Swimming with Turtles in Saba
Saba is just a few hours sail from St. Martin, but it’s like another world. Saba feels like a throwback (in a good way) to the 1950’s. Perhaps because there are only 1900 residents on Saba, and everyone knows one another – at least by face – there is virtually no crime, and no one locks the doors of their homes or cars. Hitch-hiking is the accepted way of getting up and down the one, very steep road from the port to the two towns on Saba, “Bottom” and “Windwardside.”
We anchored first at Wells Bay, just beyond Diamond Rock. This is one of the best diving and snorkeling areas around Saba. We went a short distance from Golden Glow by dinghy, tied up to a dive buoy, and jumped in. The volcanic rocks and reef under the ocean’s swells were teeming with fish – and turtles! The turtles swam mellowly along, and didn’t seem to mind sharing their space with two much clumsier humans snorkeling nearby. Observing them up close like this, I found it interesting that they almost never used their hind quarters, and mainly propelled themselves along using their front flippers.
(turtles and fish caught mid-bite thanks to Rand’s excellent underwater breath-holding and filming)
More about Saba later.
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