The Blog of Maho

Collecting Trash at Gibney Beach

2012-02-01T19:30:00.004-04:00

On Wednesday February 1st, 10 Maho Bay Staff decided to spend a couple of off-hours picking up trash at a beach they love - Gibney. The goal was to pick up as much trash on the beach and the surrounding area, the parking lot, the driveway, and the community center near the beach. In 2 hours 14 bags of trash, 1 tire, and 1 rusted folding chair were collected, filling the back of a Ford Ranger.

The most common item collected?: glass bottles, glass bottles, glass bottles, so many Heineken and Coors Light bottles. Perhaps up to 5% of the trash collected was from the beach, the vast majority of trash was found in the woods surrounding the community center and driveway down to the beach.

The idea of collecting trash at Gibney came from Stephen Rinaldi, a cook at Maho Bay Camps. Stephen started the season with a goal of collecting trash at each beach on St. John before the end of our season. The idea has certainly spread, as he was able to gather support from 9 other co-workers for his Gibney Beach collection.

Best quote of the day? "people who litter are trash!"

Maho Bay Hermit Crab Report

2012-01-30T09:01:00.001-04:00

Soren & Max visited with us here at Maho last week and created "The Hermit Crab Project" - a video & learning experience about hermit crabs. They interviewed hermit crab "experts" - Maho Bay Staff! - with Ben, Laura & Lance all getting their 5 minutes of fame. Their excitement with exploring and understanding something new is fascinating, and their ability to retain information almost word for word about something they enjoyed learning is fun to see.

Annaberg School Gets Cleaned Up!

2012-01-25T13:57:00.003-04:00

The St. John Historical Society recently cleaned up the Annaberg School ruins which are just around the corner from us! Be sure to check it out on your way to/from Waterlemon.

From the St. John Tradewinds Newspaper:

"Nearly 20 members of the St. John Historical Society donated more than 40 volunteer hours in the V.I. National Park on Saturday, January 14. Members wielded machetes, clippers and weed whackers in an effort to clear the brush from the Annaberg School, one of the most significant historic sites on St. John. VINP interns Aleta McKeage and Casey Durchholz were also on hand to assist in the clearing.The Annaberg School was established in 1839 to educate the children of enslaved workers on St. John. Beginning in 1983, the SJHS logged 1,700 hours of volunteer time over three years to clear and stabilize the site and has continued its stewardship ever since."

one man's trash is another man's........profit?

2012-01-22T11:30:00.001-04:00

When living in the islands you tend to become a little disconnected from the news and current trends. By the last day of vacation most are very curious as to what they've "missed" for news over the past week while at Maho, just imagine how much those of us that have been here over the entire winter have "missed!"

Maybe we don't have time for it or maybe it just doesn't fit our current lifestyle: all the snorkeling, swimming, beaching, boating, hiking, sailing, and diving that we do - where would catching up on the 2012 election fit in that schedule? wait, is this even an election year?

For the past year or so we've been collecting used fryer oil and burning it when firing our pottery kiln. The setup and idea is great: burn something abundant and something all restaurants are paying to get rid of on St. John, and do so in a cool way: creating pottery! I mean, who else has a vegetable fired pottery kiln? So when guests ask us questions like "why would someone be crazy enough to just 'give' you their old vegetable cooking oil, people pay a premium and even steal the stuff from restaurants in the states" we tend to look confused. Apparently used fryer oil is in high demand! - well that's news to us! The NY Times article is very interesting, especially for those of us that didn't know stealing vegetable oil is now a serious business, costing some restaurant chains millions each year.

Pictured below is our wood kiln (retrofitted!) for oil burning. Oil used for the firing come from us, as well as other St. John restaurants. The kiln is fitted with 4 burners (like the 2 pictured), which help it reach the 2,300 degrees needed for each firing.

sand scupture Sundays

2012-01-18T09:46:00.006-04:00

Each week here at Maho Bay we host a sand castle building contest for our guests. This tends to be most popular with the kids, though we don't discriminate based on age! The contest starts each Sunday at 10am and runs until noon, at which time the judging begins. By the looks of some of the castles pictured here with such attention to detail and quality you'd have to believe the prizes are quite substantial, and they are: 1st prize each week is desert from our restaurant for each of the winners, retail value of $6.00 each!

Max & Soren won last Sunday for their hermit crab castle (pictured above).

things that go bump in the night

2012-01-15T13:06:00.005-04:00

The last couple of nights here at Maho we've been hearing strange noises between the hours of 8pm and 5am. Those of us living in staff section and guests staying in upper "E" section have been listening to very loud "thumps" randomly every 5-30 seconds or so, the sound of what could be a faulty screen door? perhaps the wind blowing a roll-down against wood? a pirate with a peg-leg dancing on the boardwalks? The actual culprit? Bats! Lots of Bats!

When daylight broke yesterday morning everyone living under the large Genip tree in staff section found their tents and boardwalk covered in half-eaten genips! While genips are certainly tasty and fun to eat, nobody could have eaten as many as we found along the boardwalk and ground. It must have been the work of "fruit bats," as we have now named them. This was confirmed last night, as the original bats told all of their friends about the wonderful genips to be had in upper staff section, resulting in a whole colony of bats setting up shop eating the ripe genips. This wouldn't be so troubling if when they ate the fruit they were considerate enough to drop the seed on the ground. Instead the seeds keep falling on our boardwalks, creating quite a noise.

One possible solution this morning was to cut down all the fruit in the tree, but there was a slight problem: the tree is huge and towers over the entire area with thousands of little genip fruits. Guess we'll have to wait until the fruit is no longer to their liking, or they finish the entire fruit in the tree!

Pictured above is a genip seed on the railing, with the outer shell peeled off, below on the boardwalk is a sampling of what we dealt with this morning.

good deeds for the day

2012-01-11T14:54:00.003-04:00

Donny, one of our maintenance crew members here at Maho, took it upon himself to do something really neat for us on his day off today: pick up trash!

Starting at Maho he decided to walk down the driveway, jumping into the woods now and then to grab the stray bottle or plastic bag that had drifted out of sight. The driveway itself is shared by many, not just us here at Maho - The National Park Service has a house near our property, along with 5 different houses and villas. But regardless of how much traffic there is on the road, it still boggles my mind how trash actually arrives on the road to begin with.

By the end of the driveway Donny had collected 3 bags of trash, 1 car battery (really?!), and a couple of steel poles.

The next time you see Donny around Maho buy him a beer and say thanks! (but make sure it's while he's off the clock!).

@Work: Sail Pepper

2012-01-09T07:46:00.003-04:00

Each Sunday one of our local newspapers does a feature/interview with someone here in the islands about their work and life. It's a piece that has become a favorite of mine over the years each Sunday, and this past week we were pleasantly surprised to see two faces very familiar to us here at Maho: Fred Renner & Renee Proctor, otherwise known as "The Peppers."

Fred & Renee love to have a laugh and make people laugh, so I thought for sure we'd see one of their classic jokes within the piece. Those of you that have sailed with them before know what I'm talking about.......try asking them what they did before doing charters the next time you're out with them and I guarantee it will be something different than what was in the interview. My favorite? Renee: "I used to work in an orange juice factory, but I got canned because I couldn't concentrate." With Fred adding: "Oh, I thought you were squeezed out?"

For more of their lighthearted humor (and better jokes!) you'll have to sail with them yourselves this season here at Maho.

For a preview of the couple you'll be sailing with and their "job" check out the article here.

Lonely Planet top 10 US travel destinations

2012-01-07T11:41:00.002-04:00

The U.S. Virgin Islands recently received the top spot among the 10 U.S. travel destinations that should be on your radar in 2012. Even better is their mention of us!

"In a year when travelers are apt to still be watching their wallets, this is our #1 choice for an American tropical getaway. It’s eternally 80 degrees, rimmed with white-sand beaches on turquoise water, and, yes, it’s a US territory."

To see the list: Top 10 US travel destinations for 2012

Local article about the list: St. John Source

Exciting New Maho Bay Clayworks Classes Kicking Off in January (Tradewinds article 1/2/2012)

2012-01-04T13:29:00.001-04:00

Ready to get those hands dirty and learn something new for the New Year?

Look no further than Maho Bay Clayworks where owner Gail Van de Bogurt is kicking off three new exciting classes this month geared for each skill level, from true beginner to advanced.

Saturday, January 7, is the first class in the new “Sculpting the Figure from Life in Terra Cotta” series, being led by well-known St. John painter Les Anderson. While many residents are familiar with Anderson’s realistic portraits and vivid Caribbean landscape paintings, this is the first time the East End artist will be leading a class in clay.

“Les has been coming to the Clay Studio for a while now and working on a bunch of different projects,” said Van de Bogurt. “He brings his knowledge of art, art history, the human figure and anatomy to the clay studio for this class which features a live model. This is a great opportunity to work with a very experienced artist with a wonderful understanding of anatomy.”

“He loves the human figure and has a great understanding about it,” she said. “It’s really fun to work with Les.”
Participants will ideally have some experience with clay and figure drawing, Van de Bogurt added.

“First of all to work with a live model you have to have a certain level of maturity,” she said. “And it would be really helpful if people had some experience with clay and drawing the human figure. It will be really hard to start completely from scratch for this class.”

Van de Bogurt is hoping to attract some local artists who may not have worked much with terra cotta, she explained.

“We’d like to attract some artists like Les who normally work two dimensionally,” she said. “Many of the great artists in the past, like Degas and Picasso, worked in clay and bronze and different three dimensional materials. It would be a great class for artists.”

Anderson’s figure class, with assistance by Van de Bogurt, starts on Saturday, January 7, and runs for four Saturdays. Each class will meet from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Maho Bay Camps pottery studio. The class fee is $250 which includes materials, firing and four additional open studio sessions.

For those with no experience with clay, mark those calendars for Tuesday, January 10, when Kaye Thomas will start a four session Potter’s Wheel for Beginners. The class will meet from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. over the next four Tuesdays and students will learn the basics of the pottery wheel.

“The class will cover centering and making tumblers, mugs with handles and bowls on the potter’s wheel,” said Van de Bogurt. “It’s geared totally for beginners and students will learn all of the steps to make stoneware they can actually take home and use.”

The tuition cost is $200, which includes clay, glaze, firing and four open studio sessions in addition to the classes.
Anyone interested in true fine art recycling will not want to miss Van de Bogurt’s special four day workshop on Vegetable Oil Firing. Maho Bay Campground’s dedication to recycling inspired resident “technical wizard” Dan Kreofsky to construct a kiln burner capable of firing stoneware pottery operating on used vegetable oil from local restaurants, explained Van de Bogurt.

“Dan designed a burner made of plastic pipes and things you can pick up right at the hardware store which uses compressed air and used vegetable oil to fire the kiln,” she said. “The great thing about it is that it has a much smaller carbon footprint and doesn’t produce as many carbons as burning wood for the firing. And it’s a great way to recycle used vegetable oil.”

Van de Bogurt and Kreofsky used 60 gallons of used veggie oil from Cruz Bay restaurants to fire their first trial and watched as the temperature rose to over 2,340 degrees, according to the Maho Bay Clayworks owner.

The workshop runs from January 18 through 21 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and costs $200. Participants will learn about burner design, ideal glazing, kiln loading decisions and hands-on oil firing. There will also be a firing party and kiln unloading, set for January 23.

Veggie Oil workshop students should bring their bisque ware, or once fired pieces, to be glazed and fired. For more information on any of the classes or to register call Maho Bay Camps activity desk at 776-6226, extension 212, or call Van de Bogurt at 514-6594.

2012-01-02T13:42:00.003-04:00

We've been seeing a lot more of these planes sitting at our airport on St. Thomas lately, which is a good thing! Most who have flown Jet Blue have great things to say about the company, whether it's their friendly attitude or in-flight tv options, they just seem to do air travel the way air travel should be; friendly, comfortable, and stress-free. Heck, their motto is "you above all."

Most of you in the New England area should know by now that Jet Blue has recently added a direct flight from Boston. A quick check today for flights in February revealed some pretty good deals for those of you freezing in Boston today: departing Friday February 3rd and returning on Sunday February 12th (why stay just 7 days?) was a total of $442 with taxes, 1st bag flying free, and it's direct! And did we mention it's on Jet Blue? Doesn't get much better than that.

up in the trees

2011-12-28T11:12:00.007-04:00

Ever wonder how we have such incredible and natural looking views all around Maho? It's thanks in large part to one of our maintenance staff members, Woody. With a property spanning 14 acres its more than a full-time job maintaining and keeping the vegetation at bay that grows here in the tropics. Fortunately, Woody likes to spend his days up in trees, trimming branches and clearing views. Often times you'll be walking down the boardwalks and hear a rustling in the trees, but instead of looking up and seeing an iguana it will be Woody, securing a spot in a tree 20+ feet in the air. Selective tree climbing and trimming comes naturally to Woody and plenty of guests will find reason to thank him for it this season. Rumor has it he at one point made his way from Harmony to Little Maho beach, without stepping foot on the ground and all via climbing through trees.

Since we use radios here at Maho it's not uncommon to hear staff ask where certain staff members are working at any given moment. The radio call for Woody can often be: "maintenance to Woody are you available to give a guest a ride to Harmony, or are you treed?"

The next time you're enjoying that incredible view from your tent, the dinning pavilion, F-pavilion, the store, activities or any other spot at Maho you can probably thank Woody, as he's the only one of us crazy enough to spend his days so high off the ground.

