, four easy hours but not a bite on the fishing line. Losloper had left an hour before us and, being a little slower, had just mooring up when we arrived and were in the process of cleaning a big fish. They had caught a 19kg Marlin which put up a tremendous fight before being hauled aboard, almost six feet long. We all had fish last night and their freezer is full! It was superb meat, and as we have the bigger BBQ we hosted an enjoyable evening.

Today we went on an island tour and climbed to the highest point in the Netherlands! Saba is an amazing place, a volcanic cone sticking straight up out of the sea. Most of the coast is steep down to the water and there is almost nowhere to land. We are moored in a bay where the swell, small as it is, crashes into the boulders at the base of the cliffs and none of us want to try to land a dinghy there. Despite that, there are a series of steps cut into the rock to the village a few hundred metres above, and in times past this was the only place to land supplies in anything but the calmest weather.

Since the 1970's, there is a tiny harbour on the South of the island, about fifteen minutes away by dinghy and that is where we all went. Magnus and I had chatted to a taxi driver about a tour when we were there to clear in yesterday, and whilst it sounded great, we're always wary about price so when he said $60US for the eight of us we nearly bit his hand off. Granted, on an island of just five square miles the touring opportunities are limited but we'd taken one look at the road from the dock to the village and that looked worth $60 on its own. As we approached, a small oil tanker was moored about a hundred yards offshore, with a pipeline floating in the water into the harbour. This is the delivery of fuel oil for the islands generators, so we had to motor out around the ship and her pipeline to get into the tiny harbour.

Our driver, whose name escapes me, was there waiting with the minibus taxi and we set off up the steepest road I've seen since the Canary Islands. It's known as the 'Road that couldn't be built' after Dutch engineers said a road was impossible so a Saban took a correspondence course in road engineering in the 1940's and, fifteen years later, the road was built. Our driver is a Saban through and through, his brothers and cousins worked on this road, he's had so many jobs we lost count, from construction, farming, restaurant and bar work and a lot more. As he said, on an island of 1600 people, you are a jack of all trades or nothing gets done. We wind and grind through the village of Bottom on towards Windwardside and the taxi is rarely out of first gear. The views are amazing and the villages beautiful. Looking out across the ocean the air is clear, other islands rise as distant apparitions and the curve of the earth is obvious from the shape of the wide horizon. Looking inward to the beautiful villages, there is not a piece of litter to be seen, people stick to a voluntary code for the style and colour of the houses and the local facilities are first rate. Clearly, being a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands has big benefits to this unique place.

After touring most of the roads on the island, we are dropped at the base of a path up Mount Scenery, the 850m high peak of the island. Magnus and family are keen to climb it and so are we but, unsure of the kids endurance, we let them go ahead. No worries, Max and Issie surprise us by springing up the path like a couple of mountain goats. OK, Issie could be a slow, distracted, complaining mountain goat at times, but they did really well. The path leads up through tropical forest, all huge leaves and colourful blooms, into cloud forest where the near permanent cloud over the peak drips a constant supply of moisture onto the mountain. The trees are draped in moss, the path is slippery with algae and the temperature dips dramatically as we enter the mist that shrouds the top. Deprived of what must be outstanding views on a (rare) clear day, we are enveloped in a world of our own as we gain the summit and enjoy a brief explorers treat of cookies and snacks before heading down again for a well deserved lunch.

Back on the boat we swim, shower and wind down after a strenuous day - we don't hike that much right now and I think our legs will hurt tomorrow. I 'fish' with Max, who wants to catch things with a net so we rig up a catch net to stream in the current and see what we get. Our haul of tiny plankton is fabulous, miniature jellyfish, shrimp, and all many of strange translucent creatures that buzz around the bucket or pulse gently up and down. It's a whole different world down there and the kids are fascinated by it. When dark falls, we find, as I suspected, that some of the plankton are bioluminescent and light up blue-green when you tap the side of the bucket. 'Wow' says Issie. I point out that, today, she has seen light-up sea creatures and, on the mountain, a type of lizard that only lives here on Saba. The 'not many kids ever get to see this' lecture is wearing kind of thin so I don't get the strongest response but I can tell she's had a good day.

Tomorrow we sample the Saban snorkeling, supposed to be superb although there's still a slight swell which might make it a bit tricky. The diving here is world class and whilst we don't dive, the crew of Losloper do so they will be out enjoying the underwater delights as well. Tuesday we plan to move on to Statia, just seventeen miles away, and repeat our honeymoon hike into the rainforest volcano crater - something we did eight years ago and have been wanting to repeat with the kids since we started planning this trip. We'd tried to reach Saba all those years ago, but winds were too light so it's only now that we've got here and it's been worth the wait. Photos to follow sometime but it could be a while before we see wifi again!

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