We've stayed there three times and this Nov are going to stay at the Concordia tents on the other side. If you're there the first week in Nov, go to the top of the page to the get-together message for STJ and join us for a drink!
You need a flashlight, a padlock for your door if you think you need it, your own pillow (yes hard to carry but they have horrible pillows and hard little cots), soaps that work well in cold water, tons and tons of sunscreen, and bug spray for your ankles- the sand at dusk has billions of them! Snorkle gear if you have it as the snorkling right at Maho over to Francis Bay is fantastic!!!
Do NOT bring any type of food that doesn't love the heat. The tents are brutally hot in the daytime- we brought marshmellow fluff one year to make sandwiches for the kids and it literally expanded right out of the jar! In otherword, food melts very easily. But the dining room there serves fabulous, well priced meals (or at least they did 5 years ago). The store was surprisingly well stocked so you might not find much you can't buy. Bring Kleenex, maybe an extra small towel to serve as a dishtowel. Be prepared for early nights and early wake-ups. If you're a light sleeper, bring ear plugs as we found on the last trip that they allowed school groups in and sound travels very easily there, as does party noise from boats. (most of the reason we're staying at Concordia this time). Enjoy, the island is the BEST

I was also curious about what to bring to Maho and wondering about the tent cottages. I have been to STJ twice, but haven't stayed at Maho. We stayed at Concordia Estates the first time and liked it. I am bringing my kids this time (ages 23 and 25) and I thought they might get a kick out of staying at Maho.
Are the beds really as bad as Karrie says? Would it make sense to bring a thin backpacking pad to sleep on?
What do they mean by an ice box? Is it a cooler? Do you have to buy ice? Is it expensive (the ice)? Is there a box to keep non-perishables in to keep critters out?
Thanks for any suggestions for first-timers at Maho tent-cottages!
My husband and I were there in July for Carnival and stayed at Fishbone cottage at Fish Bay. We loved the cottage.

Well, neither hubbie nor are are heavy but the beds are thin, better than a canvas cot but not by much. It depends on your comfort level. It is camping after all. If it was me again, I'd bring the pad to put on top.The icebox is a cooler, yes you buy ice but I don't remember it as being outrageous in price 5 years ago. I don't remember a box for dry goods but the critters were no problem at all or we would have remembered that. The food in the restaurant was excellent and the servings large, privacy is at a minimum as the tents are close together, showers aren't available till afternoon and are cold but you won't care and you'll leave with very tight buns as the stairs are constant. The store had great selections of everything we needed plus trinkets for the kids. Some things may have changed in 5 years so hopefully a more recent visitor will answer too. We were very disappointed last time in the noise level however- tough to get a decent night sleep as the school groups raised holy heck all night and our polite complaints to the management were basically laughed at-hence our decision to go to Concordia this time. Otherwise, enjoy, it is a special place,

We were at Maho in March. We'd stayed there the first couple times we went to STJ in the mid-80s. We've stayed other places on the island since then, but wanted to stay at Maho again when we learned that they may be losing the lease. We enjoyed being back.

Concordia is more comfortable, but we were happy to be at Maho again. We slept fine on the mattresses. The "ice box" is just a cooler. Ice is available at the store. I don't remember the cost, but it's wasn't too much or I probably would remember. There is a large Rubbermaid-type container for other groceries.

Bring flashlights. I'd say that everyone should have their own. Bring a lock (a combo so you don't have keys to lose). Valuables can be put in the safe at the office. It was quite quiet when we were there.

I am assuming that a good pair of hiking boots are a must and a pair of teva type sandals - but what about flip flops, are they going to be as bad as I have heard to walk on the stairs, especially after rain?

Any suggestion on shampoo that works in cold water, or do I just use my bio - degradeable camping soap.

How cool will it get at night in early Nov.- will I need a blanket (don't laugh, I slept in a down sleeping bag the whole time I did field research in Costa Rica and rarely pull the flannel sheets off my bed these days, I like it warm) or would the liner for my sleeping bag do fine?

Do I need to bring a clothes line? Is there a way for me to make coffee in the room or should I bring my camping coffee pot?

