Sunday sand sculpture

The latest winners!

Below is an alien spaceship glittering in the sun with rocks and shells, and an evil dinosaur shadow trying to swallow it.


An alien, from the above spaceship, makes his presence known at Little Maho:


If you didn't see any sea turtles while snorkeling last Sunday then you certainly saw a family of them sunning themselves on the beach!:

Alien and Space ship = David, Theo, Renee, and Charlie

Sea Turtle family = Yasmin & Jason

an 8 tuff Sweet 16

The Sweet 16 this year!

It was a "tuff" morning for 8 staff that decided waking up before the sun and running from Cruz Bay to Coral Bay with 1092 other people would be a good idea. We all do it for different reasons: its fun, different, a ritual, because we're crazy, because we want a t-shirt, because we have to beat last years time, to get in shape, whatever the reason we're all glad once we finish!

As usual we had our Maho water station at mile 7, cheering us to the finish line with "the final countdown" song blasting! Just when we needed that kind of a boost to propel us that last 1.38 miles. Thank you Maho supporters!

If you've never done it you need to try it! Sign-up early next year, this year the race was sold out a good month or two ago.

that's not just any ray, it's a MANTA RAY!

If you've spent time here at Maho this winter you've probably heard stories or even seen one of the "resident" Manta Rays here on the North Shore. It's been quite a treat for us this season, as they seem to be calling Francis, Little Maho and Big Maho their home. We know there are at least 2 out there on most days, frolicking and "flying" through the water with the aid of their large wing spans.

If you're down here this season all you need is a mask and snorkel and perhaps a little luck. If you're the type that likes to keep distance between yourself and animals that are larger than you then try bringing a pair of binoculars and searching from your Harmony unit; they can easily be seen on clear days in the water swimming around Big Maho. Yet another option would be to rent a paddle board or go for a sail on the Heron or Pepper for a close encounter while staying out of the water.

veggie oil pottery

We officially had our first kiln firing done entirely with our recycled veggie oil recently. The result? a success!




We had all 4 burners going, 2 on each side of the kiln. In the picture above you can see the trash buckets under each burner used to collect any extra oil that didn't get burned, we'd then dump it back into the main tank. A lot of work, yes, but worth it in the end:



The temperature didn't stay as consistent throughout the kiln as we would have liked, but that only adds to the uniqueness with each piece in my opinion! The temperature on the bottom (where all 4 burners are located) reached about 2500°F, while the temperature at the top only reached about 2300ish°F. If you look closely at the picture above you can see the spike cones, with the cones near the bottom bent and the cones near the top sticking straight up. The cones at the top did not reach the ideal temperature, and thus did not bend like the cones at the bottom.

2012 St. John ACS Relay for Life

St. John's Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society raised over $140,000 last year, leaving quite a milestone to reach for this years event. While we won't get the honor of being named "Rookie of the Year" like last year, the island was still determined to celebrate, remember and fundraise.

Maho staffers were out in full force for the event last night and are still walking as of this writing. A huge thank you to everyone that helped this year - donating money, organizing the event for us, helping set-up Team Maho, and to all those that walked and are still walking!



**UPDATE** the drawing for the hand-made glass & concrete end table (pictured above right) was held during the closing ceremony this morning. This table was designed and constructed by Dan Kreofsky and each raffle ticket was $5.00. A total of 104 tickets were sold, raising $520.oo!

The lucky winner? Clifford Stiles, a cancer survivor. Congratulations Clifford!

Banana Tree Films: Trash to Treasures

This is a spotlight video on Maho Bay Camp's glass studio artists. On an island with no recycling plant, Maho Bay's Art Studio is taking loads of trash and turning it in to beautiful art. The glass studio is just one of the creative ways Maho Bay Camps recycles glass bottles and jars. Maho, the world's first eco-tourism resort, has always worked hard at innovating new ways to protect the surrounding land and delicate marine environment.
During the production of our feature documentary Borrowed Time, we'll be sharing these short stories to give our audience a glimpse of Maho's people including guests, staff & local community while also highlighting the uniqueness of this special place.

www.BananaTreeFilms.com

Collecting Trash at Gibney Beach

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!"