If you find Woody "treed" here at Maho say hi & thank you!

Pictured below he is working just off the Maho driveway, below the dining pavilion, and about 10-12 feet off the ground.

its been a hard day's work

2011-12-21T08:52:00.004-04:00

The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas here at Maho typically give us the time we need to take care of a few major projects before the high season gets into full gear. One of those projects that I'm sure will make plenty of guests happy in the coming months is the new layer of asphalt on the lower part of our driveway.

Each season the driveway leading up to Maho gets it's fair share of abuse though all the guest vehicles, taxi cabs, delivery trucks, and pouring rain. For the most part though, aside from a few potholes here and there, the entire driveway holds up pretty well. Unfortunately the lower part of the driveway leading up to Maho saw more than it's fair share of abuse from heavy tracked vehicle equipment leading to the new villas being built. Add to that the massive amounts of runoff from the construction site during heavy rains and you have a road that is in desperate need of repair.

Getting asphalt from St. Thomas to St. John, arranging a steamroller and driver, buying plenty of shovels and rakes, and getting enough staff together to rake the asphalt off the truck and onto the driveway takes quite a bit of coordination, and perhaps a little luck.

If anyone needs a good idea of what it felt like last week for 3 hours in the mid-day St. John sun laying the asphalt then it may be time to re-watch Cool Hand Luke. Pictured below we have 6 or 7 of us shoveling and raking it out, with plenty of steam rising from either the road or ourselves!

Holiday decorating

2011-12-17T13:39:00.005-04:00

It may not be cold, and there may not be snow on St. John, but we still like to decorate for the Holidays! Last week was the official holiday decorating party for staff & guests here at Maho, with the restaurant getting a full treatment of lights, garland, tree, bows, ribbons, and of course a few of our own hand blown ornaments hung on the tree and around the restaurant.

If you look closely you can see some of the incredible ornaments made by our glassblowers, including a hummingbird. And if you'll be down this season for the holidays you'll have to pick up a few ornaments for next season.

No decorating party would be complete without eggnog (adult style) and cookies:

will it rain?

2011-12-12T08:59:00.006-04:00

One of the most common questions we get via email from guests arriving in a week would have to be about the weather. Understandably, having beautiful weather while on vacation is a big deal. Would it be too much to ask just to have nice sunny days while down here? Working 50 weeks a year to enjoy 1 week of vacation in paradise, it should almost be a guarantee the weather be perfect during your vacation!

With most places in the states, the weather forecast doesn't change drastically throughout the week. Checking the weather each morning gives you a pretty good idea of what it will be like for the rest of the day and even the next few days.

Here in the islands the forecast is pretty much always the same: partly cloudy with a 20-30% chance of rain. Translation: 1) we could have a beautiful sunny day +/- a few clouds and no rain 2) we could have a beautiful sunny day with 3 or 4 ten minute rain showers 3) we could have sunny skies and zero cloud cover in the morning, a tropical downpour all afternoon, and a beautiful clear-sky sunset in the evening! I would say about 80-90% of our weather falls into something similar to above.

Will it rain while you're down here? Absolutely, I would definitely bet on it. Will it be a total disaster the entire week? The odds are not good. But just because there's a 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60% chance of rain for the day, doesn't mean you won't have a beach day. Heck, you'll probably still have a full beach day when it says 80% chance of rain. When I started this post 10 minutes ago the forecast was: partly cloudy in the morning, then clear, chance of rain 20%. The actual weather outside: The sun is shinning and I can't see a cloud anywhere in the sky, there is no way it could rain today. But will it? you bet it will!

She Came, She Paddled, She Conquered

2011-11-26T09:43:00.000-04:00

Our Guest Services Manager, Erin McNaught, went to Tortola over the weekend for a Stand Up Paddle Race and took the Gold in the women's open division. Paddle Boarding has been catching on quickly over the last few years and you can now rent them here at Maho Bay during your stay. The BVI Beacon has the article referencing our staff triumph in what we consider to be an international competition!

Like Erin mentions in the article, you can see all kinds of cool stuff while paddling. Ginger in the Art Department even got to spend some time paddling with a spotted eagle ray which is really cool. It is a different perspective when paddling while standing up instead of in a kayak. So if you are looking for something new, see what the craze is all about and let someone know what you saw!

Cyber Monday incredible deal!

2011-11-23T16:33:00.001-04:00

Getting a one year lease extension is definitely something to be thankful for, but we have another reason thanks to the USVI Department of Tourism!

There is an amazing opportunity for those who wish to come visit Maho or Concordia Eco and Premium Tents in January that has just been announced by the Department of Tourism. Travelers who book this promotion on Cyber Monday November 28, 2011 will get $500 instant credit/discount, $750 in gift certificates to use while on island, and the fifth night free. This is by far the best deal that has been offered by the department of tourism! In order to receive this promotion, you must book Air and Hotel together through Expedia.com, we will not be able to provide this package through our own reservations office. If you miss Cyber Monday, you can still book before Dec 9th and receive part of the promotion. We've taken the nuts and bolts of this directly from the DOT and it is below for further clarification.

For a 24 hour period on Cyber Monday (November 28, 2011) a very rich promotion will be offered. After Cyber Monday, from November 29 through December 9, a slightly less rich promotion will be available.This offer will only be available through Expedia.com

OFFER DETAILS

OFFER for booking window of NOVEMBER 28, 2011only:

i. $500.00 Instant Credit PER PACKAGE The booking must be a minimum of five nights, fall within the designated travel dates and be booked within the booking window. The instant credit promotion must be a package that has been combined with air and a USVI hotel. We will not honor back-to back room only bookings that have not been combined with air. The voucher must include the booking code USVICM11.

ii. $750 in USVI CERTIFICATES ($500 RETAIL, $100 DINING, $150 ACTIVITIES )

iii. 5^th night FREE

*FIVE NIGHT MINIMUM STAY REQUIRED

*BOOKING DATE: NOVEMBER 28, 2011 ONLY

*TRAVEL WINDOW: January 1-16, 2012 (travel must be completed by 1/16/12)

OFFER for the booking period of NOVEMBER 29 – December 9, 2011

i. $200.00 Instant Credit PER PACKAGE The booking must be a minimum of five nights, fall within the designated travel dates and be booked within the booking window. The instant credit promotion must be a package that has been combined with air and a USVI hotel. We will not honor back-to back room only bookings that have not been combined with air. The voucher must include the booking code USVICM11.

ii. $300 in USVI CERTIFICATES ($150 RETAIL, $50 DINING, $100 ACTIVITIES )

iii. 5^th night FREE

*FIVE NIGHT MINIMUM STAY REQUIRED

*BOOKING WINDOW: NOVEMBER 29 – DECEMBER 9, 2011 ONLY

*TRAVEL WINDOW: January 1-16, 2012 (travel must be completed by 1/16/12)

lease extention

2011-11-19T11:01:00.000-04:00

The Maho landowners have just extended the lease through June of 2013. I agreed to this with great relief. This last lease extension will offer everyone an opportunity to enjoy Maho for two more winter seasons.

I will not accept another short-term extension. We will either get a long-term lease which will allow for some wonderful capital improvements and investment in new technologies or close at the end of the lease in June 2013.

You can imagine the stress and anxiety of our employees, boat captains, artists, concessionaires and all the small businesses who make Maho special, not knowing if they have a job next year and who need to prepare for their own future.

This additional year means a great deal to our guests, staff, and the Island of St. John. It means that we all get extra time to do or redo some of our most favorite things. It has been a tough year for many which meant the possibility of not visiting Maho one last time. We hope this will afford you the opportunity. There is a special magic here that cannot be found anywhere else, and we are all grateful to have just a little more time to enjoy it.

I hope you are as excited as we are about this extra time we have acquired. For all of you that have already booked for May 2012, have no worries. We will be changing those rates back to our standard low season rates and will adjust your reservations accordingly.

Once again, I am so pleased to be able to share this news with everyone and hope to see you at Maho.

Best,

Stanley Selengut

being an artist is hard work

2011-11-14T13:28:00.006-04:00

Everyone here at Maho is incredibly excited to see our glass blowing facility back up and running for the season. Each year we shut it down for the "H-word" season, and start blowing again sometime in November.

To get things properly tested they decided to run a class with a few staff members, lucky us! The 3 of us that took the class had never tried before, but had plenty of "experience" watching the resident blowers over the past few seasons. Turns out actually working the glass is very difficult, much harder than the artists make it look. Simple things like gathering glass, rolling the glass, re-heating the glass, all become very difficult upon your first try. While using the jacks to separate a ball of glass from the rod or "punte" all I could think about was how easy the glass blowers had made it look and how impossible it seemed for me to do!

Fortunately the class we took (and the classes we offer for guests) started from the beginning, at a very fundamental level; learning your way around the glass shop and different tactical strategies for working helps considerably. Everything was done in a "dry run" at first before attempting to work the glass. The pieces we made started out easy and gradually turned more difficult as we learned the different aspects of working the glass. First we learned how to make a small rose, before graduating to the mixing of colored glass in making either a paperweight, a starfish, or a stamped soap dish. We all chose the paperweight, as it had a medium degree of difficulty compared to the starfish which apparently takes quite a bit more "artistry." Learning to twist the glass, flatten the glass, gather different colors and smooth the sides became very interesting and fun. The best part? whatever you create tends to look pretty good when finished - after all, it's a glowing ball of art that you created at the end of a rod, how could it not?

If you're visiting this season I highly recommend giving it a try, it will give you a completely new appreciation for what our glass blowers are doing during their demonstrations each night. It will also give you a glob of glass that you can say you created yourself! And if you have any artistic ability at all (not me!) you'll be going home with a colorful glass starfish.

Above: "gathering" glass from the furnace on a rod

Below: Applying color to the gathered glass. The color is actually shards of broken glass

Above: Stamping a sun catcher

Below: From left to right are the possible creations during the class, paperweights in different shapes and forms, a soap dish in the shape of a shell, and the ever-impossible starfish

big waves at Little Maho

2011-11-08T11:00:00.003-04:00

Those of you that live on the coast in the states will probably get a good laugh out of this, but the waves in this video are monstrous to us!

During the winter we tend to get swells every other week or so, bringing "big" waves to our beaches. This swell is a few weeks early, and since it was mainly a north-northeast swell our own Little Maho beach saw some heavy wave action. Previous guests to Maho will indeed think these waves are much different than the 1-2 inch ripples that usually hit our beach. Those visiting Cinnamon Bay will find almost a direct hit from the swell, producing the kind of waves you can actually surf - something that doesn't happen often here on St. John!

If you happen to be visiting during one of these swells and feel like it's taken all of your beach options away; fear not: if we're getting heavy waves on the north side of the island it means that the south side should be perfectly calm.

We've been hit!

2011-11-06T13:58:00.007-04:00

As if we weren't far enough off the grid and disconnected from the rest of the world already.............our phone system and internet here at Maho has been down for the past couple of days due to lightning giving us a direct hit. At about 2:30am Friday morning one of the loudest and most violent thunder & lightning storms made its way over the hill from Annaberg and towards Whistling Cay, but not before striking a phone pole and tent in staff section.

According to NOAA, the odds of being hit by lightning are about 1/1,000,000, though one staff member came dangerously close during this storm - the lightning came through the tent and struck the bed, just a matter of inches away from where he was sleeping. Needless to say, it was a very scary moment and night for all of us here at Maho as we started to access damage and deal with the emotional aspects of coming so close to being hit.

Nothing other than our phone system, internet, and one staff tent was damaged (though we're still in the middle of fixing everything!).

If you're trying to reach us please email. We have our internet back up and running, but the phone system is still down. If you're trying to make a reservation please send us the request via email and we will email or call you back asap.

mahobay@maho.org
reservations@maho.org

Top picture: where the lightning came through the tent, near the roof
bottom picture: portion of the mattress that was hit

Maho pumpkin carving contest

2011-10-31T14:19:00.004-04:00

Last week at Starfish Market here on St. John they were selling pumpkins for $5.99 each, which by St. John standards is quite a deal! You'd almost expect them to be $5.99 a pound down here!

We couldn't pass-up buying a bunch and doing our own pumpkin carving contest here at Maho for our guests and staff. Everyone at dinner last night was very impressed with the creativity on display. 1st prize was quite a "sweet treat:" dessert at the restaurant, followed by a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream from our store.

1st Prize:
Notice the bent plastic forks for arms and legs!

2nd Prize:
Wish we had a picture of the cute tail on this pig!

Snow Day Discount Today!

2011-10-29T10:26:00.004-04:00

(Image from wunderground.com)

In light of the impending snow day, we have decided to share some happiness. Today only, Saturday October 29th, all online reservations with "Snow Day" in the comments will receive a 10% discount on their stay. This applies only to Maho Bay Tent Cottages and Concordia Eco&Premium Tents and is subject to availability. Again this is only for online reservations made through http://www.maho.org/ . Happy Snow Day!

cleaning cleaning cleaning

2011-10-24T08:09:00.005-04:00

One of the greatest problems of living in the Caribbean is fighting mold & mildew. When your home (or in our case tent) is located in dense vegetation with frequent rain showers the battle is exaggerated. Most areas of Maho are within easy reach with a rag and cleaning solution, but one area in particular gives us quite a bit of trouble: The Big Top

Fortunately we've devised a rather unique yet time consuming solution: scaffolding - where we both stand and lay on our backs scrubbing the ceiling, getting it nice and clean for all those dining in our pavilion this winter. One interesting note during the cleaning each year?: the amount ofJack Spaniard nests located on the roofing material. Most often you'll find small nests under tree branches and leaves while on hiking trails, but at Maho we find them taking shelter under tents and boardwalks which probably gives them a little better protection from wind, rain, and the sun. I guess the best protection is under our restaurant pavilion roof, which offered enough space for 30-40 little nests.

