A while back I was talking to a friend about my Caribbean days and how cool the islands were around there. I even think this was because the new 'Below Deck' season was held on the island of Sint Maarten where I have a lot of fond memories about.
One of the nice things about this region is the amount of other islands that are close by to there and are easy to visit with just a plane ride of 10 minutes away and it is as if you entering an entire new world.
Saba is a small island which is steep in altitude and very much has a jungle vibe hanging over there.
For me one of the main things to do here was walk and hike around and enjoy nature to the fullest, although you could also do some mean diving over here when you should be into that.
As you can see, just being high up there and enjoying the views would also already be an awesome spending of a day.
In the clouds
From what I always saw from the distance from Sint Maarten was that the top of Saba was mostly covered in the clouds, making a sort of micro climate over there.
I remember from my visit also that I hiked up the highest point of the Kingdom of the Netherlands which is mount Scenery that it was also covered in clouds and I wasn't able to see a damn thing.
Luckily that wasn't the case at this moment and there were stills some sweet views to be seen on there.
Dutchy?
But yes, the island of Saba is part of the Netherlands and is a 'special municipality' and actually a part of the Netherlands, even though the differences couldn't almost be bigger.
I mean like the Netherlands is as flat as a pancake landscape wise, and Saba is just s steep rock sticking out of the Saba. The main language is English although Dutch is the official language which feels kind of weird.
Most families that are from Saba have mostly the same last names because centuries ago a couple of families came to this island and started the colony here. Because of some inbreeding issues more families where brought to here to expand the bloodlines.
Hard to think of nowadays right?
Weird stems of trees
There are a lot of different hiking routes here to do, all in different kinds of lengths and difficulties so for you to choose on what you want to do.
What they all have in common is the crazy amount of cool trees and plants you run into.
I mean just look at the stem of this tree as if someone was just fooling around with it and making this whole pattern on there. Literally a work of art, and you just find these kinds of things there in the wild.
Or just look at the patterns of the trees here. I haven't seen anything like this before ever in my whole life. The leaves look like it is more of a sort of vine tree.
But the stems? That is again totally something else. As if it is all kinds of arms holding the tree together. Or what about this tree stem covered entirely in small shrooms. Now that I recognize from the Netherlands, we have a lot of those kinds of stems.
Hiking aint no joke here
What I really had underestimated is the hiking routes and especially how slippery they were along the way. Now since more than often this island is covered in mist, this is not really a strange thing.
The fog keeps everything damp and that is surely why everything grows so well.
Now if these are your paths to hike on, you can understand why you need your full attention to walk these paths. They are small and partially covered with vegetation and I guess they can look different on the daily.
Some parts of the paths are really just too steep and as a help there are these ropes tied to the trees to give you some guidance along the way.
These things are life saviors!
But uhhh it is also a good notice to make sure you are alert and sharp while hiking. Because there are not a lot of option to help you here, as there isn't even a hospital on the island and landing a rescue helicopter here also isn't that easy due to the steepness and vegetation.
Amazing!
I just always find it so amazing to see how islands can be so different compared to each other even though they are so close by.
For instance I had never seen a flower like this one before. Is it even a flower? Or is it just the centre of a leave growing. Regardless, it is super cool to see.
Asking Gemini in what it is as an answer I get that it is a part of the Lamiaceae family which is a mint type of plants, but I wouldn't dare to try and eat this one for some reason. It looks a bit too extreme to eat.
Or what about this gigantic tree with all of its arms over there? Could we call it the octopus in the tree family? Sure looks like it!
Or what about this 'regular' palmtree which also has some side shoots growing out of it. Honestly, I don't have the feeling that any kind of tree on this island is any sort of 'normal'.
It all feels like you are miles and miles away from any sort of other vegetation and that these things are just sort of rare (which most likely is not the case but just in my head)
One thing I do know is that I liked Saba a lot and this was something that felt as a 'must do' while living there in the Caribbean. A lot of people have never even heard of this island as it is not that easy to reach.
The runway here is one of the shortest in the world, and that means only small planes can land here coming from either St Maarten or St Eustatius (Statia) and that is about it.
Reaching this by boat is also possible but don't underestimate the seas here getting there as they tend to make a lot of people more than seasick. 🤢
I'm just glad I have gotten to experience this place and because of that it was totally worth the throwback.
Have you ever heard of Saba?