2Feathers -

If this link works, it is a review I wrote on these message boards regarding the Concordia ecotents from our visit over Thanksgiving 2002:
https://www.vinow.com/wwwtalk/read.php?f=4&i=3316&t=3316

This review linked above was posted on these boards January 19, 2003.

If you utilize the search feature of these message boards (located near the top), and choose all dates, you will find some postings. Ex: just search "Concordia" or just search "Maho". I also think there is one review about Maho, and then I tagged along to post some of the "similarities and differences" of Concordia as compared to his points on Maho. They do have similarities, but also have differences. We drove up to Maho, but did not spend the night there.

We absolutely loved Concordia, and would return in a heartbeat. We stayed in ecotent #3. Here are a few pics from that trip - with examples of what our views were when looking out from the balcony of our ecotent:
http://www.geocities.com/willingham74/VI.html
We returned this past March while on a cruise to get married on Hawksnest Beach, but are itching for another land vacation.

Yes, I believe this could be the ticket to enjoying St John when you want to spend your money on other things besides the bed you are sleeping on. The tradewinds of the ecotents cooled us at night, the private bathroom right outside the ecotent was convenient (Maho has community restrooms), and the unobstructed views of Drunk Bay and Salt Pond Bay were outstanding.

Please let me know if you have any questions!!

~ Mandy in Dallas

2Feathers,

I just spent a lengthy amount of time at Maho earlier this summer and learned to love it. You must enjoy a ‘camping style’ of vacation, with bugs, animals and a little dirt. The living arrangements are far from luxurious, but are indeed a nice escape. You really learn to love your environment and the simple things that make Maho worth staying at. While on St. John I did get to stay one night at Concordia, so I feel I can list some pros and cons of both…

Maho:
-Direct access to beach, including rental equipment
-Restaurant
-General Store, art gallery, snack shack, activities center
-Frequent and convenient transportation to and from Cruz Bay
-Has 100 or so tents

Concordia:
-No direct access to beach
-No restaurant, a few basic needs are for sale
-Less frequent transportation
-Much more private, newer, cleaner
-Has 10 or so tents

Check out the website for more information. Which ever you choose, know that you will have a once in a lifetime vacation. There is nothing else like hearing the waves and the birds outside your tent and letting the sun light wake you in the morning…

Citygirl -

Did you get to participate in the work exchange program with Maho??

(If I had not married in March, I had definitely planned on applying!!)

~ Mandy in Dallas

Mandy... it was actually your post on cruisecritic that spurred our interest. My wife and I are considering taking a cruise out of St. Thomas next January, and were looking for an inexpensive way to extend the vacation. We did this last year, and paid so much for the hotel, which we only used for sleeping because we were so busy beachcombing and sightseeing. We were hoping to come down New Year's Eve and stay three nights, but according to the website, there is a minimum seven-night stay during that period, so we may have to push the trip out if we want to stay at the eco-tents. We haven't called them directly yet. We're leaning toward Maho, because we're a little more familiar with that area, and figure it would be closer to most of the other things we want to do. (Although nothing in St. John is too far from anything else...) Can you give me an idea about how far it is to the beach from the Concordia tents? I'm assuming its within walking distance? What's the beach like there? We've seen Salt Pond from the road, but didn't actually go out onto the beach. Did you feel safe staying there?

Citygirl... tell me about the bugs and animals. We're okay with them, as long as the majority of them stay outside. We've seen the donkeys, goats and iguanas, which are for the most part "cute". My wife has a horrid fear of frogs. (I showed her the post about the dog-eating frogs - she wasn't that amused.) I'm sure a lot of the bugs come in to share the tent, but how bad is it really? We'd do just about anything - within reason - for an opportunity to spend a few extra days in St. John.

Thanks to both of you for the great information.

2Feathers -

Well - we are both in the same boat. I am looking for any way to get down there again. When I saw Onika's post about a high school math position in Coral Bay... I about went on down!!

The beach from Concordia: A vigorous 30+ minute hike on trails. We did not try that. Instead, we drove 5 minutes to Salt Pond Bay (plus 5-minute walk downhill from parking lot) and snorkeled there. Drunk Bay is more of an exploring beach and not a swimming beach - about 5+ minutes walk on a trail past Salt Pond. The view from our ecotent was of both bays - waves crashing at Drunk on the left but calm waters at Salt Pond on the right.

Maho is definitely closer to the north shore beaches, and you can take the walkways down to the beach. Plus I understand there is the shuttle from Maho to Cruz Bay. Taxis are more likely to run around Maho. When I was seriously considering applying for the work exchange program, I would have chosen Maho more for the convenience. (And I'm still thinking about it for next summer... my husband is fully supportive of me going after that dream.)