Below is a section of roof that has been cleaned, compared to a section that has yet to be touched.

Cinnamon Bay gut

2011-10-18T16:03:00.003-04:00

Expanding on our non-existent "field guide for trails close to Maho Bay Camps:"

America Hill & Cinnamon Bay via the gut.

For those staying at Maho looking to do a short yet very different trail with incredible views, the America Hill trail from the Cinnamon Bay ruins is a great choice. How to make it even better? Try hiking up the gut instead of the trail! You don't have to be a serious rock climber, but it is definitely recommended you do this only when it hasn't rained in a few days. Being a gut that is filled with running water after each rain, it understandably would not be possible to hike after a serious rain. The start point is directly off the North Shore road just before you reach Cinnamon Bay from Maho, just turn left and upwards once you reach the only section of road that looks like a dried-up river bed with huge boulders. It's probably easiest to walk from Maho, but driving to Cinnamon and parking is an option as well. The gut itself goes all the way up to Centerline road, but you'll be getting off after about 10-15 minutes of boulder climbing or once you reach the America Hill trail that passes directly over the gut. Something to keep in mind if doing this hike relatively soon: there are a TON of bees once you reach to top. The entire ruin at the top is very overgrown with vines & flowers, creating the perfect meeting ground for those looking for nectar.

Pictured above is one of the viewpoints from the gut, of Cinnamon & Peter Bay. Below is part of the gut (an easy part) just before reaching the America Hill trail.

Check out our post from June 7th if you're interested in a sneak preview of the views once you get to the top.

a hunter's moon

2011-10-12T08:36:00.003-04:00

15 staff, volunteers and guests decided to celebrate the hunter's moon, or blood moon last night with a late night hike out to Ram Head. As has been the case for the past 4 months, this full moon night was truly spectacular - no rain, just a handful of clouds, and plenty of breeze to cool us during the hike.

If you find yourself at Maho during the full moon then take the opportunity to do something really different and hike Ram Head at night, the moonlight vs. the sun shining on your back makes the hike much more enjoyable!

find me if you can......continued

2011-10-02T07:55:00.003-04:00

Keeping with our individualistic theme of the week: custom hermit crab shells!

Hermit crabs roam the grounds and even the boardwalks here at Maho, and save for the size of their shells most of them look very similar. A couple of staff members thought it would be fun and entertaining to paint a few shells (empty of hermit crabs) to see if the little guys had a preference when it comes to choosing a new "mobile home" if you will. Well they do! it didn't take long before a handful of painted shells were quickly occupied, their "plain" shells left lying where the painted shells once were. So don't be surprised if you see a painted shell crab among the thousands around camp.

The little guy pictured below was extremely happy with his new shell, so happy that he decided to show-off by climbing a tree.

find me if you can

2011-09-26T11:57:00.003-04:00

You know the pace has slowed here at Maho when we start posting about toilets!:

Your next visit to Maho will certainly include a "visit" to one of the stalls in our bathhouses. And if you're lucky enough it could be the stall with our brand-new poured concrete and glass toilet seat cover! Wow!

The idea came about through an accident of sorts: upon finding the cover broken one morning we knew the next trip to St. Thomas would be awhile, so the creative minds that work here at Maho decided to build one out of wood. Next came the idea of poured concrete/glass, which stuck, and we think you'll agree looks pretty amazing.

September Deals with USAir

2011-09-04T10:18:00.003-04:00

Check out the list below, sorry its not in a better format! Each fare from the cities below are one way, so double it for your round trip price. These are historically pretty cheap for USAir prices. The sale is for travel between now and Sept 30th. Use that with the gift certificates mentioned in this previous post: Restaurant, Diving, and Retail Certificates and its a winning combination!

From
Each way*
Albany, NY
$176
Austin, TX
$162
Baltimore, MD
$149
Boston, MA
$130
Buffalo, NY
$176
Charleston, SC
$191
Charlotte, NC
$189
Chicago, IL (O'Hare)
$136
Cincinnati, OH
$209
Cleveland, OH
$235
Columbus, OH
$194
Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (Dallas/Fort Worth)
$212
Dayton, OH
$185
Denver, CO
$165
Detroit, MI
$199
Harrisburg, PA
$169
Hartford/Springfield, CT
$155
Houston, TX (George Bush)
$243
Indianapolis, IN
$185
Kansas City, MO
$199
Las Vegas, NV
$178
Los Angeles, CA
$147
Manchester, NH
$176
Memphis, TN
$228
Milwaukee, WI
$185
Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
$253
Nashville, TN
$199
New Orleans, LA
$152
New York, NY (Laguardia)
$155
Newark, NJ
$155
Norfolk, VA
$176
Orlando, FL
$172
Philadelphia, PA
$199
Phoenix, AZ
$235
Pittsburgh, PA
$207
Raleigh/Durham, NC
$188
Richmond, VA
$188
St. Louis, MO
$205
Syracuse, NY
$198
Washington, DC (Reagan)
$155

Quiet times

2011-08-31T13:42:00.005-04:00

September is here and things are really starting to slow down here at Maho and on St. John as we head into the true off-season. There's so little foot traffic here at Maho that the Hermit crabs are the only ones using the boardwalks in some areas of camp:

Nothing quite like having your own boardwalk expressway if you're a Hermit crab used to taking the off-road route. In case you're curious, this little Hermit made his way down those steps........though not as gracefully as he had hoped.

If you like peace and quiet then come stay with us this month.......you can entertain and tease the resident Hermit crabs, be the only visitors on the beach, and still take advantage of an incredible dive promotion.

a hike for trash

2011-08-28T14:14:00.005-04:00

Last week a few of us staff & volunteers thought we had a pretty good idea: do a hike & pick up some trash along the way. What sounded like a simple and great idea turned into one heck of a challenge. The plan was to walk from the Annaberg parking lot out to Waterlemon along the trail, then "scramble" or "rock walk" along the shoreline from Waterlemon to Brown Bay. Once at Brown Bay we'd then hike the trail back to Waterlemon and eventually the Annaberg parking lot where we started. Under normal conditions we figured on about 2 1/2 hours or so, maybe 3ish max. Well, about 4+ hours later we found ourselves gasping for breath, each carrying at least one 30 pound bag of trash on our shoulders. All totaled there were 11 of us hiking the shoreline, and boy did we get a lot of trash: the estimate is roughly 300-350 pounds of trash, enough to fill the back of a pickup truck. We even had one person kayak from Brown Bay to Annaberg with garbage bags attached to the kayak!

While it was a great success, we all couldn't help but feel how sad it was there was so much trash on the shoreline in the first place. About 80% of what we picked up was plastic, and of that most of it was plastic bottles. If we were to do it again we'd probably consider leaving the trash at Brown Bay and coming back for it, or perhaps meeting a boat in Brown Bay. The last stretch after reaching the beach was definitely tough. While we made a considerable dent there is still plenty of trash along the shoreline, especially at Brown Bay. Another option for next time may be going straight to Brown Bay. An even better idea for next time would be to bring a few donkeys - something to help carry that load!

If you're planning on doing this hike yourself? bring LOTS of water and sunscreen, wear a bathing suit, and bring shoes that WILL get wet (not sandals). The good news is that for most of the hike it should be free of trash, but just in case you could bring a trash bag :)

Hurricane damage

2011-08-24T13:47:00.005-04:00

"Tim" is Maho blog follower, a previous volunteer worker, and a returning volunteer this fall and had posted the following comment yesterday: "Good to hear that Maho survived another bout with nature, but that's the "nature" of eco-resorts, they are able to bend and roll with the punches! Looks like I'll have some cabins to repair come October."

He couldn't be more right! The tents here at Maho seem to work with nature in more ways than not, one being in the face of an angry Irene. While most tents had little or no damage, there were a few that will take us some time to repair. We'll most likely not start working on the bigger repairs until sometime in October, in case another storm passes through just after the repair is made.

Highlighted below is an example of a tent and the damage caused to it. This tent was damaged in part because those familiar "roll downs" were left down during the storm. You would think putting down the barrier would help protect the tent from rains and winds, not quite: Having the roll down "down" actually causes more damage to the tent and allows more water and debris to enter, not to mention the time and expense of repair. During a storm like this we have very high winds that cause the roll down to act as a sail, banging against the screen until it breaks, eventually opening up the entire window. Unfortunately we had a few tents where the roll downs were left down or fell down during the storm, pictured below is an example.

Here we have the picture of a roll down, properly attached to the top of the screen with rope. During really big storms we would hope to have all tent roll downs look this way.

Pictured below we have a roll down left down during the storm, and the damage it has done to the bottom of the screen.

Worst case scenario is when the roll down has been blown off, also damaging the screen.....allowing the maximum possible wind, rain and debris into the tent during the storm:

2011-08-23T10:51:00.003-04:00

We've been very busy this past weekend dealing with that white mess of clouds that goes by the name of Hurricane Irene. Somewhere below the area of white in the picture above would be land, and more specifically St. John & Maho Bay. While we did need to close Maho and evacuate, the good news is that we're all safe and Maho is open for business again.

No major damage to report, but a heck of a lot of branches and debris to clear over the next couple of days.

plastic grocery bags

2011-08-17T08:52:00.008-04:00

In perhaps one of the more interesting stories in yesterdays Daily News, there was an article explaining the plastic bag situation at Pueblo Market on St. Thomas. Apparently Pueblo will not be using plastic grocery bags in the near future: "in accordance with a plea agreement for stealing electricity, the four Pueblo Supermarkets will discontinue using plastic grocery bagsonce they exhaust bags stocked nearly two years ago, according to a status report filed in V.I. Superior Court." Wow, I'm not exactly sure what to make of that statement, but the end result is pretty good! This blogger is certainly interested in how they came to the settlement, which is certainly interesting based on the initial charge of stealing electricity. Not to mention how or why a 4 store chain of grocery stores in the Virgin Islands is trying to get away with stealing electricity in the first place!

In the islands discontinuing the use of plastic grocery bags makes a lot of sense. Plastic bags that make their way into our coastal waters look quite a bit like a tasty jellyfish to our resident sea turtle population, and they've been creating a stink lately about seeing so many grocery bags on their reefs.

At Maho Bay Camps we've never carried plastic bags in our general store, but do get asked quite frequently when guests are at the register. Old habits are hard to break, and when you're custom to having everything bagged before leaving a store it can seem a bit odd when you carry your items out in a reused cardboard box or nothing at all, but that's what we offer! The best alternative of course is to bring your own bag into our store or any store. Pictured below is the selection of boxes available, if needed, in our Maho store.

Maho Restaurant; changes and updates!

2011-08-15T10:02:00.006-04:00

Maho Bay is always changing, so if you have been a visitor during the high season you might want to come and see what we are like during the low season. Some of my favorite events are the marching of the sea stars at Warterlemon Cay and the blooming of the Coral Vine, while it is invasive it is still beautiful. While nature changes around us we at Maho Bay change too, from the influx of volunteer workers or the departure of the Schooner Yacht Heron for the season, things are always evolving.

One of the newest and most exciting evolutions is the changing of the Pavilion restaurant into Café Maho Bay. For all you out there that visit Maho between November and July this is something new to you. We take the standard four item selection and explode it into a full twenty plus option menu. The menu included classics like Grilled Chicken Ceasar and an eight ounce Angus Burger to the more exotic dishes like the Rajun Cajun and the regional Rasta Pasta. The menu was developed to suit everyone’s needs from the veggie burger made especially for vegans to smaller portioned items just for kids. If your vacation plans include Maho Bay, between now and November 1^st, get your taste buds ready for an exciting culinary event.

Along with changing to the new menu there have been evolutions in other areas. We have started to offer some handmade desserts and no more premade salad dressing. All dressings are made in house by our chefs. While the menus and offerings at the restaurant change to reflect the seasons the service and quality of your stay will always remain the same. We look forward to welcoming back or for the first time to Maho Bay.

Café Maho Bay is open every night from 5:30pm until 7:00pm until November 1st, so make plans to join us.

Diving, Restaurant, and Retail Certificates!

2011-08-12T12:18:00.001-04:00

UPDATE ON DIVE PROMOTION: BOOKING WINDOW AND TRAVEL WINDOW EXTENDED

Thanks to the wonderful people over at the VI Department of Tourism, we are now able to offer a special Diving promotion for our guests. We are not currently listed as a participating property/diveshop, but we assure you the gift certificates are fully redeemable here at our Dive Shop, Restaurant, Store, and Art Gallery.

