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Surprising Saba by Susan Campbell
A
n abrupt arrival
I am a tad white-knuckled as our tiny Winair prop plane readies for landing after its ten- minute flight from St. Maarten. The apprehension comes from the knowledge that at a mere 1,300 feet, the runway at Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport is one of the shortest on the planet, and it abruptly ends on a cliff perched over the sea! We hit the
ground with a small thud, fishtailed a bit, and then stopped cold, much to our collective relief. This is one of the only ways to get to Saba. The other is a ferry from St. Maarten, but it can be a rough passage at times, so if you are prone to seasicknesstake the plane. Saba (pronounced say-beh) rises out of the Caribbean Sea like a giant Jurassic turtle, ascending from the ocean’s depths with jagged volcanic cliffs crawling up into
emerald slopes and culminating in an ethereal white halo of cloud forest at its highest peak. It’s a Dutch Caribbean island- once part of the now dissolved Netherlands Antilles- and now a special municipality of the Dutch kingdom. But unless you’re an avid diver or hiker, you’ve probably never heard of it. And that’s a shame, because it’s full of surprises. And it’s one quirky little rock.