Now for my silly question - what is a "neat sheet"? I have never heard of it - not a midwest term, is it like a large beach towel or jsut a old top sheet from a bed used as a beach blanket? When we sailed the windward and leeward islands, we used an old bed sheet as a beach blanket, it was lighter to pack and carry than beach towels.

We'll be in STJ Nov 4 - 11 and would love to meet for the get together, if you'll cope with STJ novices. Thanks for the invite, I'll watch the list for date, time and place!

Any other info of stuff to bring or not to bring would still be greatly valued.
Lisa

hi- just reading thru all this stuff. could you tell me about fishbone cottage? Taking my 4 young adult kids to STJ in october, trying to find a villa/cottage. Thanks

I was at Maho in July. You don't need a clothesline. They provide them and also the pins. Flip-flops are very slippers on the stairs after a rain. I can attest because I slipped and fell down a whole flight of stairs one morning after a rain, my cosmetic case went flying into the woods and I wound up with huge bruise on my side. I later read that you should walk in bare feet to be safest.

For me, the bigeest two challenges were heat (humidity and lack of breeze)and bugs. If I had to say what was the worst thing, it was the lack of breeze. I literally dreamed that I was suffocating in my tent because there wasn't any breeze with all of the vegetation.

They do have large box fans in the tents and I managed to prop mine into the window/screen area to get maximum air.

I was actually ok on the cots. They didn't feel too hard to me. I mean, they aren't beds, but they're not bad, IMHO.

DEFINITELY need flashlights. It's pitch black at night and you might need to make a run to the bathroom. Also, if you go out and return at night, you'll need the flashlight to find your cottage. Leaving the light on is not a good idea. Have you ever seen that travel commercial where the couple was under the mosquito net and woke up to a million bugs flying around? Well, I was beign a nice mom and left my teenage son's light on one night while he was out in Cruz Bay. I'm telling you, his cottage looked like that when he and his friend returned - not just a gazillion flying bugs, but HUGE FROGS too! LOL

If you are going with kids or a group I would take walkie talkies if you will be split between cottages.

I can't recall the pillow situation. We sprayed ourselves down with bug spray before bed and slept in long pant cotton PJs and kept sheets pulled up to our necks. Both my daughter and I kept waking to the feeling of tiny bugs in our ears (I guess the one spot that wasn't sprayed). For this reason, I recommend those repellent wipes to use in your ears.

Take a first aid kit. We used ours a couple of times.

It as too hot and humid for my taste and we checked out early. I wonder if other months are much better - I guess they have to be because I don't think Maho would be so popular if everyone went and experienced the heat we had. My son said "seems like the main activity there is sitting around and sweating". All of our "local" friends told us that this past summer was especially hot and humid and that the hurricane season would be busy, as is predicted by such heat and warm sea water. Guess they were right.

Maybe we'll try again in a winter month. The food was good! The staff was really nice. The bathrooms were clean and pleasant. It was easy to rent kayaks, floats and snorkel stuff.

Me again- I forgot to add take Benedryl in your first aid kit. On our last trip, hubbie got stung by a jellyfish and on trip #1 I sat on fire coral and in both cases, benedryl is helpful for the antihistamine effect. I used regular old shampoo and it worked fine. Neat sheets I think are two sewn sheets together, that you could fit inside a sleeping bag as a liner of sorts. Maybe I'm wrong about that. Yes, you may want to pull a sheet over you for sleeping- I'm a NE wimp in the cold and always stay covered. It goes down to about 70 something at night and I always had a sheet on at Maho, didn't need a blanket though.
Yes, please keep tabs on the message board on the top for the STJ get together which is also posted on the relocation board. We're aiming for the 7th maybe and assume we'll all meet in a restaurant or bar in Cruz Bay. Islander seems to keep track of these things for us all. I plan to wear a tshirt or carry a small banner that says VINOW rules or something to give people a headsup to where our "group" meets.

Hello Lisa,

You can find information about the Neat Sheet at http://www.theneatsheet.com/

🙂

--Islander