Top Things to Do in Saba, Windwardside, Netherlands

Saba is a Dutch island in the Caribbean Sea. Only five square miles with a population of 2,000, this small island is known as the Unspoiled Queen. With little commercialization and no cruise ships, Saba is a tropical paradise! Saba was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1493 but he did not consider the mountainous landscape important enough to colonize. From its discovery until 1816, Saba changed hands many times…from the Spanish, to the French, and to the Dutch who took final possession. The island includes four small settlements, the world’s shortest commercial runway (1,200 feet), the tallest mountain in the Netherlands which is the potentially active volcano Mt. Scenery, and world class SCUBA diving.

Our first view of Saba was from Winair’s 30 seat propeller plane. We sat in the first row for our 15-minute flight from St. Maarten to Saba. Little did we know that we were flying into such a short runway until we looked through cockpit windows! To us, our island adventure started before we landed!!

While I heard the diving in Saba is the best in the Caribbean, I knew little else about this Unspoiled Queen. Juliana’s is a perfect place to stay in Saba.

Juliana’s is located in the Windwardside Village which caters more to tourists than the Bottom, the other town that has accommodations in Saba. While normally I try to avoid the tourist area, on Saba, the Windwardside Village is the place to stay. It has more dinner options (maybe 10 choices), it has more shops to browse (maybe 6 places), and it is located higher up on the mountain which provides excellent views and a cool evening breeze! Juliana’s Hotel includes both ocean view and garden view rooms as well as cabins. Julie, Rootie and I selected ocean view rooms which were spacious, uniquely decorated, and had very comfortable beds. In all my travels with Rootie, I’ve never seen her sleep so long. Every morning and night she’d say, “Did I tell you how much I like this bed?”. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).