Foolish Discounts!

This year April Fools is on us! For stays between April 15th and April 30th, make an online reservation for Maho Bay Camps through our website on Sunday April 1st and put "Local Discount" into the comments. The Local Discount will entitle you to 20% off your stay at Maho Bay Camps!

Interested in staying in one of our Harmony Studios during the end of April? Lower Bedroom units from April 21st - April 28th are 20% off. Looking for a Lower Living Room unit? Book 6 or 7 nights starting April 28th and receive the off season rate for your first 3 nights (off season rates normally start May 1)! Call our reservations office to make your Harmony reservation while there is still availability!

Its been a beautiful season here at Maho! Dolphins have been spotted in our bay and on our sailing trips and a giant Manta Ray has made Francis Bay his home this season as well. He has an 8 foot wing span which is no exaggeration. Want to know if he is out there? Just look for all of the snorkelers heading toward the water at the same time!

We also had a brief visit from a Flamingo at the salt pond at Francis Bay, but she didn't stay long. It just goes to show that every year is different and you never know what you are going to see when you come down. Keep checking our blog and facebook for updates and pictures to see what's happening in our area and we'll see you soon!

enjoying the dishes

I was told a long time ago to take notice how every kitchen sink tends to have a window just above it, no doubt to make the mind wander and be easily distracted from the mundane task at hand: doing dishes.

Here at Maho we have pretty big kitchen windows; if the next time you're doing dishes the view looks like below, you must be at Maho.

Maho Bay Work Exchange Program 2012

Each year on December 15th we start our application process for our summer work exchange program here at Maho. Typically we'll get about a hundred or so applications in the first 2 days, as those most excited about joining us for the summer wait for the first day we start accepting the applications. If you've been thinking about it but haven't filled out the application, you still have a few weeks left until April 15th.

Those unfamiliar with our program will quickly realize that when looking to spend some time down here it's definitely the most economical way to experience Maho Bay, St. John, and all of the Virgin Islands: In exchange for free lodging, we ask for a commitment of one month of work in one of our various departments; Maintenance, Housekeeping, Restaurant, General Store, Registration, or other specified area.

We look for enthusiastic people (or couples) with skills that will help us keep Maho Bay Camps up to par during the off season and help prepare for the high volume winter. We'll still have plenty of guests here during the off season, and being able to offer excellent customer service is an important part of the month long commitment.

We ask for one hundred twenty hours of work for a thirty day stay (124 hours for 31 days, etc.). This equals 4 hours of work for each night of scheduled lodging at Maho Bay Camps. Work exchange volunteers generally work 6 hours a day for 5 days with 2 days off each week. Duties might include: tent-cottage renovations, painting, cleaning restrooms, pruning, filing, pressure spraying boardwalks, cashier, data entry, cooking, customer service, etc.

Additional benefits include 40% discounts in our general store and restaurant, use of floats and chairs at half price, discounts on most water sports such as diving, windsurfing, snorkel gear and sailing trips, half off internet use and a dollar off the Mr. Frett taxi fares.

It's not all fun & games, as you'll be here in the heat of summer and most likely doing a lot of manual labor, but the amount of time off each day and weekend over the course of the month leaves plenty of time for beaching, snorkeling, hiking, boating, or whatever your idea of down time includes.

Pictured below is what could be your home..............for a month.

a distraction from work

We were recently up in one of our Harmony units taking some pictures of the newly renovated look we've given each unit when all of a sudden and like a school of fish changing direction, we were drawn to the deck & view over Big Maho Beach. There wasn't anything special happening; other than completely calm and peaceful waters, gentle breezes, and boats drifting on moorings. It was that feeling of nothing happening and complete peacefulness that took us away from our task at hand and "forced" us to spend some time enjoying the view. Our housekeeping manager even brought forth a most interesting statement: "I would say the views in each unit is our biggest distraction from cleaning each day." Nothing quite like having a distraction like that during work!

If you feel like being distracted yourself, give us a call or email and reserve a unit. reservations@maho.org

Last week we had an entry about being able to see the Manta Ray from certain Harmony units, you can see how with the above picture (Manta Ray not present during photo!).

More pictures and details of our renovated units, "soon come"

Flamingo

It's been quite an interesting month out here at Maho, what with all the new creatures making special visits to our "back yard." The Manta Ray sightings are still happening every day, with the latest estimate being 3 separate rays swimming about Little, Big & Francis Beach.

This week the big news was a lone Flamingo dinning in the salt pond behind Francis Beach. Flamingos are not common here on St. John, though more so further "up island" in Anegada. We're not exactly sure how or why this one arrived, but it sure looks out of place among the other resident ducks and birds at the salt pond.

While you're checking out the Flamingo you might as well enjoy a stroll around the entire pond - via the recently extended boardwalk (complements of Friends of the VI National Park).

Pictured above is our new friend at the Francis salt pond, not nice enough to give us the classic "one leg flamingo stance"


The new boardwalk surrounding the pond starts at the look-out point, where the line between old boardwalk and new boardwalk can clearly be seen.

Idea to keep Maho open

It's hard to say how often our staff at Maho answer questions about our lease each day or week, this time of year it could be hundreds of times each week between all of us. One of the more interesting suggestions this week came from a 13 year old guest:

Dear Mr. Selengut,

My family and I have been coming to
Maho regularly ever since 2009, and enjoyed it more and more each
year, which is why none of us like the idea of Maho closing. I
recently came up with an idea for giving the effort to save Maho a
little extra push. With a little convincing, the Westin on St. John
might give some help. If you could get in touch with them and
exaggerate the possibility of another luxury hotel going up where Maho
is now, they might be interested in helping. After all, St. John gets
a limited number of visitors compared to other Caribbean destinations,
and another hotel like themselves might make them feel a bit
uncomfortable. Maho Bay Camps poses no threat to the Westin because
those who stay at the Westin would never think of staying at Maho,
while those who choose to stay at Maho would never think of staying at
the Westin. Not only that, but helping to save an eco-friendly
campground couldn't be bad for the Westin's reputation either. If you
could convince them that if they help out that there is something in
it for them, they might just give the effort to save Maho a little
extra push.

Sincerely,

Theo, age 13