We arrived at Saba about 1000 on 3 Dec after an overnight sail from the US Virgin Islands. We left the Virgins at dusk, expecting to have to intentionally slow the boat to avoid arriving before dawn at Saba. After several sail plan iterations we ended up with only a partially furled genoa as the wind was stronger than we expected. Of course, early in the morning the wind practically died and we ended up motoring a bit. This was an easy passage and we took turns with 3 hour watches. The only excitement during the night was the decision whether to try to make it across the bow of a cruise ship on a perpendicular, intercepting course, or slow down even further to let him pass. It was an easy decision for Dave who was on watch at the time since we don't try to enforce to sail-over-power right of way rule with anything bigger than us - especially at night. Cruise ships are lit up like cities and easy to see. We cannot count on them seeing our dinky lights, despite our AIS. Adding to this excitement was Venus rising at the same time on the other side of the boat - with no moon she's a very bright light. Dave mistook Venus as the mast light on a sail boat and suddenly was faced with two obstacles on either side. He fired up the radar to try to determine how far off "Venus" was, of course, to no avail. Then he remembered Donna describing Venus rising several days earlier and figured it out. His focus could return to the cruise ship which eventually passed in front of us with 1/2 mile to spare.

Seen from sea, the extinct volcano Saba is an impressive but seemingly inhospitable, big round rock, about three miles in diameter . No natural harbors and no beaches as we know them--just sheer cliffs rising vertically out of the sea. A place at its best for adventurers, eco-tourists and divers. You wouldn't expect to find anyone living there - but there is a surprisingly thriving population. Its "unappealing" characteristics may be its biggest asset – it has been spared overwhelming tourist development. No beach, no resort as we think of them—but an intimate “eco-lodge”. As a result, Saba has retained a very quaint and welcoming charm to the few visitors who are curious enough to stop. Justin, the customs officer, was very friendly, helpful and informative—certainly an admirable representative for his country. Once you get ashore and climb the famed and steep "road that couldn't be built" you discover the friendly, multi-cultural residents and adorable villages. We were lucky to arrive at the beginning of a holiday weekend celebrating Saba Day, which Donna had on her Caribbean festivities planning calendar but had completely forgotten about when we had focused on sailing first to St . Martin. There were festivities all weekend - the residents celebrating Saba and their good fortune to live there happily no doubt. There were dignitaries attending from the Netherlands (the Mother government) who provided free Heineken and other goodies at the opening celebration on Friday that included handouts for everyone to sing the Flag Song and the Saba Anthem below.

Saba, you rise from the ocean,
with mountains and hillside so steep,
How can we reach you to greet you,
Isle of the sea, rough and deep,
Come, let us look to the rowers,
with faces so placid and calm,
Guide us now safe through the breakers,
Take us ashore without harm.

(chorus) Saba, Oh jewel most precious,
in the Caribbean Sea.
Mem'ries will stay of thy beauty,
though we may roam far from thee.

Saba, Oh pearl of the ocean,
friendly and lovely, though small,
Do not forget to be grateful,
to God the creator of all.
He in his goodness will guide you
and bless you in every part,
making you always more precious
Saba, so dear to my heart .

(chorus) Saba, Oh jewel most precious,
in the Caribbean Sea.
Mem’ries will stay of thy beauty,
though we may roam far from thee.

We observed some of the festivities both Friday and Saturday, but reserved most of our time ashore for hiking the numerous hilly trails. After arrival on Friday we spent the afternoon hiking to the closest town called The Bottom where we could experience the Saba Day festivities, then continue further up the road to the town of St. John’s for more “Kodak moments”. On Saturday we took the somewhat exhaustive 90-minute hike to the summit of Mt. Scenery at some 2877 feet in height up some 1064 steps called the Mt. Scenery Stairwell. The steps were quite tall so it proved a good workout, especially for people with short legs (like Donna). Take it from us after climbing it - it's WAY up there. The views were extraordinary and well worth the exercise. If that wasn’t enough, then we hiked down the summit until that trail branched with another trail known as the Crispeen Track which we then followed all the way back to the town of The Bottom where we could then walk all the way down “the road that couldn’t be built” BACK TO THE HARBOR! After all, we need to preserve our reputation for NOT BEING WIMPS!! Dave felt compensated to stop in a small grocery at The Bottom where he bought a really good bottle of rum for a really cheap price, on which he also received a 10% discount because the merchant was celebrating Saba Day! Its weight in our backpack replaced the original water bottles we consumed during all that hiking .

