Location: Saba
Today I stayed on the boat to do some maintenance, but everyone else went ashore. Shore was probably more exciting. Here’s guest writer Carli with the details:
Crazy seeing you guys here! My shore day started off a little rocky, literally and figuratively. The ladder. WOW. That ladder was like the stairway to heaven. Unbelievably long and almost killed me. But do not fret! I persevered and made it to the main road to catch a ride. After about 15 minutes of standing in the middle of the road with my thumb up, feeling (and I’m sure also looking) like a fool, a nice man in a truck drove by and turned around to pick us up. Here in Saba, the main mode of transportation is hitchhiking; the locals are very familiar with picking people up for no other reason than kindness. The first man that gave us a ride only made us pay in the currency of helping lift a table into the back of his truck. The feeling of riding through hilly Saba and seeing the views from the peaks and valleys of the road was unbelievable. He then dropped us off at the bottom of the Mt. Scenery Trail! The crew on that ride began our trek up the highest peak in the Netherlands for a few minutes until we stopped lying to ourselves and turned right back around to check out the town. Kebo, KT, and I began a whole new trek, one to the infamous JoBean. A wonderful woman on the island that makes beautiful glass art that we all visited to admire her work. Post-JoBean, I do what I do best onshore days, which is sit my butt down and eat at a restaurant. We enjoyed a wonderful meal and then proceeded to walk all around the island (partially because we got lost but mostly just to explore). We then circled back around to where it all began, the trailhead, and awaited for another driver to come our way.
Not even a minute in, a lovely man picked up me and KT, took us to the grocery store (where a head of lettuce costs a shocking 7$), and back to where we met up with the rest of the gang. ENTER KT HERE: Hey yall! Carli and I had ourselves a day today. We ventured around the island, meeting so many kind people and even a few goats! EXIT KT HERE. I know my story was great, but despite everyone’s stories having the same beginning and end, the middle is very different, which is where I’ll pass it over to the one, the only: Kate.
My day was rather similar to Carli’s, well, I didn’t wake up in the most intense food coma of my life like Carli, but other than that, we had similar mornings. Right up until she ditched me on the hike, I was left to fend for myself, climbing up more stairs than I ever have in my entire life. It was well worth it, though, because now I can say I’ve hiked the tallest peak in the Netherlands. Without even having to go to the Netherlands, how convenient. The view was insane, especially once the clouds parted and we could see the island below. The trek down was, as you guessed, more stairs but more enjoyable as I had run into Mia, Sydney, and Waring. Today’s hike really made me feel less bad about the dessert I ate for breakfast and gave me a newfound appreciation for flat ground. The trip down felt like five minutes, and we headed straight for town. The top priority for me was to get a cool T-shirt or two and then find some food. Both were a success, and I ate a pretty tasty salami sandwich. During our meal, this couple had begun to ask us to take a photo of them, and this other guy (remember him for later) came up and says that they couldn’t ask us to take a picture since they didn’t know us and we could steal their phonevalid point. The couple then hands their phone to the guy, a complete stranger, who jokingly takes a few steps away from the couple, pretending to steal their phone. It was quite comical, and everyone thought it was funny. Maybe it was the “you had to be there type” funny, but I thought I’d share. Our time on shore was almost up, but we took a quick walk over (well, it was actually quite slow because it was, unfortunately, all uphill) to this lovely little shop called Jobean. Maybe Carli mentioned it. But it’s a shop that sells a bunch of really cool glasswork, like jewelry and figurines. I did some damage in there and secured all the Christmas gifts for the fam because somehow that is like a month away. Also, don’t worry about the damage. It was only done to my credit card. Not any of the glass. That would be too expensive. Time flies when you’re having fun because, by the time we were done, it was just about time to find a ride back to the stairs. A few cars passed us and didn’t give us a ride, and this truck was about to stop for us when all of a sudden, we heard a voice saying, “remember me.” We look across the street, and you’ll never believe who it was. It was the guy from the restaurant. They pretended to steal the phone. What are the odds? (I mean probably pretty high considering its a small island, but still) The four of us hopped into his car and were on our way back to the ladder. The guy was giving some great advice on the drive back, like “even if you don’t know how to do it, just say you do.” For context, this was in reference to his work as an electrician in Holland. Wise words. He was such a lovely man and so kind to have given us a ride. He dropped us at the ladder and was off. And Just when you thought there were no more stairs, there were indeed more. I couldn’t tell you how many, but let’s just say I’m glad this boat has minimal stairs because I don’t even want to think about them for at least a week. I say that, but it was all so much fun Saba is easily one of my favorite islands down here, and I had such an amazing day. 🙂
And, of course, a big Happy Birthday to the one and only Dani! Hope 18 treats you well.
Photo 1: View from hitchhiking truck
Photo 2: Kt and Kate in said truck
Photo 3: Trail Head
Photo 4: Up and up
Photo 5: Moo
Photo 6: JoBean
Photos 7and8: View from Mt. Scenery
Photo 9: A look at the group we didn’t hear from today
Photo 10: We love Saba
Photo 11: Mirror selfie!
Photo 12: BABY GOATSSS
Photo 13: Hitch! Hiking!
Photo 14: The Ladder
Photo 15: Sunset
Photo 16: HAPPY 18TH DANI WE LOVE YOU