Four-year-old Asher Davis is at home among the trees at Maho Bay Camps.
For so many, Maho Bay Camps is a place of refuge; a place of
priceless memories with family and friends, dream vacations and your
very own treehouse. For my son, it is also home.
My husband and I first came to St. John as volunteers at Maho. We had
never felt more comfortable and at home than we did in that screened
tent with lizards, frogs and spiders as roommates. I still remember the
day we left six weeks later. Sitting on the bench outside the store
waiting for the taxi was the most conflicted we have ever been. We knew
we were supposed to stay. We were both as sure about that as we had been
of anything in 10 years together. We didn’t speak more than a few words
the entire trip home.
The next year we were back to stay. Friends and family thought we
were kidding; my husband’s former boss gave it six months tops. Eight
years later, it feels more like home than ever. We now have friends from
around the country and around the world. Fellow staff are more like
family and we have a love for a place we thought could only be real in a
dream.
Our son is the luckiest of all. Tree frogs and full moons lulled him
to sleep. He took his first steps in a tree house. He shared play dates
and took naps on the beach. He knows more about ocean life than any kid
we know. Being around guests and staff since birth, he has never met a
stranger and can talk to anyone. Best of all, he doesn’t know any
different. This is his life, not something he saw on vacation or read in
a book. Tree houses, hermit crabs, lizards, hundreds of stairs leading
to another adventure — he thinks all children grow up this way.
We know our time here is a gift for us and him, but now we have to
tell him we are leaving and can’t come back. He won’t wake up to 60-plus
staff to say good morning to. He won’t greet guests and ask them what
they saw today. He won’t watch glass blowing right before bed, then walk
home. We have tried to figure out how to tell him for the last six
months. Then, we realized we did not know how to tell him because we did
not want to admit it to ourselves.
It does not seem real that the time is near. That it is true. Maho Bay Camps will officially close on May 16, 2013.
Our hearts are broken for many reasons, but mostly because we always
thought that if we left, our son could come back. We never thought Maho
would really close.
We have not spoken about the new owners publicly, mostly because we
do not know much about them. Rumors have swirled, names thrown out
there, plans talked about. The truth is, we don’t know what the plans
are or when anyone will know what Maho’s future entails. If we could
speak to the new owners, we would want them to know they did not just
buy a piece of land and some shacks. They bought a place of healing, of
imagination, of new friends made and precious memories created. A place
we all thought was only real in a dream. Please honor this place, the
only home my son has known. And when he does want to visit whatever is
left of Maho one day, we hope you will let him.
Editor’s Note: CiCi Davis is the wife of Maho Bay Campground’s General Manager/VP, Adrian Davis. Asher, their son, is four years old.
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