Heartfelt Thanks

The last few months have really been busy for the maintenance crew. We have been dealing with not only the regular upkeep but with a few extra jobs thanks to Mother Nature. This work is always ongoing but in the off-season so much is accomplished by the volunteers who come down to Maho giving not only their time but really putting their hearts into it. As the new season starts and we get to see so many happy campers enjoying the campground I can’t help but think about the guys and gals who helped make it possible.

Let us not forget the regular maintenance crew either. We have a few new faces this year and they are a motivated bunch. Along with the old familiar faces in the department, we are here to give you the service you’re used to at Maho Bay Campground.

Pictured above & below, because we couldn't decide which photo was best, we have from left to right Tom, Mr. Joe, Clay, Matt, "G", and Bryan

an island wedding

Some people are lucky enough to visit St. John once in their life, some are lucky enough to visit and get married all in the same week. But if you're really fortunate you can get married here AND call St. John your home.

This week at Maho we had quite a few Thanksgiving vacationers, as well as a large wedding party for a staff member of years past - Liz Chang. Liz & Colin could not have asked for a more beautiful day to be married, or a more beautiful spot. The ruins at Annaberg are breathtaking in themselves, but they also overlook Mary's Creek, the Sir Francis Drake Channel, Waterlemon Cay and even the West End of Tortola.

Thanksgiving with the dolphins

What did you do for Thanksgiving? here at Maho we were sailing on the Pepper, Kayaking, and swimming with dolphins! This photo was taken from Pepper as they were returning from a daysail. Apparently there were two dolphins, and they got to sail up right next to them several times. The two kayakers are Maho employees--Tony from the kitchen and Meg from registration in their Kayaks close to the Dolphins

night or day?

This morning I woke up a bit earlier than usual, only to be confused on whether it was still night or early morning; I could see the full moon hanging over Whistling Cay, shinning plenty of light over the water, while at the same time could see orange clouds from the rising sun just above America's Point. It was pretty hard to tell which was casting more light - the sun or the moon.

If you're lucky enough to be staying here during a full moon you're in for a special treat, the amount of light from the moon on a cloudless night it feels like the early daylight hours all night long. I'll often suggest to guests that enjoy hiking to try doing a full-moon hike at Ram Head (near Concordia, our sister site and Saltpond Bay).

While everyone here at Maho enjoys seeing the sun set each night over St. Thomas in the dinning pavilion, at the right time of year if you get up early enough you can even see the moon set over St. Thomas.

On the left below is the sun rising over America's Point, and on the right is the moon over Whistling/Carvel

Housekeeping update

With the holidays approaching we are wrapping up our summer projects. During the summer we scour every manmade inch of camp. From the tents and Harmony units to the bathrooms and boardwalks, everything is wiped, scrubbed, mopped, or pressure washed back into ‘like new’ condition. Even the outside walls and roofs of the tents aren’t safe from our spray bottle and rag wielding volunteers. Everything on camp looks great, and we have a top notch housekeeping staff to keep it that way.

This summer we had the added challenge of Hurricane Earl at the end of August. As you can imagine there’s only so much that can be done to the tents against a hurricane, but we do our best to minimize wind and water damage. After Earl we had to get the tents ready for guests again, and with over 100 tents, this is no easy task. We just finishing ‘de-hurricaning’ the last of the tents this week, and boy are we glad that’s done!

Getting ready for season also means stocking up on the essentials, which in the housekeeping world includes dishes, cookware, bed linens, towels, and of course, fans. We recently purchased 45 new fans! This may sound like a lot, but many fall victim to the corrosive sea air, and we are constantly cycling in new fans to replaced damaged or broken ones.

The next update will include before and after photo's of all the power-washing of boardwalks & decks that we've been doing lately.

We hope you come down for a visit, this season is going to be FANtastic!

Pepper Launch

Here is a picture of Pepper being launched at Soper's Hole, Tortola on November 9th. Pepper is newly painted from stem to stern and as our guests said on last night's sunset sail, looks pristine. Pepper is starting her 13th season at Maho Bay Camps and we look forward to seeing the many repeat visitors that vacation each year. Again, we will be doing guided snorkel sails with Renee's fabulous homemade lunch and also our popular Sunset sails. We were fortunate to be out of the water when the Hurricanes went by as there were many boats that sank along with docks. In this picture, if you look just above the jib--in the background--you will see M/V Leland Sneed which was driven ashore and holed and is not going anywhere soon. We did not have the Coral bleaching that many had predicted over the summer so the snorkeling remains beautiful. --Cpt Fred and Renne

Clearing out from Hurricane Earl

This was an old telephone pole on the side of Maho's driveway. WAPA (St. John's Water and Power Authority) knew the pole was in danger of falling. They installed a new pole and moved the wires but left the old pole where it was standing. With a little help from Hurricane Earl, it came down - not across the driveway as we expected but on the deck of a staff tent. Luckily, the old pole was so covered in vines and weeds that it made a soft landing and did very little damage to the deck. Thanks Steve for taking care of that little problem.

Hurricane Earl and Tropical Storms Otto and Tomas created lots of extra work for Maho staff and volunteers this Fall, but everyone pitched in and worked hard to complete necessary repairs. Final repair work is now being completed in the staff housing section as we finish preparations for a busy 2010-2011 season!