Nate and Kara Buchanan document a day trip (about 24 hours) from St. Martin to Saba Island in a YouTube travel vlog focused on landing on what they call the world’s shortest commercial runway and touring the tiny island. Key on-screen facts: the runway is ~400 meters long; the flight from St. Martin is about 15 minutes; Saba is roughly five square miles with ~2,000 residents; a medical school comprises ~25% of the population (≈500 international students); Saba has been a marine sanctuary since the 1980s and is described as the world’s 5th best diving destination. The vlog covers check-in/boarding, two takeoffs/landings (passengers’ anxiety), touchdown and short-runway landing dynamics, a car tour of the island (small-town feel, single police station/post office/school), local culture/vibe, and sunset views.
Questions this video answers
Approximately 400 meters.
About 15 minutes.
Approximately five square miles.
About 2,000 residents; the medical school makes up ~25% (≈500 international students).
Since the 1980s.
Chapters
How often do you get the chance to say that you have landed on the world's shortest commercial Runway?
Back to the airport.
Thank you.
Bye bye. This morning we are on the island of St. Martin and. And we are back at the airport, apparently earlier than most people get here because we were literally the only ones in the check in line.
And this.
Was the line for security. We didn't have plans to fly anywhere this week. However, we got an email from someone who watches our videos, who heard that we were coming here and said that we had to go to the island of Ceiba.
It's very rare that someone suggests for us to go to a place that I've never heard of before because I'm constantly doing research on where we're traveling next. But that was the case with Seva.
The more research we did, the more we we knew that we just had to go check it out because it's only a 15 minute flight from St. Martin. There was one thing that really stood out to us.
Ceba is home to the world's shortest commercial Runway. It's only 400 meters long, which is slightly longer than an aircraft carrier.
And I'm so scared.
So after a lot of convincing, I finally talked Karen to letting us book tickets. And this morning we are flying to save us.
Just for 24 hours. We're literally flying there, spending the day and then flying back.
It's gonna be great. It's gonna be great. I really enjoy small planes. Karen, not so much. How often do you get the chance to say that you have landed on the world's shortest commercial Runway and we were only 15 minutes away so we had to do it. This is my argument that I've been making for like the Rock.
Gotta make.
Me. It's.
Ah.
Why do we do this to ourselves?
We're choosing to do this right now.
So not only are we going to land on the smallest Runway in the world, we also have to take off and land from another island first. So I have to go through the take off and landing twice. No one told me this before.
It's my business. For the easy arrivals receive pockets in front of your safety briefing cars. We do ask that you take a look before we depart. In the unlikely event of any exits.
As well as the two cockpit doors, please ensure your seatbelts are passive and luggage security store of your. I would just like to remind you that smoking and the use of electronic devices and cameras with glasses are not permitted. Once again.
Ram.
Okay, we're about to go for takeoff number two. To be fair, I think we've been a little dramatic up to this point. It is technically the shortest commercial Runway in the world. But there has never been an accident. So it should all go very smoothly. There we go. Never an accident. Statistically, Cara.
Right? It's going to be fine.
It's gonna be fine. And then we're gon get to explore an absolutely beautiful island.
It's.
That was incredible. The pilot's supposed to be so I think he used 300 of the 400 meters.
The plane was silent.
As soon as we landed.
It was just like.
We stopped so fast, but we stopped.
Like a good 50 yards short before falling off the cliff.
Oh, gosh.
You survived.
Yeah.
That was great.
It's not your time yet.
Probably do.
Yeah.
So happy we're here.
You did it.
You survived.
My heart is still beating really fast.
As soon as we safely landed, we jumped in the car, drove straight up the mountain into town and grabbed a quick bite to eat.
Yum.
This entire island is only five square miles. So our goal is to see as much as possible, maybe all of it in one afternoon.
Welcome to the only beach on Ceiba. Saba used to be able to say it was the only Caribbean island with no beach. But then St. Martin donated a little bit of sand and they even had a sea turtle come up and put their sand to use. This is the island's main school behind me. Can you imagine going to school here?
How often do you have to change the brakes on your car? Surprisingly, not as often as you think. But the roads are so steep.
So many churches for such a tiny island.
This bunny gonna let me pet it.
Hey, hey.
Is it wild? Wow, what a fascinating island. It is so beautiful. Everywhere you look you're at a viewpoint and it's super hilly. You're either going up a hill or down a hill. So having a car tour was really nice, but it felt like we just got a small town tour.
Our guide was taking us around, she was waving to all of her friends as she was driving and she was pointing out like the one police station on the island, the one elementary school, the one post office. And then we were driving down the road and she was like, oh, that's the new cement truck. The island just got like. Can you imagine just being so in tune with what's happening in your town that you notice a new cement truck?
There's actually a medical school on the island. And what's really interesting is it takes up 25% of the population. So out of the 2,000 people that live here, 500 of them are international students. Apparently, there aren't a lot of distractions here except for natural ones like hiking and scuba diving. So it's a great place to come study.
And we learned that we have totally messed up with the planning of coming here because this is the fifth best place in the world to dive. Apparently, it's been a marine sanctuary since the 1980s, so the marine life here is just incredible. Unfortunately, you can't fly and dive within the same 24 hours. Otherwise, we would be in the water right now.
So that was our afternoon. It was super fun. We just checked into our hotel, and now we're gonna go walk around by foot, get some exercise, and try to find a good place to watch the sunset.
The longer we stay here, the more and more this really starts to feel like a small town. Like, we were just walking down the road, and we ran into the guy that stamped our passport into the country.
We're like, hey, we already have friends on the island. We're also having a hard time trying to figure out how to describe the vibe of this place. It is one of the most unique places we've ever been because it's Dutch, so it's very European. Like, all the houses look very European, but then there's ocean everywhere you look. It's a Caribbean island, but it doesn't feel, like, super islandy either.
Well, and now, because, like, there's different ecosystems on the island, and this city that we're in, this town that we're in, is in a cloud forest. So we're in, like, a European cloud forest, Caribbean town.
I can see how people can be really attracted to such uniqueness. Like, where else can you find a place with this combination of things?
And they are proud. All the Sovans who we've met so far never want to leave. Like, we were talking to our taxi driver, and there's a bunch of islands that we can, like, see from here. And we were asking if there were ferries that were going to the different islands. And she was like, there's just. Just one ferry goes from here to St. Martin and nowhere else. Because we just want to stay on our island.
Nobody wants to leave. Everybody who's here wants to be here. We found a cute little terrace to light the center there.
I think that's what you do on the island about this time of day.
That signs for me one more fun fact we learned there is a jail here, and it only has three cells that are rarely used, because if you.
Stole something, where would you go exactly?
And everybody's like friends with each other. It'd be super awkward. So we are currently looking at the island of St. Martin, where we came from, and there's this huge rain cloud in between. And there's the most isolated rainstorm I've ever seen. It's like maybe a span of 10ft where it's raining. It feels crazy to be able to see where we flew from this morning. I mean, it's just right there. I feel like I could swim there.