Nuts and Bolts:
Guests must book a minimum of 6 nights
Booking window: Now-Nov 30th
Stay Window: Now-Dec 31st
Register here after making your Maho reservation: Dive Promotion

This promotion comes with $300 worth of certificates for Scuba diving at participating dive shops. Because it is during the off season, some shops will not be diving due to boats being out of the water to be worked on and slow season shut downs. Our dive boat, Ocean Quest, should remain operational throughout the entire off season, although we are at the mercy of good weather. It also includes $100 in dining certificates which can be used in our Maho Bay Pavilion Restaurant and $50 in retail certificates which can be used in our Store and Art Gallery. Again, all you have to do is book for a minimum of 6 nights between now and Sept 15th and your stay has to be between now and Oct 31st. Click here to register! (registration cannot be done upon arrival and it takes about a week for us to get the packets once someone is registered)

Tommy Star Awards

2011-08-10T09:33:00.004-04:00

Every year the Hotel and Tourism Association has an awards ceremony to celebrate those who work in the industry here. We have for many years been nominating Madre, everyone's favorite Maho Employee since 1976! Madre has been with us from day one. She greeted children with a smile who would eventually brought their own children back one day who recieved the same warm greeting. Madre loves to play jokes on her co-workers and also guests who are at first surprised to hear her say "No, I have towels for others, not for you!" to then realize she is only kidding and hear her say "Hear you go, Sweetie" as she exchanges their linens for them.

This year as part of our campaign, we are asking former guests and friends of Maho to write in on her behalf. If you have a fond memory of Madre or kind words to say on her behalf, please please take the time to send us a quick letter or even a postcard. We'll take what we can get! The important part is that we let them know the positive influence Madre has had on our guests in the last 35 years and the best way is for them to hear it directly from you.

We have to officially nominate Madre by Aug 19th, and will send in what letters we have already collected. The whole process usually takes a month or so, and we will have several opportunities to make sure they recieve letters of support that may come in after that date. Don't worry, we'll make sure that everything gets to their office!
How do you support?

1) Send a letter: We hope that we do get quite a few hand written (or even typed is fine) notes in the mail as we feel that will really make a difference. Have a picture from the past? Include a copy!
Maho Bay Camps:
Attn: Madre Support
PO Box 310
St. John, VI 00831

2) Email: mahobay@maho.org "Madre Support" should be the subject line. We would love as many emails as we can get and please feel free to attach photos of Madre as well.

Thank you for your support as we hope to help Madre recieve an award she has definitely earned in her years here at Maho!

what we do for fun at night

2011-08-08T11:20:00.004-04:00

"We're all here 'cause we're not all there" - popular St. John bumper sticker.

While thinking of how to write this post I started to think that perhaps those of us that live here are a little bit crazy. How else do you explain 18 Maho staff & volunteers deciding it would be a good idea to go for a hike in the middle of the night to look at the moon? Little crazy, maybe. Lots of fun, yes.

If you're ever down here for a full moon you may consider doing the same yourself. Ram Head is a great 45 minute hike (one way), but it can get incredibly hot in the late morning and afternoon. Hiking under a full moon offers much cooler temperatures and plenty of light cast upon the trail, though you should still bring a flashlight.

Pictured below we have 4 of us crazies spelling out "Maho" under the full moon on Ram Head.

the disturbance of Emily

2011-08-03T08:39:00.005-04:00

The last week has been a nail-biter here on St. John and especially at Maho. A tropical "disturbance" formed last Friday/Saturday 600 miles southeast of us, which meant we've been glued to the computer at 8am, 2pm, 8pm & 2am each day as the National Hurricane Center posts updates on the storm. While never a major threat to us (as in having possible H-word status), it was a threat nonetheless and taken seriously for those of us that live and vacation in tents. Initial tracking had the disturbance making its way directly through St. John, but fortunately the disturbance had time to be thrown off track over the past few days. Tuesday morning the disturbance finally got a name and an upgrade in status, Tropical Storm Emily, though by this point it was close to 200 miles south of us. Regardless we've had at least a day of high winds and heavy rain at times as the outer bands pass through us, and expect to be seeing a bit more of the same today.

While a bit earlier than usual (July?!) it's definitely the time of year we're checking the weather coming off the coast of Africa each morning as we head into the "season of the H-word."

Big Maho Pavilion walkways

2011-07-31T13:10:00.004-04:00

I know we seem to be posting quite a bit on our crushed glass and concrete projects lately, but we have one more interesting development last week:

Once the Maho Pavilion area is opened to the public our glass & concrete counter tops will be on display, which we're looking forward to seeing. We'll also have a lot of our glass being used (but not seen) within the concrete walkways surrounding the pavilion area. All of our clear bottles collected on camp during the season get washed, scraped, crushed and melted to create works of art. All of our colored bottled and pretty much anything else glass gets crushed and put in it's own separate pile. Understandably this pile of crushed glass gets pretty big over the course of a season at Maho (thanks for drinking all that beer!). The National Park asked us if we'd be willing to use some of the crushed glass as fill for their concrete walkways, which we were more than happy to help with. Scooping crushed glass is quite a bit of work, considering each shovel full weighs about 8 pounds! While it's hard to estimate how many bottles or how many pounds of bottles were used for this project, we're working on it. We do know it was just about all the colored glass we collected for the season, and it feels great not to be putting it all in the landfill! (St. John doesn't recycle glass). Pictured below are two of our volunteers this summer, taking a break while standing on the forms and glass that has been distributed before the concrete pour. Pictured above is the same section, after the concrete pour.

Maho Tree

2011-07-27T08:22:00.003-04:00

Pictured below is the popular Maho Tree, appropriately found at Little Maho Beach here at Maho Bay Camps. If you're sitting in the shade on the beach here at Maho, you're probably under one of the many trees like this one at Little Maho:

hiking to Waterlemon

2011-07-23T09:30:00.007-04:00

A favorite walking trail for many staying at Maho would have to be the walk to Waterlemon (not watermelon!) beach & Cay along the water. It's a trail/walk that is easy for families to enjoy with kids, as well as couples looking for a leisurely morning or afternoon activity. Leaving from the main pavilion at Maho, it's about a 20 minute walk down the driveway, along the road, and out to the parking lot area at Annaberg. The trail out to Waterlemon starts at the end of the road, and follows the rocky shore about a mile or so out to the tiny beach at Waterlemon. From the beach you have the choice of jumping in the water and snorkeling out and around the Cay, or continuing up the trail above the bay to explore the ruins. Those looking for more of a hike can follow the trail to Brown Bay or even all the way to Coral Bay via the Johnny Horn.

Last night upon returning from the ruins above Waterlemon Cay I couldn't help but notice how much trash was on the beach, trail, and among the trees surrounding the area. As luck would have it I found a trash bag as part of the beach trash, and decided to pick up all the other trash. All totaled I was able to find 31 ziplock bags in the area! There were a few other items like a water bottle and energy bar wrappers, but generally speaking the majority of trash I found was some sort of ziplock bag. Why? I think it's a perfect combination of beach goers packing a lunch for the day, and the surrounding critters awaiting the arrival and abandonment of said lunch on the beach each day. I'm convinced it's mainly the work of those sneaky little mongoose hiding in the bushes with those beady little eyes scoping out the next available cooler to raid. The Waterlemon Cay mongoose are nobody's fool: when given the choice of searching for insects and crabs for lunch or grabbing a bag of crackers & cheese what do you think they do? Each bag I found was full of bite & tear marks, so it looks like the mongoose haven't perfected the proper opening of a ziplock bag yet. The next time you visit the beach make sure you're cooler is secured! We have plenty of intelligent mongoose, donkeys and birds that think the lunch you've packed for the day is for them to enjoy.

the bump out effect

2011-07-20T14:54:00.003-04:00

Certain times of the year give us plenty of that wet stuff that falls from the sky, what we call "liquid sunshine" on St. John. Keeping ourselves and everything we own dry when living or vacationing in a tent can become a challenge during a downpour. Fortunately most of our tent cottages have been around long enough that we fully understand where to put the most protection (roll-downs in front of screens). Our latest challenge has been getting the water from the small tent roofs to drain properly, and not into the tent through screens or onto wood that will eventually rot. The latest trial has been our "bump outs" pictured below, keeping the water off the screen & wood and hopefully out of the tent. Now if it would only rain!

what we do in the summer, part 1

2011-07-17T07:42:00.004-04:00

Many guests, as well as friends and family, are curious as to what it is we do in the summer. Maho Bay Camps is unique from other vacation spots on St. John in that we don't close for part of the year, our tent cottages are available to rent throughout the summer and fall. While lots of jobs are seasonal at Maho to reflect the time of year we have the most guests, many of us are here through the summer and fall. Vacationing here during our "season" vs. August is quite different, especially when comparing the number of tents booked.

So what do we do with all those empty tents? Two major projects this time of year would be making plenty of repairs and preparing each tent for our hurricane season.

Although it appears we're creating a massive skylight in the tent pictured below, it's actually getting a complete makeover: You can see the wood in the foreground right was in desperate need of replacement, along with plenty of other similar areas. New supports to help stabilize the tent, along with new screens and "Stanley cloth" - the white areas pictured below. Last will be the new roof!

If you're planning on being here for your vacation in the next couple of months don't be surprised if you see our maintenance crew working on a tent like this one. We promise the tent you'll be in will have a roof :)

More counter tops

2011-07-12T14:33:00.003-04:00

Just a couple days ago we mentioned how guests staying in our Harmony units may notice new sink counter tops. Starting soon you won't have to stay with us to check out our new crushed glass & concrete counter tops. The new pavilion being constructed at Big Maho will feature the above counter top, and its big: this one weighs about 450lbs! It took 6 people just to load it into the truck when we moved it from camp to Big Maho.

The estimate for how many glass beer bottles went into this one counter? about 1,000! If we figure to have used about 100lbs of concrete it would leave us with about 350lbs of glass. If we then figure about 3 beer bottles per pound of glass we get roughly 1,000 bottles! That's a heck of a lot of glass bottles not going into the trash (St. John doesn't recycle any glass).

The two counter tops sitting just behind the big piece on the rack each weigh a bit less than the big one, but if you combined all three it would be roughly 1,000lbs of glass, or about 3,000 beer bottles.

As a side note: when we delivered the counter tops today the workers were painting the outside shutters on the main building (notice the red shutter in the picture). However, that doesn't mean they're putting the final touches on the whole project, not even close! My own estimate is about 2 or 3 more months.

Harmony Studios & counter tops

2011-07-10T13:07:00.005-04:00

Those of you that have stayed with us before and are planning a stay with us in Harmony Studios this winter may notice something a little different in your units this year.

"building" on the theme of using as many crushed glass bottles as we can around Maho and St. John, our latest project includes making counter tops like the one pictured above. The process of collecting glass, crushing the glass, creating a mold, mixing the cement with crushed glass, pouring, curing, and finally sanding/polishing the final result takes a great deal of time, but the final result speaks for itself!

You may notice a few pieces of glass within the counter top that don't exactly look like crushed glass; our talented glass blowers have created many different unique "pulled glass" pieces that have then been sliced like bread and carefully placed in the cement before it hardens. And of course the soap dish was made here as well!

If you're curious what it is we're working on directly across from the glass studio then come ask us, we're probably working on a counter top like the one above.

The Struggle to Save Maho Bay - the World’s First Eco-Resort

2011-06-26T11:43:00.003-04:00

I guess it'd be hard to post ALL the publicity we get in general on this blog, but when it comes to the end of our lease and the end of Maho Bay Camps it's almost impossible to put everything we find up here. But to quote Oscar Wilde..........."the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about!"

Mark Johanson is an editor at IBTimes Travel, though most of us here at Maho know him better as a recent staff member, so we just HAD to post his thoughts: The Struggle to Save Maho Bay - the World’s First Eco-Resort

Read This Post and then the Article

2011-06-24T08:19:00.004-04:00

I was stumbling around the New York Times online this morning just to see what Travel news there was for the Caribbean and the Virgin Islands. I was hoping there would start to be an increase in awareness and coverage of our islands since we have added over 100,000 airline seats coming next season through Jet Blue and an increase in American Airlines flights through Miami (all of this adds up to potentially lower fares!). There was nothing new for me to check out, but, I did see right there on the St. John page of the Times Travel section quite possibly the best article ever written about Maho. Of course I've read it before, numerous times actually. If I could have it turned into a pillow case, I would sleep on it (Christmas gift anyone?). As I skim the text again, it really makes me want to take off the nametag, turn off the walky talky i'm attached to, burn the collared shirt, and check-in to a tent for the week. This is an especially odd feeling because I do happen to live on property.......in a tent. But, as wonderful as my life is, vacationing at Maho Bay is not something that can be replicated just by being on property each and every day.

A few Septembers ago a young guy with thick framed glasses, a v-neck tshirt, and a british accent asked me if he could interview me for his blog. I obliged, but honestly not with anywhere near the same furvor that I would have had he asked to interview me for the front page of Sunday's travel section for the NYT......lesson learned, humility grasped. Benji and I chatted for quite a while, probably longer than needed but it was mid afternoon and the temperature difference between the office and the outside where more work beckoned was probably 20 degrees factoring in humidity. He had tons of questions and wore out that pen on the small pad he was carrying. Needless to say, my attitude about blog interviews has drastically changed for all of eternity.

Looking back on the article, I realize that even in 2009 a topic of interview discussion was the impending ending date of the lease. It didn't feel the same in 2009 though. There was time for our Neo (Matrix), Jake Sully (Avatar), Frodo (LOTR), or the kid with the Knuckle Puck from Mighty Ducks 2 to come in and make everything better. But alas, that article still gives me chills. Whether you have just returned from Maho or are planning next years vacation or have stumbeled upon our Green Musings by accident, take a moment to read or re-read the article. I promise it will bring you right back here at your desk, in your cubicle, or on the train via your iphone.

