A hike to the top of a mountain called Mount Scenery with Fred and Kathy?  Sure!!  The top is 3000 feet high, and even though we had the taxi take us as far as he could, we still had 1064 steps left!  It was up, and up and more up.  Oh, and during our Up did I mention it rained?  Nothing like slick stairs!  The foliage along the way was beautiful, and when the rain came we took shelter under the elephant ears. 

The top of this trail was really a nonevent.  Another trail to the side marked Scenic Trail was where you needed to go if you wanted the view.  So, another twenty minutes, in mud, over rocks, through a rock tunnel, hiking on an overgrown path of greenery, surrounded by clouds.  Amazing.   It was like being in a fairy tale.           Everywhere you looked was color.  And the sounds.   The video below captures the sounds of the tree frogs.

Eventually we shimmied up the last rock and found the end.  Our dramatic conclusion?  A cement post.  No view as the clouds were thick, but our own personal exhaustion, satisfaction.  And the post.

Going down was no picnic either as we slipped and slid on the same stone steps.  I fell twice, but luckily I was ok.  At the end of the trail we ate lunch at the Eco lodge.  We were so tired.  Once we left there, we still had more steps, luckily down, to reach the town where Billy our taxi driver awaited.  On the way, we were nearly attacked by a crazy donkey.  As soon as we passed him he rushed out of the bushes, baring his teeth, braying at the top of his lungs, and scattering Dan, Tristan, and Tessa.  Luckily the chain around his neck held.  I have never seen a donkey tied with a chain around his neck but now I know why!!  He was just insane!  We made it back safe and sound and are heading to Stacia tomorrow.

  Keep going Dan and Kathy!

Alegria, Makai and Salida all headed out of St Martin early this morning and to the island of Saba.  We had a great sail, at one point going 8.4 knots, averaging 7.6 knots.  I can’t say enough good things about our bottom paint!!    The seas were higher than we expected about 5 to 6 feet, but it felt great to sail!

Saba was visible 26 miles in the distance when we left.  The next chain of islands, Saba, Statia, St Kitts, Nevis and Montserrat are known as the islands that brush the clouds, due to the fact that they are volcanic islands.  They shoot nearly vertically from the sea and lose their peaks in the clouds.  Saba looks as if she is wearing a sombrero.  These are islands the likes we haven’t seen before.

Saba has free mooring balls available to use and we joined Dawn Dancer and Fine Line who were already moored at Ladder Bay Anchorage.  Customs is a very wet dinghy ride around and we were soaked by the time we got there.  This gave us the idea to check in and out at the same time.  Check in was fast and friendly and us, Makai and Salida were soon in a taxi driven by Gustav Hassel for an island tour.  Saba is a Dutch island with some Scotch Irish thrown in.  The houses on the island follow the island color scheme and can only be painted white or green with red roofs.  They are well maintained, some carrying gingerbread trim.  Gustav was a great guide and took us all over the island.  We stopped at a few gift shops and Dan bought me a beautiful necklace at Jobean Designs.  The artwork on the island, from the lace to local crafts is really outstanding.  An interesting note is a medical college on the island that has mostly American students.  The medical college and tourism is the islands primary source of income.  According to Gustav, Saba sees about twenty eight thousand tourists a year.  Pretty impressive for such a small, hard to get to island. 

After the tour, we stopped in town and had a drink at the Swinging Door restaurant.  A quick stop at the grocery store across the street scored some White Castles!!   That was a surprise.  That was no doubt influenced by those American medical students!!!  Tomorrow we will head back in and hope to do some hiking.

  Catholic Church in Saba

Fresco inside Catholic Church

It reminds me of the mountains of North Carolina.

The guys needed to go back to Budget Marine, and the women kept on going into Phillipsburg to the electronic stores.  Kathy and Liz needed phones and cameras, and found some pretty good deals down by the cruise docks.  We ate dinner at the Blue Bitch Bar, the food was good, not as good as the Creole food in Marigot.  When we got back late to the dinghy dock we had a nasty surprise.  Someone had stolen our gas tank from our dinghy.  Luckily, we got a tow from Liz and Craig.  They had tried to take their gas tank too but it was locked down and they only succeeded in disconnecting the fuel line.  That didn’t make us feel good, and I guess now we will really need to be on our toes for security.  Tomorrow it will be back to Budget Marine for a new gas tank.