Beyond the Saba Day festivities, the hiking, the glorious views, and snorkeling at Torrens Point through alleys of rocks where the variety of fish was plentiful and the many sea turtles were absolutely gorgeous to swim amongst, the only additional excitement for us at Saba was being boarded by the Dutch Coast Guard for inspection. This occurred shortly after we arrived and had already cleared customs at Fort Bay. On our way to a mooring field on the west coast of the island in Ladder Bay, the big Coast Guard rib approached us and requested to board. Of course, we obliged. Three coast guard guys with a combination of non-existent, poor, and passable English skills came aboard, reviewed our papers, asked basic questions, and poked around the boat looking for bad stuff (weapons, drugs), we suspect. They were very friendly and professional and found nothing out of order. They departed happily, but leaving black smudge marks on our starboard stern. Dave saw the officers ashore a couple days later and exchanged greetings - noting they were not imbibing the free Heineken....

Even without being on the volcano summit, other volcanic islands can be easily seen in the distance from Saba. St. Martin, St. Barts, St. Eustatius (Statia), St. Christopher (St. Kitts), Nevis, and on a clear day - Montserrat, can all be seen and navigating between them in good weather is eyeball .

We departed Saba after daybreak on 6 Dec and sailed on to Nevis, arriving around 1300. This was a 46 mile sail. We made good time but caught no fish. Nevis is another volcanic gumdrop of an island, but much more accessible than Saba. Nevis has the more classic volcano shape - a high remnant of a crater caldera with almost symmetrical sloping sides that gently ease down to the sea. We immediately went ashore to clear customs and immigration, but found the customs office closed for the remainder of the day to attend a funeral. This meant we could not process the formalities in the three step order specified - customs, then immigration, then port authority (in three different locations, of course). The port authority official nonetheless did his part out of sequence and processed his portion, and we returned the following morning for the rest (unfortunately a very rainy day). The customs officer answered us that if we wanted to travel to St. Kitts, we should return to him for a coastwise clearance that would allow for that (that island belongs to the same country) . However we would then need to clear out of St Kitts, rather than from Nevis. So a cruising boat cannot freely pass between the two islands, only two miles apart. No extra money is involved to visit the other island, so this paperwork restriction seems pointless. Maybe it's to keep the inter-island ferry operators happy.....

A special note to those of you who were on the May 1986 Antigua charter with Dave: That horrible night we spent as a tropical wave passed through was here at Nevis - anchored off Charlestown. This was the same weather system that sank the Pride of Baltimore a couple hundred miles to the northwest. Today, we're on one of about 60 mooring balls that would have made that night a bit less dicey.

Nevis requires that vessels use mooring balls—apparently some 100 dot the shoreline. We spent two nights moored at Pinney’s Beach south of the Four Season’s resort. While ashore on Nevis we learned a bit of Virginia/Nevis history . On the island is a historical marker presented by the Commonwealth of Virginia on the 350th anniversary of the 1607 founding of the Jamestown settlement. The marker commemorates that on their way to Jamestown, the settlers stopped at Nevis and spent six days here before continuing on. Hmmm, suppose they had settled here for the better weather....?

We have decided to remain around Nevis without traveling to St. Kitts. We moved north up the coast to Tamarind Bay where we moored for our remaining nights at Nevis. There are supposed snorkeling reefs along the shoreline here, however, a dip in the water proved so cloudy and stirred up the day we arrived that our snorkeling pursuit was shelved. We continued to experience occasional showers for a couple of days, but we really didn’t mind because we had tapped into Internet access from a nearby resort. This gave us a chance to make Skype calls to family back home at length. It also gave us the chance to finally post our blog to bring everyone up to date on our Caribbean escapades.