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As a beach lover, the prospect of traveling to a Caribbean island without beaches put this island on the bottom of my vacation list. But, over time the prospect of spotting humpback whales, walking through gingerbread house villages, and interacting with locals who have a perpetual sunny disposition eventually led us to spend four days on the tiny island of Saba.

Getting to Saba involved flying out of Miami to Dutch St. Maarten, and then taking a small plane to Saba. My husband wanted to take the ferry, however I wanted to experience landing on one of the smallest runways in the world.

The view of Saba from St. Maarten was of a large, cloudy mountainous island in the near distance. As the plane approached the island, the clouds seemed to lift, and before us was a giant green mountain with a halo of white clouds over head. This green giant mountain appeared to have no opening for a landing strip, and on the coastline, another amazing site - Not a Beach to be Found!

Then suddenly the plane started descending directly into the mountain, and the majority of our fellow passengers literally gasped in unison - I was speechless. The plane then made a sharp turn, hit the breaks extremely hard, and all we could see on our decent was the green mountain, and huge, ragged cliffs on both sides. The skill of the pilot can only be commended as we slowed down just in time before running out of runway. As my husband and I gained our composure, he gave me one of those dirty looks, and I mentally made plans to cancel our flight back, and instead take the ferry back to St. Maarten.

Stepping foot on Saba at the airport was awesome. I was still wondered how in the world we dropped into this green mountain, when our cab driver approached smiling broadly. There are only three types of transportation on Saba, hitch hiking, taxis or car rental. This is one of the few places in the world where hitch hiking is perfectly legal. There are approximately ten miles of concrete roads which are secured to the mountainside with stone walls, and we passed many hitch hikers. Saba is known as a nature, and eco-tourist destination, with plenty of hiking trails, and over 25 excellent diving sites.

I liked the simplicity of Saba. It's located on just five square miles, and the only road on the island is aptly named "The Road." There are four mountainside villages, and exactly ten feet of concrete road around the entire island. Five miles seems small for an island, but the more interesting fact is that the topography of the island is vertical, rising to 2,855 feet.

The locals of any island set it apart, and on Saba the locals are extremely happy. They live in quaint, colorful gingerbread houses, with very neat, tidy gardens. Saba is one of the cleanest places in the world. You will not find litter of any kind here, and everything seems to be in its place. Each village is filled with the same gingerbread replica, the only difference being color of the house, and garden display. The island is surrounded by coconut, banana and mango trees, and you often imagine that you are in a true gingerbread fairyland.

As one of the local women told me, "My garden is my life, it is an expression of who lives in this house, and it makes me extremely happy to wake up each day and see my works." I could feel her pride as she took me for a stroll through her tropical garden of hibiscus, oleander, orchids and bougainvillea. She invited me in to her gingerbread cottage, and everything was just as neat inside as out.

On one of the coffee tables was a bowl of huge cashews, and I commented on the size, and how much I loved them. We talked for over an hour, and upon leaving she asked me to wait, and then went into the kitchen. She returned with a whole sack of cashews. Upon seeing my surprise, she went on to say that while cashews cost a lot where I come from, they grow them by the bushel on Saba.

As you interact with the locals, you find they are well read, and many have traveled extensively. In fact, my fondest memories of Saba are my conversations with local residents. They love to talk about their islands history, world history, current world events, nature, and fishing. After they meet you, they are also inquisitive about your culture, and views on life. They love the fact their island is basically unknown in the Caribbean chain, and the low tourism numbers keep the island in pristine shape. While they are gracious to visitors, they do not want to see their island turn into a commercial enterprise.

In reality, there are few accommodations on the island of Saba, and they have no plans on the drawing board for more hotels or other development.

The island men are hard working farmers and fisherman, who take great pride in their island, and the preservation of its nature. The island women have been known worldwide for their intricate patterns called Saba Lace. I knew about this history of the lace, but could not resist a proud, elderly woman retelling the tale.

The lace industry started on Saba in a very interesting way. Back in the 1800's the woman islanders decided to promote their business to the U.S. and other capitals around the world. They came up with the great idea of writing down the addresses of companies from the shipping labels off of packages and shipments sent to the island. They continually wrote each and every company about their island lace product (including samples), and eventually they became a global enterprise.

We stayed at Juliana's, a small 12 room inn on the Windward side of the island. This was the perfect location, and was within a few minutes walk to some of the best restaurants on the island, a wonderful spa, hiking trails, and a museum.

Our accommodation was far more than I expected, and offered a most spectacular ocean view and a romantic hammock for two on the balcony. The staff was more than accommodating, and went beyond the service I've paid for in five star hotels. When I commented on the service to the manager, he simply stated it was their job to get to know their guests, and from that knowledge anticipate their every need.

I had never seen a humpback whale, and had planned this trip in March to time with the arrival of the humpbacks. Sadly to say, I never got to witness the humpback in person, but you could hear the strange mating calls. One of the locals took us out in his boat, put a monitor in the water, and we could hear the clicking sounds - but no sighting. Another tourist staying at our inn was also on the two day quest for whale sightings. On the third day I decided to go hiking, and of course she goes out again, and comes back with wonderful pictures of the humpbacks.

As I headed up the stone steps to Mount Scenery, the highest point at 2,854 feet, I had no idea I was missing my humpback whale sighting opportunity. The staff at the inn packed me a wonderful box lunch, and one of the cleaning women gave me a heavy sweater. She explained that the summit could be quite cold on certain days.

Signs along the stone step path way describe the different types of plants such as elephant ears, orchids, begonias, palms and other tropical plants. To be honest, half way thorough the climb I was ready to stop because my feet really hurt, but the group pushed me on. When we finally reached the summit, the views, packed lunch and sweater were all well worth it. The trip down was only relieved by a well conceived reservation made that morning for a massage at the spa.

By the time our fourth day on the island ended, I felt sad about leaving this gingerbread fairyland. My husband, who had thoroughly enjoyed himself with the local men and their story telling, remarked that he couldn't believe I was sad leaving an island with no beach. Well, to be fair to the island of Saba, that is not exactly true.

Saba does have one beach, and that's another fairyland story. Well's Bay Beach is a seasonal beach, that appears only once a year, for a brief period in the late spring. It's called the "Disappearing Beach", and people actually flock to this place once a year, and rejoice in strands of course black sand.

When one of the locals took me to the place where the beach appears, I didn't have the heart to tell him that this unsightly, rocky cliff where strands of black sand appear once a year is just another Saba type fantasy. As a traveler who has sunned on the finest beaches in the Caribbean, I would not be caught dead fighting over strands of course black sand for one day. However, returning so much of the kindness I had been shown on the island, I just smiled and stated that it was a pity I had not planned my vacation for the once a year disappearing beach event.

On our morning of departure, we headed for the ferry with my husbands approval. However, at this point I really wanted to experience the thrill of the plane lifting out of this mountain fairyland, but instead we headed back uneventfully to St. Maarten by sea.