Note: When sending someone a thank you gift to the UK, make sure you send money for the customs duties they are going to have to pay to recieve it.

Lionfish update #2

2011-06-21T09:44:00.004-04:00

This past winter season Maho Bay Camps had a resident lionfish killer living among us, as every other day or so we'd hear tales about the latest kill just off Little Maho, Big Maho or Francis. Lately all has been quiet in terms of kill counts around here, which is either really good or really bad, Good: there are no lionfish around the area or Bad: nobody is out in the area making the kills.

Those not familiar with our fight against this invasive species can find plenty of great information on the CORE Foundation website and their Facebook Page. As bad as it is to find these fish, and as little hope as I & others have for complete eradication in the area, I have been enjoying the updates with pictures of each "search & destroy" mission.

It also appears that the VI Government is starting to step forward with some ideas as well with a bill "authorizing the V.I. Agriculture Department to distribute, manage and operate legislative appropriations for lionfish management."

As a reminder for those on a first visit to Maho, if you do see one in the water while snorkeling please do something about it! At the very least tell others and/or someone here at Maho, most likely one of our staff would love to go get it. But you can also go back out and drop a marker on it and call the National Park or CORE, better yet carry a marker with you while snorkeling (available at our Activities desk as well as Watersports). While absolutely beautiful to see one underwater while snorkeling, they're worth much more to our ecosystem dead than alive!

The photo pictured above is from a catch at Reef Bay last month, this one was one of 3 that we found that day. All 3 were hanging out under the same overhanging shelf of coral, in perhaps 12 feet of water. Unfortunately we were only able to kill 2 of the 3, the one pictured above being the biggest.

Little Maho Dolphins

2011-06-19T07:47:00.005-04:00

Apparently we should have trademarked our "year of the dolphin" tagline, because they seem to be everywhere this year.........2/6/11, 2/13/11

Captain Fred and Renee sent us these pictures today with the following: "We were getting ready for our sunset sail on Friday when we spotted what we thought was one..then two..then finally three dolphins in Maho Bay at our mooring. Woody was headed over to Francis Bay..we called him over and they were right between him and Pepper."

Those looking for more can search sailpepper on Facebook for video as well.

If you look closely in the distance you can see a couple Maho tents, but those with a careful eye looking even closer (click to enlarge) will notice a car on the beach at Big Maho Beach - something you never would have seen just a few years ago. Please Please Please don't park on the beach! Vehicles parking on the beach drip oil, gas, coolant and a host of other fluids onto our beaches and then into our beautiful waters eventually damaging our ecosystem, as well as damaging the root systems of the surrounding vegetation vital in helping run-off and erosion.

Blue.......Jet Blue

2011-06-17T12:24:00.002-04:00

Jet Blue announced this week that it will be offering flights nonstop starting Dec 15th from Boston to St. Thomas 5 days a week!! On the way back there is a stopover in San Juan, but thats ok.

I ran a quick test search to check out pricing:

1 traveler roundtrip: Boston, MA (BOS) to Saint Thomas, VI (STT)

Departing Flight #807
- BOS
- STT
12/17 9:35AM
12/17 2:30PM
Returning Flight #808
- STT
- BOS
12/26 3:20PM
12/26 7:29PM

Airfare
Fare:
$458.00 x 1 = $458.00
Taxes & Fees
$50.10
Total:
$508.10

Those travel times are great, not at the airport too early and getting here with plenty of daylight. Even with the stop in San Juan you leave STT at 3:20 and are home by 7:30. This is great news. Here is a USA Today article on the matter. These 88,000 new seats should really help to drive down high prices we saw last winter even if the Jet Blue flight is not the cheapest for you since competition in the airline market is a great thing. Hope to see more bahstun folks this year.

More local publicity for our Art Center

2011-06-13T13:39:00.004-04:00

On-StJohn.com has posted a great video today about our recycled glass program here at Maho. Mariel & Greg, our resident glassblowers, get quite a bit of facetime as they create a palm tree mug and tree frog. Towards the second half of the video is our newest form of recycling: mixing glass with concrete to create table tops.

Those in the area this week should definitely stop by and watch one of our demonstrations, now on Monday or Friday nights. Of course if you're interested in taking a class like Jeff & Russ are doing in the video you'll have to call us ahead of time or stop by first thing upon your arrival.

2011-06-11T16:04:00.004-04:00

While on vacation for the week there's a very good chance you'll stumble upon historic ruins, usually on purpose but sometimes by chance. There are quite a few different sugar plantations, rum distilleries, great houses, windmills, and customs houses scattered about St. John.

A handful of ruins on St. John are now frequently visited by our rapidly increasing deer population, and not by chance if they have plenty of green grass available. While visiting the ruins at Cinnamon recently these two deer gave me a look as if to say "please come back later, we're eating right now."

If you hear a rumbling in the bush behind your tent early in the morning or in the early evening hours there's a good chance you're hearing or about to see a deer.

America Hill trail

2011-06-07T09:50:00.005-04:00

When guests ask which hiking trail we'd recommend if starting out from Maho a favorite of mine would have to be America Hill. It's an "easy" walk from Maho to Cinnamon Bay, where one of the start points for getting to America Hill begins (the other would be on Centerline Road). Before or after the America Hill hike you can explore the ruins just off the road at Cinnamon, which have recently been transformed with a series of concrete and raised boardwalks (like ours!).

Be prepared for the start of the trail, it's a straight shot uphill for what seems like forever. Once the first part has been climbed its relatively easy navigating the switchbacks all the way to the top. Total hiking time going up from the Cinnamon ruins: 25 minutes or so

The views from the America Hill Estate House are incredible, and perhaps the only spot on St. John where one can view Peter Bay, Cinnamon Bay, Big & Little Maho, Francis Bay, and Waterlemon Bay - all at the same time. The Estate House itself is absolutely huge and beautiful, one which you'll spend plenty of time wondering how they ever carried so much brick, coral and concrete up the trail you just climbed!

Since you'll be so high above Maho & Francis Bay you can clearly see the white roofs of a few Maho tents. Bring a pair of binoculars and if the water is clear you can also see plenty of snorkelers between Big Maho and Little Maho. And if you're eyes are really good and the weather is clear you can see all the way to the West End of Tortola.

Caution: wear bug spray and listen for Jack Spaniards - towards the top you'll hear plenty of them buzzing around.

guest video

2011-06-05T07:41:00.003-04:00

A few days ago we were sent a link to a great video about Maho by a recent guest:

Maho's Closing

2011-06-03T13:33:00.003-04:00

(This is just more detailed information than the newsletter that went out)

Maho Bay Camps started in 1976 with a 36 year lease and the day we have all dreaded has come. Our lease will expire July 31^st, 2012 as we have not been granted the extension we were all so anxious for. We had also hoped that The Trust for Public Lands and our landowners would be able to come to an agreement, but those talks have faltered and no further negotiations are taking place. Should the property not be sold by April 30^th, 2012, our lease will automatically renew for 1 year, however, we will not know until that date if operations can resume. If our lease were to automatically renew, we will have to “play it by ear” and continue limited operations of Maho Bay Camps and Harmony Studios and will begin taking reservations for the 2012-2013 season at that time.

Because we have not yet been granted an extension, we will not be able to guarantee a place for our guests to come and our staff will need to make future plans for themselves. As such, we are planning to close our doors effective June 1, 2012 and will cease taking 1 yr advance reservations after May 31^st, 2011.

Maho Bay Camps has been a special place for so many of us. Many of you used Maho Bay Camps for times of celebrations, whether it be honeymoons, birthdays, reunions, or anniversaries. For others Maho was your retreat and your place of rejuvenation, and for all it was a place to get in shape! While this news is sad, this year will be a year of memories and continued celebration of the place that has been so special to both me and our loyal guests. We look forward to a great season with those who have made this place possible and the unique gem that it is.

And They're Off!

2011-05-29T08:34:00.006-04:00

Quite a bit of activity last night here at the Maho Pavilion as registration for the Beach to Beach Swim began, followed by a race overview and dinner. Those that planned ahead and reserved a tent here at Maho had an easy "commute" down the goat trail to Big Maho this morning for the start of the race at 8am.

Our A-Section tents provided the best views this morning for the start of the race. Our best estimates would be somewhere between 125-150 people? (edit: apparently 203 signed up the night before). Swimmers couldn't have asked for a better day in terms of weather; the water was perfectly calm and looked like it would stay that way for the rest of the day. Of course that doesn't include all the volunteers out on kayaks, surf boards (paddle boarding) and boats.

Kayakers, boaters and paddleboarders await the start (above)

Swimming the length of Big Maho before heading to Cinnamon Bay (below)

The first swimmers in the water (below) just have 3 1/2 miles to go!

shark presentation - Pavilion Restaurant Monday May 30th

2011-05-28T11:14:00.002-04:00

The Coral Bay Community Council welcomes back our shark researchers. They are doing two presentations this year to share their research: May 30st and June 1^st. 'A Review of USVI Shark Research from 2004 to Present' by Bryan DeAngelis and Dr. Greg Skomal. This will be the evening program at the Maho Bay Campgrounds Pavilion at 7:30 pm, Monday, May 30th. (The restaurant serves dinner from 5:30 to 7pm - this is the after dinner evening program for the guests too.) The second presentation will be Concordia Eco Resort, June 1st at 6:30 – (The restaurant at Concordia serves from 5:30 to 9:30 pm, you can purchase drinks and come to the presentation). The shark researchers are returning this week for their 6th year of juvenile shark research in Coral Bay and Fish Bay. Learn about the juvenile sharks - 12 inches to 2 feet long - that live in our shallow bay nurseries. Over the years, the membership and volunteers of CBCC have helped support the research with donated hours, boats, gas, along with other grants. Concordia Resort has donated lodging. Come hear about the shark research we have all helped support. Everyone is welcome. For more information call the CBCC office at 776-2099.

Coral Bay Community Council, Inc. is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization
Mailing address: 9901 Emmaus, St. John VI 00830 Phone/fax: 340-776-2099
Website: www.coralbaycommunitycouncil.org
Office: 8-1 Emmaus, Coral Bay, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

island exposure

2011-05-23T07:46:00.004-04:00

Last week Jeff & Russ of the very popular island blog on-stjohn.com were here at Maho learning about our glass blowing and taking a class. Mariel & Greg, our two resident glass blowers, where here to show them how to "pull a flower." Video coming soon they promise!

2011-05-22T07:50:00.004-04:00

What do you do when it won't stop raining? Close the beach cafe and open the Pavilion Restaurant for lunch! Pictured below is a rare sight - activity in our restaurant during lunch hour (our restaurant is only open for breakfast and dinner).

Sliders, hot dogs, chicken fingers and wraps were on the menu

The good news for those arriving this week is that you won't be having lunch with us in the restaurant - the sun is back and the beach cafe is open for business.

Maho R&D

2011-05-20T16:07:00.004-04:00

The Maho Research and Development Department (Dan, really) has been playing around with our waste oil from the kitchen. We did get flame last week, and this week Dan has been working on getting a setup that will maintain its flame. Today was our first really good test run where we were able to estimate how much "fuel" it will take to run. We estimate that to run the burner for 24 hours, we would use 15 gallons of waste vegetable oil. As time goes on, i'm sure the amount of oil used will drop as we learn how to become more efficient. The first use of the burner will be for the kiln in our pottery studio. Gail is super excited about the prospect of limiting her propane cost and we are happy to have somewhere to get rid of our waste oil. More to come in the future as Maho R&D is in full effect

no more rain please!

2011-05-17T14:41:00.004-04:00

What a difference a month can make for the trees here around Maho and the whole island of St. John. On March 29th we were complaining about no rain, and up until last week we were still begging for it to start raining. Well, last week we got our answer and everyone has changed their tune - no more rain please! We've seen one wet day after the next and we're ready for those beautiful May beach days.

For comparison below are pictures from March 29th (very dry but blue sky) and May 15th (very green but grey sky!)

longer days and summer rates

2011-05-14T17:17:00.005-04:00

The days are getting a little longer around here, with the sun rising around 5:45am and setting around 6:45pm. The daylight hours don't change that much here, like they do in the summer and winter up north, but its still nice to get an extra hour or so of sunlight to spend at the beach. If you come down this month or any month in the summer you may be getting more value for you dollar vs. coming in February, what with that whole extra hour worth of daylight! Add to that the summer rate of $80/night ($60/night single travelers) that just went into place and you've got a great deal!

this day in conserving land on St. John...........

2011-05-10T15:04:00.004-04:00

In what can only be good for all of us that live here and all of you who will eventually visit: This week we learned of a 3.6 acre parcel of land near a favorite snorkel spot on the East End of St. John being protected forever. Lauren Mercadante has been vacationing and volunteering here on St. John for many years, and now has started the St. John Land Conservancy and purchased the more than 3 acres of property on Haulover Bay.

“What I am particularly excited about is that St. John Land Conservancy has been formed and will be able to do other things on St. John where there is a development threat to property that is really in need of conserving,” said Muilenburg. “There is really a lot of potential support for something like this.”

