Location: Saba
Hi, this is Will writing to you from Different Drummer and this is day 6 of our Minerva trip. Today was a very eventful day on the beautiful Netherlands-owned island of Saba, our first big destination on our expedition. First, though, we had to tackle the obstacle of customs. While Claire went off to give us passage, we each stepped up to get the boat nice and clean since it was getting a bit messy, to say the least. Roman and Evan went around scrubbing not only the deck but the entire outside of the boat while the rest of us cleaned the inside (Orly, Celeste, and I had the pleasure of cleaning the bathrooms…). After cleaning, Scarlett and Celeste made PB & Js in case we couldn’t find a good place to eat while Ben charged our phones, which I know a lot of us were itching to have for the first time in a week.
Eventually, Claire came back after checking us in, thankfully with no difficulties, and we made our way to land. To put it lightly, Saba was breathtaking. The sheer cliffs scraping the sky overlooking the sea were an amazing view as we took a van ride up the mountain with the other Minerva boat, “Frenchie.” Our first stop was to the humble roadside shop “JoBean’s,” a glassblowing shop owned by, you guessed it, JoBean. We all loved JoBean, an old woman with a dry sense of humor and a clear passion for her craft, and most people on our boat blew their own glass bead with her assistance. The others, including me, spent their time calling their families and loved ones with their limited phone time.
After about an hour, we took another ride in groups down to the main town on this side of the island, Windward Side. The town was humble but lively, with a nice little market and a few good places to eat (so the PB & Js didn’t end up being necessary, but still appreciated). After eating some great island food and picking up some provisions, we went back down to the seaside to load up the dive boat called Shark Bait. Andrew and Orly went on Frenchie to chill and snorkel, but the rest of us went down about 60 ft to enjoy a wonderful dive down through some sand flats with nice coral and schools of colorful fish on the sides. However, the main attraction had to be the nurse shark, who happens to be a celebrity in that specific dive spot named Michelle. Michelle was extremely friendly and even came up to some of us to say hi, which made all of the divers ecstatic.
After our dive, we headed back to our boats and moored up for the night, where Roman and Evan cooked us some great burgers, a great meal for a sublime view of the evening sky. We ended the day with a sail chat to prepare for our voyage to Statia tomorrow about some fire safety and man-overboard procedures. Scary stuff, but at least we’ll be prepared if it happens! Thank you for reading:)