The Island of Saba May 27 - June 2, 2008

Boy kinda nuts leaving St. Martin, but happy to.... we had to get on to a smaller prop plane because the island of Saba has the world's smallest International airport, and that's a fact. The plane holds 12 people, which 2 are crew members, so no beers or soft drink will be served. As we see this island from a distance, all we can see is a very small runway, and these large type of pinnacles surrounding the island. The landing took less than 5 seconds...and you're done.

Very exciting to say the least. We are staying on the windward side, so we get a brief tour of the tiny island. It's roads all go up and then down, there really isn't any flat areas except at a place called "the Bottom". The island has 2 taxis, and they are driven by 5th generation island nationals. The entire island is Dutch, but the American dollar is excepted everywhere. There is only 1 very small beach, that I would say is maybe 20 ft. long.

Other than that, it's all cliffs or docking areas for dive boats and supply boats. All of the roads are maybe the width of 1 and a half American automobiles, very narrow. Most of the cars and trucks are made in Europe and can fit rather well on the narrow roadways.

We are pretty much in the mix of things where we are staying, so we end up doing a lot of walking....up and down...up and down... We set up 2 dives a day with a charter service. A very nice group of people. The island of Saba is famous for it's incredible diving areas, there are shelf's that drop off at 30 feet each, with all kinda of fun stuff to look at and check out. Lot's of lobsters hiding in cubby holes. Most of our dives were in the 60- 80 feet range. one day we were out and I was having some air issues with my BCD (Buoyancy Control Device ) and all of a sudden I start floating to the surface trying to get Michelle's and the dive masters attention. For those that are not aware of safe practices in diving, you are suppose to do a shallow swim at 15 ft. to release any nitrogen you have collected in your body so you don't get the bends. So...I float to the top very worried about the next issue .....

Since the last blog of July 08 ....

Picking up the pieces... AS A FOOTNOTE while we were in Puerto Rico, which I didn't put in the original blog, I was notified by my doctor, in the USA, that I had prostate cancer and needed to come home. A small detail ... so to get a bit caught up on our travels, here is the condensed version......

after we left St. Kitts in the Caribbean, we went over to St. Martin to catch a prop plane for our next island. While on St. Martin, we had a lay over, so we decided to check out the downtown part. St. Martin is part Dutch and part French, so we went to the Dutch side. While driving there in our cab, we come to a traffic jam in the downtown shopping area. As we are inching along, all of a sudden the cab driver steps on the gas peddle, rams a car, people from the cruise ship that are shopping along the main street, dive for protection, hoping not to get hit by our out of control cab. After ramming a total of 3 cars, the driver finally gets stuck between the safety bars that are next to the sidewalk and another car, but the engine is still racing. I'm in the front seat, i reach over and turn the key off. Michelle is in the back, and everyone is OK. I crawl out the front window and then get her out. It could of been a very ugly scene, but it wasn't. Next thing we know, the police, fire department, and newscasters are there on the spot, doing their job. The cab driver had no idea of what just happened...

I think I was in shock and couldn't believe what had just happened .... time for lunch ....

The next island we head off to is a small pinnacle type island, by the name of Saba. I had never heard of it, and Michelle had picked it out for the diving. ......