More Photographs of Saba

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Saba is approximately five square miles in size and nearly 3,000 feet in elevation. The island has four villages: Windwardside, Hell's Gate, St. Johns, and The Bottom - the seat of the island government.
The Bottom is situated 250m (820ft) above the ocean on a plateau surrounded by volcanic domes.

Hand-carved steps set in the mountainsides still connect one village to another. Over 200 steps climb the steep slope of the island from Fort Bay to The Bottom. Over 900 steps cross the mountain to connect the Bottom with Windwardside, 1,100 feet higher in elevation. A further total of 1,064 steps lead from Windwardside to the summit of Mt. Scenery, the highest point on the island at 2,854 feet.

Saba has one road, 15km (9.5 miles) long, bisecting the island from the airport to Fort Bay. Dutch engineers told the Sabans that the road could not be built. Josephus Hassell decided it could be and he and a crew of locals spent 18 years building it entirely by hand. Before the road was built everything that arrived on Saba had to be brought up what was called the ladder, 400 steps straight up the mountainside to the customs house. Everything from building materials, household goods and even a baby grand piano were carried up those steps.