It’s day 5, and I’m at Scout’s Place, a restaurant in Saba’s biggest village of Windwardside that has reasonable–if not fast in US terms–WiFi. As this is my first post on Saba, forgive me in advance if my chronology is all over the place. I’ll talk about the journey here in a later post, but if we’re all going to live this vicariously, lets chew on the scenery a bit, shall we?
Vineyard Cottage, the 150 year old cottage I’m renting a lot larger than I imagined; this picture only shows the front of it. It’s typical Saban Dutch style, as is the whole island by law; corrugated red roofs to channel precious rainwater into cisterns, white sides with forest green gabled wooden shutters on its windows. The yard is amazing, a wooden bench, two wooden chairs, and a whole wooden picnic table in the side yard not visible here. The cottage itself is two big bedrooms split by a rustic living room that leads into a decent sized kitchen with a table and a small Saban stove.
The views? Well, in modern parlance, they don’t suck. This is my first Saban sunrise on Sunday morning, looking out my front door across my little yard. You see the little village of St Johns a hundred feet below me, the islands of Statia, St. Kitts, and Nevis in the distance, the large grape tree and…what’s that? A white picket fence? My alpha male self would be telling football stories if the whole scene wasn’t so damn beautiful. Really. It’s surreally beautiful here. Pitch quiet…roosters crow, a goat bleets, wind rustles the trees, the occasional buzz of the school bus coming by to drop the kids off at the local school in St. John’s. That’s it – nothing about this island pushes you to finish anything in a hurry, so you simply don’t. Bliss.
The single undulating road winds up, down, left and right; it’s a great workout for me to walk to the villages. I could blab all day with photos but I’ll save you the reading and space this out. The stories of what’s happened to me on this island already are hilarious. Today at 2pm, a visit with the Dutch island police. Oops. Til then – keep the comments a-comin’.
A Tangled Mind In Motion 
happy for you!
Sounds — and looks — like a dream! Do tell us the police story when you have a chance. =)
Reminds me of the Road to Hana in Maui… Did you take an underwater camera with you, too? i’m sure there’s some awesome underwater life
Nice chuc—er em…chaz. I’m super J. Everyone can use a little saba…
For a future post, I’d love to hear more about what exactly a “Saban stove” is…and that brings me to follow up questions about food and cuisine. Very envious of that view….you keep taunting us like this you may end up with visitors.
A Saban stove is just a little tiny version of what we’d call a stovetop/oven range in the states. Pretty sure Europe has them as we’ll due to their relatively tiny apartment living spaces. Interestingly, the cottage is big enough to have a full sized stove, but gas comes in a big bottle sitting outside connected to the inside by a hose. It’s really a function of limited island resources. As for cuisine, I’m still working on that and will update when I find out what food is actually native Saban; this is really a European community plopped down on a volcanic island.
Is the bottle filled with butane or propane? be sure to use soapy water once in while to check for leaks. Assume you have 3 small burners with one large or 2 and 2. but how do you light the stove? has a pilot or use matches or spark tool? DAD
Awesome place but it is Spring till you leave. Foliage looks green and water table looks adequate.
What fossil fuel or natural wood powers your Saban Stove? Assume you are ok and visit to the local law officers is just to let them know you are the new kid in town. I’m sure everyone knows everybody else so you will become one of the residents. Great choice. Love Dad
Bleats. 🙂 And thanks for the cliffhanger about the local cops!
Awesome!!
Absolutely beautiful! Gramma and I so enjoyed it all. Keep it coming! Mom
Wow…the setting is ahh-maaa-zing!
Very nice, cannot wait to read the stories.
Chuckster (Chazster just doesn’t have the same ring. Sorry!), so glad to hear all is going well and maybe interaction with the police and a peri menopausal woman will add great color to your book! Miss you and so happy all seems to be going well.