Full story viewable through our own Tradewinds Newspaper

school picture day

2011-05-09T10:45:00.003-04:00

The end of season staff celebration first had us all gather in the dining pavilion for picture day:

lazy afternoons

2011-05-07T14:00:00.004-04:00

Some have it pretty good. If anyone knows best how to fully relax, it would have to be Althea. Of all the visitors and locals relaxing on this island, she definitely wins the award for most hours spent "Limin." Today we found her fully stretched-out in a chair just in front of the Maho Store, our lunch time social spot, around noon. While I felt like telling her the chair was for guests or staff and not cats, I thought better of it when I realized she has spent more time on this island than almost everyone that works here.

If you see Althea during your stay be sure to stop and say hello, she has let thousands of guests pet her over the years and will certainly appreciate your friendly touch, even if you wake her up.

Big Maho Pavilion

2011-05-06T08:30:00.007-04:00

Most visitors to Maho Bay Camps are very familiar with one of the nicest and biggest beaches on the North Shore, Big Maho. We are conveniently located just a 10 minute hike away from the white sand, palm trees and shallow waters of Big Maho Beach. Over the past few years Big Maho has seen quite a transformation, as visitors have found or created more and more parking spots along the side of the road, both the beach side and other side.

In an effort to stop the roadside parking that damages root systems (possibly leading to more erosion), contaminates the sand, and creates traffic hazards the National Park has recently started two big projects that should help protect the area. The National Park has leased land from the Trust for Public Land on the end of the beach closest to Maho Camps that will be used as a parking area with non-permanent improvements done to the area. On the other end of the beach, furthest from Maho Camps, renovations will be done the the existing pavilion area. Bathrooms are being installed and a few extra parking spots will be created as well as "enhancements to the picnic area" for a grand total of about $500k. The old blue pavilion structure has taken quite a transformation in the past weeks, but we hope to see some beautiful results soon!

Pictured below, what the Big Maho parking situation never looks like at noon on any day of the week:

2011-05-03T09:24:00.002-04:00

Maho Bay Camps Glass Studio

Cordially invites you to attend

An opening reception

For Gregory Lee and Mariel Bass

Friday May 6, 2011

5 pm to 8 pm

at Bajo el Sol Gallery

Mongoose Junction

Wood Fired Pottery

2011-05-02T07:57:00.004-04:00

If you're ever around when we're firing our kiln then you're in for a treat. Our wood fired kiln is very much a group effort from start to finish: Since everything bulk on this island seems to be shipped on pallets we certainly have plenty of scrap pallet wood to choose from, that would otherwise be tossed in the trash. Picking up the pallets and bringing them here to disassemble is the first chore, and perhaps the most labor intensive. Once the kiln is loaded and fired it required continuous stoking until it reaches a final temperature of 2340 degrees F. After waiting for the last of the wood to burn the kiln stays sealed until its opening, about a day later.

The most interesting part? The ash from the fire becomes part of the glaze, creating a glassy sheen on raw clay surfaces, offering a completely unpredictable result. Unloading the kiln becomes a surprise to everyone, as seen below.

2 less anoles here at Maho

2011-04-27T09:33:00.004-04:00

One of the most popular comments at our registration desk upon check-out at the end of a stay is "I wish we could stay longer, but unfortunately we need to check-out this morning."

Apparently the opposite is true if you're an Anole: The other day I was leaving Maho when I noticed two of them sitting on the hood and windshield of my truck as I left Maho. As soon as I reached the bottom of the Maho driveway and main road they both jumped-ship! Jeez, I had no idea the lizards had it so bad at Maho!

Interestingly enough, anoles tend to be fairly territorial. Once they find a home and "roaming grounds" they tend to stay in that area for life. If you find one in your tent then most likely they're wondering why you're entering their territory. Throughout the day you'll probably notice them "sunning" themselves on ledges, taking naps in the shady parts of the tent, doing "push-ups," and peeping out the screens looking for others trying to intrude on their territory.

I'd like to think I caught these two on an off day, when they had roamed too far out of their territory, and not that they desperately wanted to leave Maho.

Easter sand castles

2011-04-24T15:27:00.005-04:00

Part of our Easter celebrations yesterday included an Easter egg hunt as well as a sand castle building contest at Little Maho Beach. There were some very impressive castles and sculptures, as seen below.

The winners?

Best traditional: Penelope's Castle. Check out the tiny little snowmen made of sand inside the castle!

"How the heck did they do that" award: Fluffy the magic dragon

Best use of space (as well as human sacrifice, the boys threw themselves in front of a wave just to save the castle!): Aqua City

Pictured below is Crispin, proudly displaying one of the many turkeys prepared for our Easter Sunday dinner at the Pavilion Restaurant last night.

Easter eggs

2011-04-24T07:56:00.002-04:00

What do you do when there are 50 or more kids at Maho over Easter? Color eggs! Color eggs we did, about 200 of them. Lets just say that this Easter Sunday at Little Maho there will be a lot of egg salad sandwiches being eaten.

New Rights for Airline Travelers

2011-04-22T11:11:00.002-04:00

Unless you are sailing to your next Maho vacation, this applies to you. The Department of Transportation has rolled out some new rights for passengers/obligations for airlines. I read numerous articles on the matter and Chris McGinnis did the best job of explaining the 7 changes that will effect us the most. My favorite aspect is the 24 hold period for tickets. Countless times I've needed that 24 hours to be able to make the pieces fit and being able to hold those tickets is a huge deal.

Here is his article and a link to his article in the San Francisco Gate .

Yesterday, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) announced a broad range of new or enhanced airline consumer protections that will go into effect in September.

As is often the case with governmental regulations, new US rules are lengthy (213 pages!) and full of loopholes. Here are seven important details that matter most to frequent travelers:

1) TARMAC DELAYS. Current rules that impose heavy fines on US airlines for tarmac delays will be extended to cover international flights and non-US carriers operating in the United States. For domestic US flights, the tarmac delay limit is three hours. For international flights, the limit will be four hours. Carriers will be required to provide trapped passengers with status updates at least every 30 minutes, plus food and water every two hours.

2) NOTIFICATION OF IRREGULARITIES. All airlines must offer passengers a flight status update service (i.e., email or text) to which they can subscribe. They must also notify passengers within 30 minutes of becoming aware of a situation that will delay, divert or cancel a flight.

3) 24-HOUR GRACE PERIOD. Airlines will have to hold all reservations for at least 24 hours at the quoted fare, without payment. If a payment is made at the time of reservation, it must be refunded if a passenger cancels the purchase within 24 hours. (Many airlines already do this; the new rules force all of them to do so, uniformly.)

4) FEE REFUNDS FOR LOST (NOT DELAYED) BAGS. Airlines are now required to refund checked baggage fees (which generally run from $20 to $35 each way) in addition to compensating passengers when bags are lost or destroyed. However, new rules do not force airlines to refund fees if bags are simply delayed and eventually delivered to owners.

5) FEE DISCLOSURE. Airlines must clearly disclose all potential fees via prominent links on their homepages. The DOT says these fees and charges include checked, carry-on, oversized or overweight bags, meals, on-board entertainment, Internet access, pillows, blankets, premium coach seating, phone reservations, early boarding, ticket changes or cancellations, unaccompanied minors and pets.

6) FULL-PRICE DISPLAYS. When airlines quote, display or advertise fares, they must always include all government taxes and fees, which in some cases can make up as much as half of the total price of a ticket. (This should make comparing apples to apples much easier when fare shopping.)

7) BUMPING. Compensation for involuntarily bumped passengers will double to a maximum of $650 if the replacement flight results in a delay of less than two hours or $1,300 if the delay is more than two hours. This applies to both purchased and frequent flyer award tickets. (Note: US passengers are not entitled to any compensation for flight delays - these rules only apply if a passenger is involuntarily bumped.)

calm winds and calm waters

2011-04-20T12:52:00.005-04:00

Today was one of those handful of days we have each year where the water surface of the ocean in our front yard looks just like glass. Typically we have a steady breeze and/or a swell to keep the water surface inconsistent, but on days with 1-3 knot winds and zero swell (like yesterday, today, and tomorrow) our water is as calm as can be.

What do you do when we have no wind, no swell, and perfectly calm waters?

DO:

1) Try paddleboarding (we have the boards and paddles here at Maho now)

2) Go snorkeling. The goal with snorkeling is to float and observe, which is much easier in calm water.

3)Go kayaking. Calm waters make for much less paddling!

4)Go powerboating or deep sea fishing. There may not be a breeze standing still, but moving across flat calm seas at 35 knots will get you a nice cool breeze!

DON'T:

1)Go surfing or windsurfing.

2)Go sailing, or at least expect to sail very fast!

3)Go hiking, unless you bring plenty of water - no breeze makes for quite a sweat!

The picture below was taken just after sunrise this morning, but when you wake up on vacation and see what appears to be slicks of oil on the water surface (like below) you know you're in for a calm day on the water.

Easter Sunday dinner menu

2011-04-19T08:20:00.003-04:00

For those staying down here now or those living on island in search for a family style dinner this Easter Sunday we have your answer!

water spouts

2011-04-16T12:58:00.003-04:00

The talk at dinner the other night was all about water spouts; today there was one visible from most of the North Shore of St. John, as well as our Pavilion Restaurant and by the Pepper sailboat (who took these pictures). The likelihood of seeing one yourself while down here? Perhaps about as likely as seeing dolphins while at the beach........certainly possible but not commonplace.

It will only take a second.....

2011-04-14T10:06:00.003-04:00

....to help the Animal Care Center of St. John make a little extra money. The Animal Rescue Site is running a contest and will be awarding money to various shelters around the US and Internationally based on voting. The ACC on St. John is the only "animal" resource on St. John. There is no government sponsored animal control department. The shelter runs on donations and volunteer work. They work tirelessly making sure stray and abused animals are taken care of temporarily while also working to find them a home, sometimes being adopted by visitors and taken back to the states. On Saturday May 21st will be the annual Wagapalooza fundraiser for the St. John ACC, more details to come in the future on that one. As for now, here are the instructions for voting.
Click Here for voting site
Change Country to Virgin Islands of the U.S.
Click Search (No need to type in a state or shelter name)
You will get two options, Animal Care Center of St. John, Inc. is who we are voting for! We are currently in 7th place for the International Division. We are hoping our Maho faithful will help boost our standings a bit!
Here is a picture of Elvis with that adorable face wondering why you haven't voted yet (he can be adopted from our ACC!).

For more reinforcement, here is Charlie also asking you to vote everyday.

Click Here to see other adoptable St. John dogs.

Work Exchange Program

2011-04-13T12:45:00.002-04:00

Just a couple more days left to apply for our Work Exchange Program this summer & fall!

Each year we accept applications from December 15th through April 15th for positions starting May 1st through October. For those unfamiliar, our exchange program allows a person to work (30 hours per week) in exchange for lodging and a 40% discount at our Maho General Store and Restaurant. What a deal!

We do require a minimum stay of one month, or as we say.....you're forced to enjoy Maho and St. John for at least one month! Often times we hire full-time staff from those in our exchange program, so if working here full-time was of interest then this is your ticket!

Be aware that you would be working at times in high heat (summer temperatures range from 90 to 95 degrees) and high humidity. All our tent cottages are connected by staircases starting at sea level and going up the hill side several hundred feet. The no-see-um's (a variation on the sand flea) can be a major annoyance to those who have a reaction to their bites. This program is not recommended for anyone with health conditions, which may be exacerbated by strenuous work in a hot climate.

If you've never been to Maho, if you're looking for a plane ticket to buy with all that tax refund money, or if it's been a long time since you've visited us here at Maho then send us an application really soon!

More trash & more treasure!

2011-04-10T08:25:00.002-04:00

Rachel, a crafty 11 year old was searching for a way to recycle the six-pack rings left in the store. The power of the internet, led us to Pak-it Products website(pakitproducts.com),as the manufacturer of these plastic contraptions they have offered society several creative alternatives for their use. We started out small re-creating their snow flake, and created a palm tree and a jellyfish because they seemed more appropriate for the island (as seen near our registration desk). Our biggest project was the creation of the hammock using 100 six-pack rings in the process, this project took several days and a trip to the hardware store for metal rings and clothes line. We worked the clothes line through the six-pack rings to secure each loop and Bryan from maintenance cut boards for the spacers and drilled holes for the clothes line to fit through. Overall team effort to show, you don't have to throw it in the trash.

Guest suggestions update #2

2011-04-06T15:32:00.003-04:00

Our original post about not recycling newspaper or plastic bottles seemed to draw a good amount of attention online, through emails, and talk around camp. I realized today that there is a way in which we recycle newspapers here at Maho: for use in glassblowing! In fact, it appears as though we import newspapers from at least one other source on island to meet our demand in glassblowing.

If you've ever watched a demonstration here you've probably seen our glassblowers use many different tools to reshape the glass while it's hot. One of the "tools" they use is folded-up newspapers, which they soak in water. Since forming the hot glass with your hand is impossible, wet and folded newspaper is the next best thing!

Pictured above is a demonstration in progress, below is a piece of folded newspaper (the business section) that has been put to use.

saving cans

2011-04-04T14:04:00.004-04:00

The other day a staff member mentioned that we desperately needed to get to St. Thomas with our recycled cans, as the pile of our collected cans from camp was growing out of control. There is a place on St. Thomas that will recycle cans if you bring them yourself, so each trip we make to St. Thomas we try to load-up with cans. I decided to take a stroll over to our "aluminum can storage area," which is basically nothing more than a 12ft by 12ft covered shed. Much to my surprise we had cans overflowing the shed and stacked all along the outside!

