The island
Five square miles, one road, and a rainforest on top of a volcano.
Most people arrive on Saba knowing almost nothing about it. There are no traffic lights, and the swimming is bays and tidal pools rather than a resort strip. It has about two thousand neighbours, some of the clearest diving water in the Caribbean, and a shortage of nothing that matters.
Above the cloud line
Mount Scenery starts at the end of the village.
The highest point in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and about an hour and a half up if you do not stop. The top is usually in cloud.
The four villages
White walls, red roofs, green trim.
Written into the building rules, which is why the whole island looks like one place instead of four. The Bottom, Windwardside, St Johns and Hell's Gate.
Under the water
The diving is the reason people come back.
The Saba National Marine Park wraps the whole island and has been protected since the 1980s. Pinnacles rising out of deep water, and very little between you and them.
On film
The island, in somebody else's footage.
A documentary about the island by a travel channel. Nothing to do with Hillside, and none the worse for it: it is the quickest way to see the place moving rather than in stills.
Practical things
The things nobody tells you before you land.
Money
Saba uses the US dollar, not the euro, despite being Dutch. Cards are taken in most places but not all of them, and it is worth keeping cash for the smaller spots.
Groceries
A handful of small supermarkets rather than one big one. Stock depends on when the supply boat came in, so if you see something you want, buy it then.
Getting around
One road, called The Road. Taxis, hitching and walking. Most students never need a car, and parking barely exists anyway.
Phone and internet
Your unit has fibre internet included. Local SIMs are easy to pick up and much cheaper than roaming for when you are out.
Weather
Warm all year, cooler and wetter the higher you go. Hurricane season runs June to November and the island takes it seriously, so pay attention when the school does.
Healthcare
A small hospital in The Bottom, a few minutes from the dorms. Anything major goes to Sint Maarten.
Packing
What to bring, and what to leave.
Worth the suitcase space
- A pillow, towels and clothes hangers. None are provided.
- Pots and pans, or money to buy them. The kitchen has appliances, not cookware.
- Proper walking shoes. The island is vertical and you will be on foot.
- Swim and snorkel gear. The swimming is bays and tidal pools rather than a long stretch of sand, but it is very much a thing here.
- Rain layer. It rains often and briefly, at any time of year.
- Any prescription you rely on, in quantity.
- A power adaptor for US sockets, 110V.
Leave it at home
- A car, or any plan involving one.
- Formal clothes beyond one set.
- Bulky kitchen appliances. The quad kitchen is already equipped.
- Bedding. It is provided, apart from the pillow.
