With this repost of a Saba sunrise from the St. John’s flat, I’ve got a little something special for you all, courtesy of my brother Michael. Saturday nights on Saba can, on occasion, be remarkably quiet. We were walking home from Windwardside at 9:30pm one night–prime time–and my brother recorded the ubiquitous teeny singing tree frogs whistling in the night, instantly familiar to those who’ve been there, slightly haunting and sweet to those who haven’t. Take a listen. Let me know what you think. Click the link below to hear.
Sunbeams On Statia, St. Kitts, and Nevis, Saba, Dutch Caribbean
In part 9 of “What? Another sunrise picture, Chaz?”, I walked outside this morning, all ready to ramble down to the harbor for my morning dives, then saw these beams shooting out onto the nearby islands of Statia, St. Kitts, and Nevis. Opportunity knocked, I answered.
It’s tantalizing and teasing to be in the middle of a draught and extreme water conservation on the island and see storms come within three miles of Saba, and drop all their water offshore. As this picture shows, it may be beautiful to look at, but that doesn’t mean we have to like it. But then again, I did snap the photo, so there’s that consolation.
St. John’s House At The Base Of Thais Hill, Saba, Dutch Caribbean
The last few days have been me getting up earlier and earlier to try and beat the dreaded heat with no wind and do a bunch of ridge hikes up from the Giles Quarter coastline midway between the St. John’s Flat and the Wash Gut up to Windwardside. Saba’s terrain is so rugged and steep, it amplifies the actual distance you’re hiking, which is usually between 3-5 kilometers, but can feel like a lot more. Regardless, even at 7:00am, the heat is beating down mercilessly as I haul my big ol’ self up this rock.
In any case, repeated trips down to Fort Bay to start these coastline-ridge excursions had me passing this little house nestled in the cleft between St John’s Flat and Thais Hill. It’s an old style house, with rare brown wooden shingles rather than the traditional red corrugated tin,though you can’t tell from my processing it in black and white. My guess is that it’s well protected from the ravages of hurricanes and tropical storms as well, but I don’t know yet who, if anyone, lives in this nostalgic little house, but it sure looks cool from above, n’est cd pas?
Local Fisherman Off Giles Quarter, Saba, Dutch Caribbean
Another early morning hike down to the harbor, meander along the coastline, and voila, snapped this fellow doing what his family has been doing for more than a hundred years. Came up the Dancing Place ridge to Windwardside and started collecting boxes for shipping.
With three weeks remaining, guess I’m finally winding down. On the other hand, many folks would give an arm or leg just to have three weeks away from the frenetic pace of their lives, so no melancholy me ’til I’m off the rock and in the city once more.
Clouds Over Captain’s Quarters, Windwardside, Saba, Dutch Caribbean
Yes, I know. I’ve posted a lot of photos of the Captain’s Quarters ruins, but dang, it sure is beautiful. I took an infrared on CQ here, and dialed back the high white intensity to get the reflective photo you see here. Those mailboxes on the right are fascinating, as they have the old names from before Hurricane Georges still labeled: Sea Saba, Franklin’s, Juliana’s, et Al.
Brother Michael leaves Monday, so after doing a final pair of dives for him with our Sea Saba friends Aaron and Vicky, we spent a quiet Saturday evening at the Vineyard Cottage…aka home…resting up for Mt Scenery tomorrow morning, his final hike of the island. It’s been quick and delightfully fun in the way that all vacations are, and I’m thinking he’ll leave with a little of the fondness I have for Saba and its friendly culture and of course, dynamic vistas above and below the water.
The picture today is an 8am sunrise picture over Core Gut along the Spring Bay trail ridge descent. Lens flare murks up the foreground cactus a bit, but not so much I didn’t think it worth sharing…hope you agree. ‘Til tomorrow, have yourselves a great day!
I encourage everyone to dig back in the blog archives if you haven’t been following the blog on any regular basis; there’s lots of fun and beautiful pictures of Saba from many perspectives. Interesting to me is that all the sunrises have a different character about them to the point where they become a repeat subject, but I can’t help it; they’re gorgeous to me.
Brother and I dived this morning, and he did his first deep dive, saw his first reef shark and anemone. In the evening, we had pizza at Guido’s in Windwardside for Valentine’s Day din-din, shared with Andrew, a talented underwater photographer and Olly, two of our Sea Saba dive instructor pals, talking about diving, photography, music, and women to the pleasant fizz of El Presidente beer. The walk home was a night full of stars and a bladed crescent moon nestled in a shroud of glowing clouds. Not a bad day on this blissfully quiet island.
A Tangled Mind In Motion 