Saba

Saba is the Caribbean's best-kept secret — a volcanic pinnacle rising 887 metres straight from the sea, so steep that it has no beaches, no cruise ship dock, and until 1947, no road. The smallest of the former Netherlands Antilles islands (now a special municipality of the Netherlands), this five-square-mile cone of dormant volcano in the windward Leeward Islands is home to 2,000 residents who live in four picture-perfect villages of white houses with red roofs and green shutters, connected by the single road that was declared "impossible to build" by Dutch engineers until a Saban man named Josephus Lambert Hassell proved them wrong by teaching himself civil engineering from a correspondence course.

The Road, as it is simply known, is one of the most dramatic feats of tropical engineering in the Caribbean — a narrow, switchbacking ribbon of concrete that climbs from the harbour at Fort Bay to the island's highest settlement, Windwardside, passing through the village of The Bottom (the capital, named not for its elevation but from the Dutch botte meaning "bowl") and ascending toward Mount Scenery, the highest point in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The road's impossible hairpin turns, carved into the volcanic cliff face with hand tools and determination, are a monument to Saban self-reliance — a quality that defines island culture and endears Saba to every visitor who makes the effort to reach it.

The marine environment surrounding Saba is protected as the Saba Marine Park — one of the most effectively managed marine reserves in the Caribbean, whose coral reefs, pinnacle dive sites, and underwater volcanic formations consistently rank among the finest diving in the Western Atlantic. The pinnacles — submerged volcanic peaks rising from deep water to within 25 metres of the surface — attract pelagic species including nurse sharks, blacktip sharks, and the occasional whale shark, while the shallower reef sites harbour the full spectrum of Caribbean coral and fish life in conditions of excellent visibility. The marine park's success has been so complete that Saba's reefs are now used as a benchmark against which the health of other Caribbean reef systems is measured.

The hiking on Saba is superlative. The trail to the summit of Mount Scenery — 1,064 steps through a progression of ecosystems from dry scrub to elfin cloud forest — passes through vegetation that drips with moisture, epiphytes, and the mountain's near-perpetual cloud cover. At the summit (frequently obscured by cloud, it must be said), the view — when it materialises — encompasses the entire chain of Leeward Islands from St. Martin to St. Kitts. The village of Windwardside, where most visitor accommodation is concentrated, is a strollable collection of gingerbread houses, art galleries, and the kind of neighbourhood restaurants where everyone knows your name by the second visit.

Saba is visited by Emerald Yacht Cruises and Explora Journeys on Caribbean itineraries, with passengers tendering to Fort Bay harbour. The dry season from January through May offers the calmest seas for diving and the most reliable weather for the Mount Scenery hike, though Saba's elevation ensures that cloud and rain are possible year-round.