skylights

The views from the previous post about F-Pavilion are perfect, just as long as you don't look up!



As many of you probably know, St. John was introduced to a Hurricane named Earl this past September. While generally speaking the damage to St. John and Maho Bay was as good as we could hope for, there was still plenty of small annoying damage done to the Camps. A good example of this was our roof on F-Pavilion and our main dining area pavilion. While the dining area pavilion is closed the good news is that new roof has been ordered and shipped for both pavilions, and will be ready for business as usual this season. Even better news is that we only needed to purchase portions of new roof for each pavilion, not entirely new roofs. If you look really carefully at the pictures you can see a support wire running from the roof to the floor - used during high winds to secure the roof so that the roof and whole structure doesn't end up at Little Maho Beach! If you look even closer you'll also notice something on the tables, our Art Center has been busy making lots and lots of paper in this beautiful sunny weather, and the tables under the damaged roof bring plenty of sun to dry each piece of paper!

We're all looking forward to enjoying those beautiful sunsets in our main dining pavilion again.

DOT Instant Credit

A note from the Resort Manager:

This week I was looking into flights for my Dad to come down and visit me. I tried a search on Travelocity to get a base line for us to see if it would even be feasible. Flying from Nashville with 1 stop came up at $578, not bad I thought. Then on the left hand side of the screen, I noticed a link that read “Flight and hotel starting at $578!”. Surely not. How is that possible? I’m a sucker for a deal and for pushing buttons that say “push me”, so I clicked only to be amazed at what I saw. For $578, the cost of the original ticket, my dad could get the same flight and 5 nights accommodations at Maho Bay Camps.

Its too good to be true. How could this happen? A little digging and I realize its part of the Department of Tourism’s new Sizzlin' Sampler package. The nuts and bolts of it are that reservations (minimum of 2 guests five night stay) are eligible for a $350 instant credit from the Department of Tourism that is immediately applied! These packages must be booked through a travel wholesaler like Travelocity or Expedia, but thanks to the Department of Tourism, our guests can now travel to us before Dec 15th and basically have the equivalent of a 5 night stay at Maho paid for in the instant credit (booking deadline is Oct 31^st so act fast!).

Looks like Dad will be coming to visit, and hopefully you will too!

Scott

Management Training

Today we used F-Pavilion as our staging for management training in the late morning and early afternoon. F-Pavilion is where we typically have yoga classes in the morning and group events or activities by day during the season. There are many great viewpoints from Maho, but the view from F-Pavilion is one of my favorites, covering views of Francis, Whistling Cay, Cinnamon Bay, Trunk Bay, all the way down to "turtle rock" off of Hawksview/Gibney beach, and then across to Lovango/Mingo/Congo & Carvel rock. Even though I've been on the island many years now the view is still breathtaking.

I couldn't decide if the view helped our concentration or hurt it - where else in the world is management training done in such a beautiful location?!

Matt

Maho Bay Camps Gets Six-Month Lease Extension

The biggest news we have had recently is of course our lease extension! We now have an extension that brings us to July 31st, 2012. There's a good article that covers all the details in our local paper: The St. John Source

Welcome.........Back!

Welcome back to the new "old" blog of Maho Bay Camps here on the beautiful island of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It's been a long time since updating and we never really got this blog off the ground the first time, but we hope things are different this time around!

Our intention with this endeavor is to provide an informal setting for information on Maho happenings - we'll have updates from each department here on camp, like special projects going on in Maintenance or maybe a few entree's being served in our restaurant, the latest glass blowing projects, perhaps the latest dive report from watersports.........the idea is to give you stories and information that we live everyday and you miss or look forward to hearing about.

Of course we'll still keep up with some island happenings, eco happenings, and any other happenings we can come up with. We hope you find this informative, entertaining, intriguing, inspiring, and any other adjective you can think of. Please bear with us as we build and develop this blog to its full potential. As a welcome back gift, enjoy a recent Maho sunset.....on us.

Latest on the Lease

We have some great news! While there is still no contract to purchase the land, TPL is stepping up its effort which is outstanding for Maho Bay and its guests.

Help TPL Save Maho Bay Camps

Big news this week from the Trust for Public Land (TPL) in response to the many offers of help received from friends of Maho Bay Camps. TPL has launched an effort to purchase the Maho Bay Camps land for permanent protection as a natural preserve.

Here is a brief recap of our last newsletter:

Two years from now, July 31, 2011, Maho Bay Camps will close. This will allow us time to dismantle and evacuate the property by January 2012, the end of our 37-year lease term. The land is currently on the market and TPL has been in negotiations with the landowners for possible purchase. If the land acquisition is successful, TPL will enable the eco-resort to continue as it has for so many years.

As a nonprofit land conservation organization, the Trust for Public Land relies on donations to protect land for others to enjoy. At this point we believe that TPL is the only viable purchaser. However it will require expensive appraisals and negotiations to finalize a purchase. This transaction funding is difficult for TPL to raise, especially in these hard times. Every contribution to assist TPL’s purchase of the land is essential.

We encourage you to explore the Trust for Public Land’s Web site to find out about the commendable work this organization is doing all over the country. A description from their site reads, “The Trust for Public Land depends on the support and generosity of individuals, foundations, and businesses to achieve our land-for-people mission. TPL is the only national, nonprofit land conservation organization dedicated specifically to protecting land for public use.”

All individuals interested in making a tax-deductible donation in support of the Maho Bay Camps land acquisition efforts by the Trust for Public Land should email john.garrison@tpl.org or refer to TPL’s Web site at www.tpl.org. To make a contribution, please mail your check, payable to The Trust for Public Land, to the following address. Please indicate on the check that it is for the Maho Bay Camps Campaign.

The Trust for Public Land
Maho Bay Camps Campaign
116 New Montgomery St., 4th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105

P.S. This new fund established by Trust for Public Land is not to be confused with the recent 400-acre purchase of Estate Maho Bay. That acquisition made by TPL was for a large piece of land bordering Maho Bay Camps and, happily, was finalized last year after five years in the making.

Forum on Energy Costs

While our energy rates are still over double the national average, they have significantly dropped from Oct/Nov when power cost island residents 51 cents per kwh. Here is a forum that is discussing rates across the US. It is interesting to see the large variance depending on what local power authorities are doing in individual areas.

Cost Per KW Forum