Valentine’s weekend on the rock

Restaurants, shops and hotels in Saba dazzled with tantalising and romantic offers on Valentine’s Day, writes The Daily Herald. The celebrations started with a pre-Valentine’s Day show organised by Sacred Heart Primary School at Sunny Valley Youth Centre in The Bottom. Angelic kindergarten, firstand second-grade children performed onstage for their Cupid-struck parents and family members. The children also made colourful and glittery “V-Day” cards for their parents. The Roman Catholic sisters of Living Water Community organised a special Valentine’s Day youth session with Father Alphonso Baak, encouraging youths to talk about their feelings of love and guiding them to an understanding of relationships that value one’s soul and spirit and not just objectify the body and physical desires.
Saba Cultural Foundation organised a “Red and White” Valentine’s party at Princess Juliana Sports Field in The Bottom as a fundraiser for this year’s Saba Carnival. Held under white tents, the show featured entertainers Boy Thode, Ziggi Recardo and Rebels Band HD from St. Eustatius. The party, catered by Chef Neville, echoed in the valley well into the night.
Windwardside’s shops were filled with love-themed displays of succulent chocolates, sexy accessories, orchids and teddy bears. The El Momo Folk Art boutique, managed by Emilie Declippeleir and her partner, Gersh Geenty, delivered the traditional fresh red roses. Not a small logistics feat, the roses are ordered months in advance every year and flown from South America to St. Maarten, so as to arrive in peak condition on Saba for the special day. De la Rosa Boutique organised a love raffle with perfumes for patrons who bought their glitzy, redthemed ladies’ attires and jewellery.
Queen’s Garden Resort, Restaurant Eden, Tropics Café, Scout’s Place and Sea Witch Bar & Grill all put on appetizing special dinner menus for Sabans who loved to celebrate the day in great style. The cherry on top of the whipped-up romantic offers was the live jazz performance of saxophonist J Mo Melin at the Shearwater Resort. The classy venue offered an extensive five-course Valentine’s dinner menu developed by the resort’s new chef. It featured a culinary journey through “the five stages of attraction, romance, passion, intimacy and commitment.” The resort’s Valentine’s Weekend started with this romantic jazz evening on Friday, followed on Saturday with another live jazz evening, dishing out caviar-tasting hors d’oeuvres accompanied by vintage cocktails and martinis. The “orgy of the senses” ended with a Sunday brunch of scrumptious food, including club oysters with champagne, mimosas and, of course, “Mo” on the sax.
This was not Mo’s first time in Saba. Her “auditioning” session at Shearwater Resort was on January 17, when she charmed Sabans with a sophisticated evening “full of Sax Melin” and poolside, sunset cocktails. She is the essential character of St. Maarten’s One White Chick Band, which now celebrates its 10th anniversary and has won The Daily Herald’s best band award for the last five years. The band is known for its performances at Mary’s Boon resort. On Saba, Mo came solo, playing lip-bursting and heart-warming tunes for sessions more than two hours long. The classically-trained Canadian musician has a lively personality. When asked about her uniquely mellow interpretation of classic songs, Mo said she doesn’t “improvise on smooth, background jazz.” As opposed to her funk, loud, party band appearances, her Saba performances catered to creating a different and romantic atmosphere. She loved the island she toured, the people she met and hoped to be back soon.