We saw this interesting banner in The Bottom. Cyril, our taxi driver, told us that they are now trying to save the goats on the island.

From Windward, we walked downhill and through a town called “The Bottom.” 

It was a small, cute town build in the same architecture as The Windward. 

Along the walk, we saw a squirmy centipede. 

I’m not 100% sure which end contains its head.  It moved surprisingly quickly.

We also saw some pretty flowers along the road.  Of course, I had to stop to take some pictures, as they were so beautiful.

This morning we walked from our cottage back down to sea level.  We were going to mostly walk down hill, so we thought it would be a leisurely and easy walk.

We wanted to check on the boat.  So, we hopped into the dinghy and bobbed back over the sea to our boat.  It was looking fine, which made us feel a little more relaxed.  The sea state where we were is not that rough, so the boat isn’t yanking on the mooring ball too much.  While there, we packed some lunches and then headed back to the dinghy dock.  Going to the dinghy dock is rougher than returning to our boat because it is into the wind and waves.  But, we made it, albeit a little wetter than when we left the boat.

El Momo cottages are five minutes out of the town called “Winward.”  To get here, the taxi drove on the one main road on the island called, “The Road.”  This island has very steep hills.  After we checked in, we walked five minutes down hill to town.  Unfortunately, that translated into about twenty minutes up the hill after dinner.  We definitely worked off our dinner by walking back to our cottage. 

Saba is owned by the Netherlands.  So, there are many transplants from the Netherlands who live here.  Apparently the Catholic priests brought people from Malaysia to Saba, who have also established homes here.  It strikes me that there are a lot of stone walls and cement roads on this idyllic island.  I’m sure that this construction stands up to the hurricanes.  Apparently there is white rock (limestone) near the shoreline that is also used in building material.  The buildings and roads seem quite sturdy. 

The people here have been incredibly nice and welcoming.  There isn’t crime on the island, so it safe to walk around.  (Our cottage doesn’t have a key.)  And it appears that everyone knows everyone else. 

Our taxi drive is constantly saying hello to people as he drives us around.  Not only does he know the locals, but he also tells us about the tourists walking around.  He is quite a character, named Cyril.  I was so tired after walking up the hill after dinner last night, and my legs were incredibly sore.  We both slept well. 

The El Momo cottages are an adventure.  The taxi driver dropped us off at a sign on the road and told us to walk up the 68 stone steps to the reception office.  So, we shlepped our bags up this winding stone staircase with rainforest trees on either side.  When we arrived, nobody was in the office.  We had to call out for several minutes and finally someone hollered back that they would be right there.

We were placed in the “Sunshine Cottage,” which was up another dozen stone steps. 

It consists of two single beds pushed together.  Mosquito netting hung above the beds, making it seem like a princess bed.   In reality, the mosquito netting was functional, as the room didn’t seal. Bug spray came with the room, which isn’t a good sign. 

The bathroom is an out building, next to our room. 

It has a composting toilet, which I am having difficulty with.  We can’t throw any toilet paper in it, which is absolutely disgusting.  The shower is also in this building.  It has a stone bottom but the side windows open up to give us a view of the ocean while we shower. So, it definitely feels like an outdoor shower.  Having the toilet in the out building means that if we get up in the middle of the night, like I had to last night, I got rained on.  The grounds are very unique.  We feel like we are in a Robinson Caruso cottage, peeking over the trees and looking out towards the sea, with green foliage all around us.  To our east is the dormant volcano, which is frequently covered by clouds at the top.  Everything looks lush.  It is beautiful.

We arrived in Saba yesterday.  All I can say is that we had to work to enjoy this island and it is definitely worth the trouble.  The National Park Service has put out mooring balls, which we were thankful for.  The water is deep, approximately 75 to 100 feet where we are.  The swells and waves can be rough.  Our boat is floating around the ball quite often as well.  We are glad that we booked a bed and breakfast for the nights that we are here, not only for the sea state, but also for the 1000 foot climb that is required to get the first town, called “The Bottom.”  The dingy ride from the anchorage is also an adventure, as we glide over 6 to 8 foot swells, only to drop down on the other side of them.  It is quite jarring on my back.  We are careful to put our electronics in a dry bag, as we know that the probability of us getting wet is quite high. 

Tying up our dinghy was also a challenge.  There wasn’t much room for us to tie it up, as the space fits roughly five dinghies at a time.  Steve had to put a stern anchor out to keep the dinghy from crashing into the dock.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t good holding for the anchor, so he was searching for some rocks for the anchor to catch on.

By the time we got in and cleared through immigration, it was just after four o’clock.  At that point, we decided to call a taxi to take us to our bed and breakfast.

Well, we ended up spending a week in Nevis tied up to the mooring ball while waiting for a good weather window to sail north.  This morning we checked out of the country of Nevis and plan to set sail at 6a tomorrow morning for Saba.  Because of the rolliness of the anchorages on both St. Eustatia and Saba, we are concerned about staying on the boat.  Because of the weather, Steve decided that we should skip St. Eustatia and travel straight to Saba, which is supposed to be less rough.  While waiting for the immigration representatives to show up, we met a young couple from California who had just visited Saba.  They mentioned that they stayed in an Airbnb while on Saba.  The more we thought about it, the more we decided that that was a good idea so I booked an El Momo cottage in Booby Hill, which is a five minute walk to the town of Windward.  It is supposed to have a lot of stairs and was referenced as a “Robinson Caruso” getaway.  The location received good reviews so we are hoping for the best. 

After checking out of Nevis, we moved the boat back to Ballast Bay on St. Kitts.  Doing so cut an hour and a half off of our sail tomorrow.  We again are planning to leave at 6a, as soon as we can see in the light.  It will still be an eight or so hour sail tomorrow, but we should be able to arrive before the sun starts setting.  With some luck, we will find an available mooring ball. 

On 2/3/23, the wind shifted directions and our anchorage was getting a little rougher than it had been.  We decided to motor back to Nevis since our time was cut short there.  We picked up a mooring ball this morning and are all set to stay here for a few days.

The anchorage is quite convenient in that it offers us a place to tie up our dinghy at a dock.  There is free garbage disposal available as well as several markets for us to provision from.  We are facing a long beach with a picturesque, dormant volcano in the background. 

This is a funny story. Yesterday we walked through town to the IGA, which is one of the larger supermarkets on the island.  Nevis doesn’t have great sidewalks so often times we need to walk along a path just above the curb.  As we were walking, single file, a black donkey came out from some shrubbery and faced Steve approximately eight feet in front of him.  Steve quickly moved onto the street and continued walking.  The donkey got frightened, turned around, and ran back from the direction it came.  We walked past where we saw the donkey and then turned around.  Two donkeys were now coming out of the shrubbery, the young black one and what appeared to be an older grey donkey.  They were making all sorts of noise, as though they were yelling at us, while walking in our direction.  We were far enough away that they gave up on the idea of approaching us.  It was really funny, as it appeared the young black donkey ran and told the older grey donkey that we were in their territory. 

On 2/2/23 we decided to take our dinghy to the next bay to our north called Frigate Bay.  It was a smaller bay than Friar’s Bay and appeared busier.  Beach bars lined the majority of the beach and chairs were set up along the water’s edge.  This was a combination of a black and white sand beach.  We learned quickly that the black sand becomes hot very quickly. 

In the afternoon we headed back to the Shipwreck Beach Bar so that we could take advantage of their wifi.  We spent about two hours working on our computers before ordering dinner.  And, while there we saw some of the wild monkeys.  I only had my phone with me, but I was able to take some pictures of the monkeys.