If you follow me on Instagram or read my newsletters, you may have seen me casually dropping a little something about a Caribbean trip. Well, It’s time to stop playing it cool and put my enthusiasm on full display. Guys, I’m going to a remote Caribbean island and you should come too! Seriously, join me in Saba.
I’m SO excited to be headed to the Caribbean island of Saba (pronounced Say-bah) to teach, hike, eat and luxuriate in the sun this June! It’s all part of the Create & Learn program, which brings local Saban and “off-island” artists together from February to September for a stunning variety of unique workshops. My workshops will be June 24th to 27th and include espadrilles making as well as a Himmeli-making class with kids! Check out their Instagram for updates on the full schedule and to see all the wonderful things their foundation is doing.
I’m staying for a full week so I can enjoy everything Saba has to offer. It’s a tropical paradise after all, I can’t miss my chance to explore.
Look at this place! Can you believe this is real? What a beautiful island. It sits atop a long-dormant volcano (some of its liveliest neighborhoods are nestled inside a crater!). Saba boasts incredible food, friendly people and a culture of artists. Saba’s even has it’s own form of lace-making, known as Saban lace.
Besides teaching espadrilles, I’m crazy excited to explore Saba. It’s an interesting place, technically a special municipality of the Netherlands, it is only five by five miles in size. Unlike other island locales, Saba has few beaches because of its volcanic origins (Wells Bay, pictured below, is the rare strip of beach). Instead, Saba is famous for diving, snorkeling and my absolute favorite HIKING.
I’m planning on hiking as much as possible. I’m genuinely hoping I can hike every day. There are hikes across volcanic rocks, in tidepools or up into the cloud forest. It all sounds like a dream.
Saba is situated just next to St. Maarten but accessible only by a few daily ferries or airplane flights. This means that it has remained more remote than other destinations. I’ve never gone diving, but apparently the diving is incredible because of all the underwater crevices of the volcanic rocks and relatively undistributed nature of the island. It seems like a natural wonder.
It’s truly a once in a lifetime trip and I’m pulling out all the stops. I’ve teamed up with my lovely and talented friend Meghann Halfmoon for a jointly-taught leather espadrilles class, which also includes her leather wallet-making. Meghann used to live on Saba so she hooked me up with everything I’ve needed and has promised to take me swimming with the turtles. To prepare, I’ve been working on a variety of styles of simple leather espadrilles inspired by a natural island style.
I will be pulling together leather espadrilles kits at some point soon. For now, however, I’m focused on having it all together for the trip to Saba.
In case you are at all tempted by a tropical creative retreat for yourself, here are a few logistical details to nudge you:
Saba Info:
+ Fly into St. Maarten and either take a ferry or a Winair flight to Saba. Please reach out if you’d like more information. Getting there is a bit complex and I am happy to help. If you want to raise your blood pressure, check out the videos of arriving by plane in Saba (which has the world’s smallest landing strip!)
+ Places to Stay: The program directors recommend El Momo Cottages or The Cottage Club.
+ Getting Around: Apparently it’s very easy to get around via taxi or even hitchhiking!
+ Program information: Sea and Learn Foundation Instagram
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