I took a different look at the huge pile than most; since there is very little on this island that can be recycled, I liked how our recycling storage area was being used to the max! It reminded me of the saying "give him an inch and he'll take a yard." - as in, give us one thing to recycle on this island and we'll put our best effort into giving you as much as possible.

The USVI Postal Service

2011-04-03T08:18:00.010-04:00

Holding packages at the front desk is something Maho Bay has always been happy to do for our guests, and as time goes on it seems that more and more people are boxing up and shipping certain necessities rather than purchasing them after their arrival on St. John. Here are some helpful tips to ensure that your packages not only reach Maho Bay by the time you do, but also reach you intact.

While we understand that food costs, and other items, are much less in the continental United States, please remember that there are grocery stores on St. John that have everything you need. We even have the Maho Bay General Store which has a generous supply of produce, dairy, dry goods, as well as toiletries and other necessities.

· Ship Priority: No matter what the post office tells you, even priority boxes can take up to three weeks to get to St. John. Parcel post takes a minimum of 3 weeks, but more commonly takes 4-6 weeks.

· No liquids: Please keep in mind that while the US Postal Service does their best, occasionally your boxes, during the long journey it takes to get here, can get a little beaten up in the process. Having any liquids in your package means there is a greater chance that upon arrival you may discover your box is leaking and a little stinky!!

· Non-Perishables Only: Don’t forget, it will take 2-4 weeks for you box to arrive, so please don’t pack anything that may go bad in that period of time.

· Be wary of shipping glass:If you ship any glass jars, please be sure to wrap them in plastic so if by chance they break, it will not ruin the remaining items in your package.

· Keep it light: Please keep in mind we ask that you not ship boxes that weigh more than twenty-five pounds and/or do not exceed 3ft x 3ft x 3ft dimensions. The easiest way to ship anything is to use Priority Flat Rate boxes that can be found at any US Post Office.

Name, "guest staying...dates"

Maho Bay Camps

P.O. Box 310

St. John, VI 00831

**If you have any packages that exceed the weight/size limit you have the option of shipping to Connections Office in Cruz Bay. They will hold packages until you are able to receive them. You can reach Connections at (340) 776-6922.

If you have any questions regarding packaging or mailing services on St. John please feel free to call Registration Desk at (340) 776-6226 or email at registration@maho.org.

Pictured is a recent package to arrive at Maho, clearing having seen the worst of the Postal system upon its trip down here. This package had been taped during shipment by the USPS, but still managed to leak the contents out of a busted corner. Upon moving the package for the picture it also sounded like this guest sent themselves a bunch of crushed glass as well :)

Guest ride share update

2011-03-31T07:05:00.000-04:00

Wow, there's quite a deal posted right now on the ride share board: "Lunch at Miss Lucy's, if you give the two of us a ride we'll buy lunch for two of you." That's a little more than I imagined the "share" or "donation" would be, maybe the price of gas has gone up quite a bit this week! Hmm, come to think of it maybe I'm interested in giving these folks a ride in trade for lunch at Miss Lucy's this weekend.

Send us some rain!

2011-03-29T14:45:00.004-04:00

This time of year brings us to the "shoulder season of dryness" on the island of St. John. For the beginning of April and most of June we tend to see numerous rain showers during the day and night, the type of showers that last all of 5 or 10 minutes, just enough to cool you down during a hot spring day.

It seems especially strange this year to be hearing locals and visitors alike commenting on how dry it is right now on the island; this fall was one of the wettest we've had on record, with massive flooding all over the island. I can't remember how many days in a row we went without seeing the sun, but it was pretty bad.

While our vegetation and cisterns desperately need some heavy rainfall, one after effect of a good rainstorm none of us are looking forward to? the mosquitoes!

Pictured above is blue sky and full sun shinning down on the hillside heading down the Maho driveway, near the Francis Bay walking trail. Pictured below is the vegetation on the side of the driveway heading up towards Maho Bay.......Just a tiny bit of green within a sea of dry brown.

Guest suggestions

2011-03-27T09:02:00.003-04:00

The latest idea from our guest suggestion box that has been put into action: Guest ride share. We still have our beloved Mr. Frett making his runs to and from town every hour, but what about guests looking to visit specific restaurants, beaches, or later nights in town?

"You should have a guest ride share board where guests with a jeep can look for another couple to join them for dinner or just the ride into town, or where guests without a jeep and looking to visit specific restaurants, hiking trails or beaches could post." Great idea whoever this was!

I would imagine this would be best or most used by vacationing couples looking to save a few bucks on our now $4.06/gallon gas on island. Having someone else contribute cash for the ride into town you're making anyway certainly can't hurt. We've posted the new sign near registration and we'll see how it goes.

searching for the green flash

2011-03-23T10:51:00.002-04:00

Since getting to this island almost 6 years ago I've been in search of what's called the "green flash" at sunset here on St. John. While perhaps not seen quite as often here on St. John as other parts of the world, it apparently has been see here at Maho. The idea told by those that have seen the flash here (and from a quick Wikipedia search) is that seconds after or during sunset you'll see a ray or flash of green as the sun sets.......how cool is that?! Well, apparently the odds of being able to see one are near impossible here on St. John, but that doesn't stop me from trying each night as the sun sets.

Last week I had the pleasure of being able to sail with Capt. Fred & First Mate Renee of the Pepper here at Maho. Pepper is an Island Sloop, just 23 feet long, but with plenty of room for the 6 of us to catch the evening breezes and enjoy a beautiful sunset sail. Watching the sun set over St. Thomas on the Pepper was quite enjoyable, but unfortunately I'm still in search of the green flash.

Guest suggestions

2011-03-20T14:08:00.009-04:00

From time to time we'll get some interesting suggestions from guests in our guest surveys and comment boxes. Occasionally we'll see the same suggestions 2 or 3 times in one batch of 30 or so surveys.

The question that kept coming up last week revolved around recycling plastic bottles, perhaps our all-time most popular question/request/suggestion depending on the wording. This week: "please start recycling newspaper and plastic bottles. I saw an employee just pitching these from the recycling bins into regular trash cans."

As crazy as it may sound to most of those reading this, St. John and the USVI as a whole does not recycle anything. There's no separating trash either at home or at the dump, everything goes in the trash. To each and every vacationer on this island our lack of recycling just doesn't make any sense. For the past 20+ years recycling has just been something you do now, how could there still be places that don't recycle, right? Coming from anywhere in the U.S., a place where the vast majority of waste is recycled and very little is actually "trash" to a place like St. John where everything is thrown into trash cans can be a little drastic for most vacationers.

To be fair there was a community effort a couple years ago (and is still in operation) to start recycling aluminum soda cans. The bins, the collection, the signs, everything is all done by volunteers. So yes, on a volunteer basis we do now recycle something on this island!

Maho Bay Camps as an eco-resort has always had a hard time dealing with waste and trying to reduce the amount of trash we generate when recycling on the island doesn't exist. We've done a considerable amount since our inception, perhaps the holy grail of which would be the crushing and melting of glass collected here on camp that is turned into art & practical wares, then sold here at Maho and online.

So the plastic bottles and newspapers being pitched into the trash can by our employees? If anyone has a suggestion on what to do with the hundreds of plastic bottles we still collect weekly please let us know!

So far?

1) we don't sell 20oz plastic soda bottles (only cans). Last year we sold 9,360 20oz soda bottles!

2) our bottled water selection is down to 2 different sizes, one of which is made entirely from plants

3) the only newspapers we carry at Maho are a weekly paper and a monthly paper/magazine

One idea we've had so far for the plastic bottles would be to carry one or two home in your suitcase when departing and recycle them once home. We could have a bin available next to registration and upon checking-out guests could squeeze one or two into their suitcases. Not quite the solution to our island recycling problem but a start?

The good news is that when I went out to take a picture for this post today at 2:30pm (6 hours after we collected trash & recycling) it took looking at 3 separate recycling bins on camp before finding a plastic bottle in one of them! I'm hoping it means not having so many plastic options in the store has paid off, instead of the other option: we're really good at just throwing them straight into the trash now.

Winsconsin is thinking of Maho

2011-03-18T10:59:00.003-04:00

Great article written by a guest in the Wisconsin State Journal . Love the comparison of tents at night to illuminated pumpkins. Enjoy the read!

Daily Escape

2011-03-17T09:05:00.003-04:00

Its Thursday, which means that your week is almost over. Having a tough one? Needing something to get you through until your weekend? This video is kind of old, but the pictures are the same and can help you escape for just a few minutes back to the National Park here on St. John.

beach to beach to beach to beach

2011-03-16T11:03:00.007-04:00

The 8th Annual Beach to Beach Power Swim is already on the horizon and the talk amongst Maho staff. For those unfamiliar with the event: Starting at Big Maho swimmers have the option of competing in the short course, intermediate, long course or relay. If you're up for the entire Big Maho to Hawksnest long course then its a 3 1/2 mile power swim............or snorkel if you're the leisurely type! Definitely be sure to check out the course details, swim options, and map, as it can be a bit confusing for 1st timers.

Those still in the planning phase or considering a trip down here have some good news from Maho Bay Camps - We're offering our local rate ($40/night) to all participants in the race on the nights of Saturday May 28th and Sunday May 29th. Spending the night here at Maho is perhaps the easiest and closest you can get to the course on Sunday morning, just a 5 minute walk down the goat trail path to Big Maho. Talk about convenience!

Give us a call at Reservations to book 800 392 9004 or email us with any questions mahobay@maho.org

Documentary Caribbean Premiere - Maho Bay Resort

2011-03-14T08:48:00.002-04:00

New Documentary Film Connects

Leopold to Current Conservation Work

Green Fire film to have Caribbean premiere at Maho Bay Resort on St. John

CRUZ BAY, ST. JOHN— On Friday March 25 at 8:00 pm, the Aldo Leopold Foundation will host the Caribbean premiere of Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time, a new documentary film about legendary conservationist Aldo Leopold, best known as the author of the book A Sand County Almanac. The screening is free and open to the public and will be hosted at the Pavilion Restaurant at Maho Bay Camps, an Eco-resort with a 30 year history of preserving St. John’s lush natural environment.

Green Fire is the first feature length (72 min.), high definition documentary film ever made about famed conservationist Aldo Leopold. Emmy-Award winning narrator Peter Coyote lends his talent as the voice of Aldo Leopold, and the film’s on-screen guide is Curt Meine, Leopold’s biographer. The film explores Aldo Leopold’s life in the early part of the twentieth century and the many ways his land ethic idea continues to be applied all over the world today.

Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time is a production of the Aldo Leopold Foundation, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Center for Humans and Nature. The film shares highlights from Leopold’s life and extraordinary career, explaining how he shaped conservation in the twentieth century and still inspires people today. Although probably best known as the author of the conservation classic A Sand County Almanac, Leopold is also renowned for his work as an educator, philosopher, forester, ecologist, and wilderness advocate.

Aldo Leopold’s work directly influenced the formation of many conservation organizations, including the U.S. National Park Service. The U.S. Virgin Islands National Park site is co-sponsoring the public screening at Maho Bay, and will also share the film with their management team earlier that day.

More than a dozen major premiere events are being held in during the six months of 2011, including screenings in San Francisco, Denver, New York, Seattle, Chicago, and Washington D.C. at the Smithsonian. The Aldo Leopold Foundation has also begun nationwide distribution of the film for small public screenings arranged by community organizers. The film will air on public television in 2012.

“Aldo Leopold’s legacy lives on today in the work of people and organizations across the nation and around the world,” said Aldo Leopold Foundation Executive Director Buddy Huffaker. “What is exciting about Green Fire is that it is more than just a documentary about Aldo Leopold; it also explores the influence his ideas have had in shaping the conservation movement as we know it today by highlighting some really inspiring people and organizations doing great work to connect people and the natural world in ways that even Leopold might not have imagined.”

Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time illustrates Leopold’s continuing influence by exploring current projects that connect people and land at the local level. Viewers will meet urban children in Chicago learning about local foods and ecological restoration. They’ll learn about ranchers in Arizona and New Mexico who maintain healthy landscapes by working on their own properties and with their neighbors, in cooperative community conservation efforts. They’ll meet wildlife biologists who are bringing back threatened and endangered species, from cranes to Mexican wolves, to the landscapes where they once thrived. The Green Fire film portrays how Leopold’s vision of a community that cares about both people and land—his call for a land ethic—ties all of these modern conservation stories together and offers inspiration and insight for the future.

“Aldo Leopold is one of our nation’s most beloved nature writers,” says environmental historian Susan Flader. “His A Sand County Almanac, published in 1949, has become a catalyst for our evolving ecological awareness and a classic in American literature.” Leopold is regarded by many as one of the most influential conservation thinkers of the twentieth century, and the film highlights the ways his legacy continues to encourage us to see the natural world “as a community to which we belong.”

The Aldo Leopold Foundation is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization based in Baraboo, Wisconsin. The foundation’s mission is to inspire an ethical relationship between people and land through the legacy of Aldo Leopold. Leopold regarded a land ethic as a product of social evolution. “Nothing so important as an ethic is ever ‘written,’” he explained. “It evolves ‘in the minds of a thinking community.’” Learn more about the Aldo Leopold Foundation and the Green Fire movie at www.aldoleopold.org

IF YOU GO:

DATE & TIME: Friday, March 25, 2011, 8:00pm

VENUE: Maho Bay Camps, Pavilion Restaurant

TICKETS: Free. No reservations required. For more information: http://www.greenfiremovie.com

CONTACT: Jennifer Kobylecky, 608-434-7994 or jennifer@aldoleopold.org .

2011-03-09T15:26:00.000-04:00

This has been the season for clearing common area views for our guests. We've been very fortunate in that we've had guests of various arbor and landscape professions share their knowledge with our maintenance crew. We are doing our best to give you the best views of that beautiful blue-green ocean through such a variety of trees, cactus and shrubs you've come to know and love.

Double rainbow.....what does it mean?!

2011-03-08T14:00:00.000-04:00

Sometimes the most unusual things happen, in the most common of places, and right in front of your eyes.

Last week we were getting quite a few rain showers early in the morning, lasting about 10-15 minutes or so, which in itself is a little unusual for this time of year. What was really unusual was one of the lowest profile rainbows any of us have seen, sitting right in front of Whistling Cay off of Little Maho beach (not to mention a double rainbow!):

Sarah, pictured below, is giving a dive training class in the foreground:

Fred & Renee of the Pepper sailboat (pictured) here at Maho had this to say: Red sky in the morning sailors take warning.......Renee said that goes for first mates too since it started pouring once she went back to the Pepper to set up lunch that day!

Today Show with Kathie Lee & Hoda

2011-03-06T11:11:00.006-04:00

Wow, talk about getting the tv exposure over the past couple of weeks. This week the Today Show had a Spring break escape feature that included Maho Bay Camps & a few pictures. Not quite as much as previously on News Channel 5 in Boston, but still good!

The entire clip is just over 3 minutes, our mention is right at the first minute:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/29054368/vp/41906950#41906950

Update from the Dirt

2011-03-04T15:03:00.004-04:00

And by dirt, we mean Maho Bay Clay Works!

Studio News for March and April:

This has been an active and fun filled winter at Maho Bay Clay Works. From our workshops with Garold Amsberry and Ara Cardew, our fabulous 2011 Winter Season Potter and Teacher, Stephanie and our brief visit from our friend and potter Casey...it has flown by too fast. There are a few cool opportunities coming up before we scatter in different directions, so please check out the following announcements. Thanks to all of you who have joined in by taking a workshop or coming to open studio, or participated in the wood firing we had on January 22. The next wood firing is scheduled for April 9, just before many of you head back to your homes in the States. I hope you will plan some of your pieces for a wood/salt glaze firing. Its a rare opportunity and the results can be really striking. Its also a good experience to volunteer for a firing duty shift...you'll learn a lot and gain a stronger sense of appreciation for this age-old craft.
Thanks again for your participation, All the very best to you! Gail

Maho Bay Clay Works Spring classes

Special Workshops Start this Week!

Sconce Making with Catherine Perry 3 Sundays March 6, 13, 20 1:00-3:00 PM $200.00 Learn to make beautiful , personalized

ceramic lighting fixtures ! Includes Clay and firing for one sconce. 3 additional open studio sessions included. one opening available!

Watercolor Landscape Painting One Day Beach Workshop Wednesday March 9, 10:00AM- 4:00PM , Full Day $90.00 Half Day $50.00

10AM-1:00PM Gail Van de Bogurt watercolor instructor at both Caneel Bay and Maho Bay, Guides you through the steps of landscape painting at Francis Bay Beach. bring your beach chair , bathing suit and sandwich. all painting supplies provided.
4 Week March & April Classes:

Potter’s Wheel Techniques 4 Tuesdays 6:30 PM-9:00PM Stephanie Seguin

Mar. 15, 22, 29 April 5 $175 This class is for those who have taken the beginners class or need a refresher course. designed for improving skills on the wheel, trimming, pulling handles, glazing. (Includes 4 open studios, clay & firing of pieces made in class)

April 6, 13,20,27 $175 Gail will demonstrate tall forms, things with lids, thrown and altered forms, surface decoration,designing sets, “finding your style” (Includes 4 open studios, clay & firing of pieces made in class)

ADVANCE REGISTRATION REQUIRED!
Local Open Studio Schedule: Saturdays and Wednesdays at 9am-12noon & 1pm-4pm, Mon. and Thurs. 6pm-9pm, For more information or to sign up for classes please call us 776-6226 ext. 226 or email gail@mahobayclayworks.com

Maho Bay Clay Works Winter 2011

Weekly Class Schedule and Information

Guest Open Studio FOR EXPERIENCED POTTERS

Mondays, 6 pm - 9 pm OR Wednesdays, 9 am - 12 noon There is NO INSTRUCTOR $40 per person includes 5 lb. stoneware , glazing and firing. Work with the island clay studio potters. Ages: 15 and up you may attend another open studio just to trim or add handles etc. (we will ship your fired work to you for a reasonable fee) if you are here all winter, ask for our complete open studio schedule.

Clay Whistles Thursdays 2:30 pm - 4:30 pm Minimum 4 students - Maximum 8 students $45 per person meet at clay studio Ages: 8 and up Make Dolphins, Conch Shells etc. that are also Whistles! (we will ship fired work to you at a reasonable rate)

Kids and Family Potters Wheel

Wednesdays 6:30pm - 8:30pm (Also Fridays by request) Minimum 4 students - Maximum 10 student $45 per person Ages: 10 and up meet at clay studio. fun in the mud! bring your camera and wear sneakers! (we will ship fired work to you at a reasonable rate)

Ceramic Pendants and Wind Chimes February 15 thru March 29 Tuesdays, 2 pm - 4 pm Minimum 4 students - Maximum 8 students $45 per person Ages: 10 and up meet at clay studio use local plants and sea life impressions. (we will ship your fired work to you at a reasonable rate)

Watercolor Landscape Painting

Fridays 10:00 am-1:00 pm Minimum 3 students - Maximum 6 students$48 per person meet at dining pavilion beginners and experienced painters welcome. Professional quality materials.Paint your view of the Virgin Islands. Take home your art to frame and new skills to keep on painting!

Watercolor Painting Kits available for rent at clay studio $15 per day, Ages: 15 and up .

Class Schedules may change, Advance registration by telephone recommended

Because pottery takes time for drying and firing, expect to take advantqge of our convenient shipping service. Average rate per person is $25. Depending on destination.

Call Maho Bay Camps: Activities 340-776-6226 ext 212. Pre-Registration is required.

Most classes have a minimum of 4 students, if you are here all winter, ask for our complete schedule: Maho Bay Clay Works 776-6226 ext. 226 email gail@mahobayclayworks.com

Lionfish update

2011-03-02T09:30:00.003-04:00

Each week here at Maho Karl Pytlik from the CORE Foundation has been doing presentations about an growing and concerning issue for us in the Virgin Islands: Lionfish. If you're not familiar with the problem we're facing I'd highly recommend watching his two-part series here, or coming to one of his presentations at Maho (next presentation on Thursday March 10th).

Below is a message from Karl:

Just wanted to check and give a few updates from CORE on St John.

We have had a busy week as far as St John goes; 11 captures

1-Yawzi Point

3-Salt Pond Bay

2-Little Maho

1-Francis bay

1-Big Maho

1-Chocolate Hole

1-Waterlemon Cay

1-Haulover

Total caught in February 18. There have been other sightings last week that were not marked and still need to be searched.

We also had 4 presentations;

2/20 aboard charter catamaran Kekoa CORE partnered with EAST (Environmental Association St Thomas) to give public awareness while folks enjoyed a whale watch EAST had set-up as one of their yearly fundraisers. I took time to speak wi

th all the guests on the boat about the lionfish and CORE as well as show them some caught specimens preserved in jars. We did get to see whales, a humpback stayed with the boat for almost an hour!

2/23/11, Maho Bay Camps. Had a great turnout for Public awareness slide presentation.

2/26/11. Estate Concordia. Public Awareness slide presentation

2/27/11, Whale Watch with EAST. This time Jaimie Irving, one of our volunteers as well as general manager of VIERS camp on St John went to

give a talk to the guests.

Upcoming presentations:

3/6/11- Whale Watch Kekoa

3/10/11- Maho Bay Camps

CORE will begin diver training again for the month of March. I will send out an email as soon as we have the dates booked. I will makes sure to have some take place earlier in the day for those who have evening shifts and have not been able to

attend.

We still have T-Shirts and Tank Tops if anyone would like to purchase one and support our cause.

Thank you again to everyone and their hard work!

Karl Pytlik

St John Coordinator

The CORE Foundation

340-201-2342

nolionfishstj@yahoo.com

Top photo from Haulover Bay on 2/27, bottom photo from Salt Pond on 2/21

8 Tuff continued

2011-03-01T09:41:00.008-04:00

We finally got our hands on some photos at the finish line in Coral Bay. We all were trying to get the coveted 1st place Maho staff finish, and as it turns out it came right down to the wire. Turning the corner into the ball field in Coral Bay it was down to Tyler & Ben, with Tyler having the slight lead. Ben attempted a pass and Tyler would have none of it, digging deep to come up with just enough energy to finish in the lead. Tyler held the glory of a 1st place Maho staff finish.......until he realized that Steve, a mere 3 times his age, had finished the race 6 minutes before him!

Pictured below is Tyler in the orange shorts and Ben in the black shirt:

Under the Big Top

2011-02-27T14:29:00.003-04:00

No, the circus hasn’t come to Maho – though sometimes it does feel like one! You have likely climbed those stairs up to the dining pavilion and stopped on the first landing to reflect in the windows at your disheveled beach hair, checked on your tan (we hope it’s not a sunburn), or even watched a bannanaquit on the windowsill pecking at his own reflection, until you realize that you are gazing at a mirrored window, which could in fact have a spectator on the inside…?! This is the area we refer to as ‘Under the Big Top’ - the administrative offices of Maho Bay Camps. The supporting foundation of Maho: the Bigwigs, Number Crunchers, and several other folks who quietly help to run the show, all tucked in under the dining area, somewhat immune to the scraping of chairs, excited screeches or tired cries of children, or even the stomping of feet (just think about band night). Herein you will find the Resort and Resident Managers’ offices, the accounting office, and the brains (as well as all of the shipping boxes) of the Art department. Wander by in the wee hours of the morning, or late some evening, and you might glimpse the lights and shadows of a maho staffer diligently posting to your folio the effects of your day – what you ate, snorkel gear you rented at watersports, or the charter you signed up for that sails tomorrow. Staff in the office may not always know you by face, but we know often know you by name, and know that you are eating well and having fun. Repeat guests become familiar to many of us over the years, and it is always a pleasure when we get to meet the face that goes with the name.

The staff time clock marks the entry to the office – an age-old intrigue to some of our younger mischievous campers. While parents are happily dining above, groups of young children are somehow drawn to that electronic box on the wall, often daring each other to push those buttons (reaching them may be half the challenge) – only to be ‘busted’ by the office staff working inside if they’ve giggled too loudly!

If you’ve ever gotten home from your trip and called us with questions regarding your charges, you’ve likely spoken to someone in the accounting office. Several of these folks have both been with Maho for many years and are talented at resolving the nuances of guest transactions as well as the mysterious behavior of your credit card. Some of these staff started out in other departments, only to have their numerical talents discovered and lured into the accounting office….

Periodically, in preparation against heavy rains or a looming hurricane, the office gets completely packed up – boxes of records, file cabinets, computers and copy machine, hidden deep within double layers of plastic bags, only to be unpacked just as readily as things are needed. If the timing is wrong, a deluge of water or mud has been known to get the best of things. But somehow, things all keep functioning. An occasional iguana, resident cat, and miscellaneous other creatures have found their way into the office over the years, teaching each of us to always look carefully as you turn on the light and step in the door – especially if you’re the first one to open up in the morning.

The true Ring Master, Stanley doesn’t work in the office (I know you were wondering), but does always make sure to stop in and see us all when he is on camp. And he’s often on the other end of the phone or keeping in touch via email, checking on the pulse of what’s happening at Maho and Under the Big Top. So next time you walk by those mirrored windows, be sure to wave!

8 Tuff Miles

2011-02-26T15:11:00.002-04:00

At least 35 staff members & guests woke-up this morning at pre-dawn hours and put on a pair of running shoes for the 15th annual 8 Tuff Miles. There were 11 Maho staff members in the race, and at least as many staff member volunteers for the race, including the first ever Maho Bay Camps water station! Those of us working at Maho got quite a boost of energy just when we needed it, mile 7, when we turned the corner to our own Maho water station cheering us on with very loud music, cheering, and of course water & Gatorade. Since there were so many of us in the race and volunteering I'm having a bit of trouble getting any pictures, but should have some soon!

St. John: Segment Three - Video - WCVB Boston

2011-02-23T10:06:00.002-04:00

click to view:

St. John: Segment Three - Video - WCVB Boston

St. John got quite a bit of publicity over the past few days up in Boston as Channel 5 did a 4 part series on the island. The whole island was featured with focus points on restaurants, villas, resorts, snorkeling locations, boat trips, night life, and local resident interviews just to name a few. If you live here it's well worth watching such a huge publicity piece on our small island, if you're dreaming of living here then it's a perfect intro for what you're in for. If you're thinking of visiting you'll have plenty of ideas after watching.

The best part for Maho? Maho Bay Camps had a feature part of segment 3, focusing on our tents, our art department and our volunteer program each summer. There's a great part focusing on our glass blowing, and mention of what we're trying to produce more of - countertops and concrete options with crushed recycled glass right here at Maho.