We were still about a 10-15 minute drive from the north shore beaches while staying at Concordia - had to drive north thru Coral Bay, up towards Bordeaux Mountain, and then would take a road that spurred off from Centerline road. (Forgot the names, but put me in a jeep and I can find it!!!) Of course add some time if donkeys or goats are hanging out in the road.

The two factors that had us decide on Concordia over Maho:
- private restroom (my husband wanted that more than me)
- fewer tents (11 total)
We knew we would have the jeep, so the driving didn't bother us at all.

Like you, we were only there to sleep at night. But by golly, when 5:30 rolled around the next morning, I was already out on the balcony watching sunrise and searching for cruiseships coming into St Thomas. At night, we would watch the lights about 35 miles off in the distance in St Croix (we stayed in Christiansted 12/2001). With the waves crashing at Drunk Bay, we could always hear the waves down below. The tradewinds were just right in keeping us cool at night.

My parents want to return to St John - they were there for our wedding - and now they understand when we say "we have to go". My dad was totally in awe. He hates flying - but is serious about going down. They said "we'd stay in those tents y'all stayed in!". We'll see... but I am researching a trip down for the four of us.

Now I have a question for you ... what cruise are your considering out of St Thomas? Is it a Windjammer? We have thought a lot about a cruise out of St Thomas. Did one out of San Juan on Celebrity, but it was shortly after 9/11 and the cruiseline practically gave it away (Of course we had already paid in full - about twice what the regional special was they did). It was a huge party boat and we were looking more for relaxation. But... it gave us our first taste of the Virgin Islands... which is how this all got started!! 🙂

~ Mandy

Mandy... Thanks for the extra details. I called this afternoon to discuss reservations, and they wouldn't rent us an eco-tent for only three nights until after Jan. 3. They're really enforcing the 7-night minimum thru the holiday, which is understandable. The cruise we wanted to take leaves the 3rd, and we were hoping to get down by New Year's Eve to take in some celebrations - maybe even go over to Foxy's! But we're pretty flexible, so we'll look at other weeks, and still consider the eco-tents. I know what you mean about St. John. I've seen a lot of the Caribbean, certainly not all of it, but St. John has to be my favorite place in the world.

We're looking at Windstar, which has two ships leaving St. Thomas during the Winter: the Wind Spirit and Wind Surf. We took the Spirit last January, and absolutely loved it! We mainly stayed around the US and British Virgin Islands (Jost Van Dyke, Tortola, Virgin Gorda), and it actually has a full day stop in St. John!), but also went down to St. Martin and St. Barths. The Surf goes to Calebra, Dominica, Barbados, and some others. These are largish (148 passengers on the Spirit, and 300 or so on the Surf) sailing boats, very relaxing. No party scene! Just a differrent, stunning beach every day, good food, great service... We've also done a couple of Carnival cruises, and it would be hard to get us back on a "conventional" cruise liner again - although I'm not sure there is such a thing as a bad cruise. We've had fun on all of them, but really, really loved the Windstar cruise last year, and can't wait to come down and do it again! Windjammer and I think Sea Dream also have ships leaving St. Thomas, and those are at totally opposite ends of the cruising spectrum (Windjammer is like roughing it at sea, and Sea Dream is supposedly ultra-luxury, champagne and caviar), with Windstar somewhere in between. I saw on your review that you honeymooned on the Norway. That's terrible about the accident!

When we came down a couple of days early last January, we booked the Mariott-Frenchmans Reef thru Windstar - very nice, but we paid a lot for a bed and some facilities we didn't really use. And we spent most of our time on St. John, so we were looking to learn from that mistake this year and find somewhere cheaper on St. John. I hope this all works out!

Thanks again!

Hopefully it will all work out for you! That would be a spectacular trip!

Yes, it is sad about the Norway. We really learned a lot of history onboard, and enjoyed attending the film sessions of her maiden voyage and history. She used to even have a historian onboard. Because we married on Thursday and the cruise ended on Sunday, my husband knows he needs to plan a "real" honeymoon. Even though we tried to have time for ourselves, it was hard not to visit with the 20 others who came along with us. Some of them we don't see very often because they live in other parts of the country. So... our little saying is that the real honeymoon will come later! 🙂

Good luck again with your plans!! The only thing I miss about the corporate world (other than a decent salary) is being able to take vacation when all the kids are in school. Now that I'm back in teaching... well... that's a little harder to do!

~ Mandy

Don't worry too much about the bugs, they really aren't that bad. If you've been, and liked camping...you'll be fine. The inside of the tents remain pretty bug free, but note that the floor boards are just that, boards. The cracks let small insects in without any problem. Lizards are common inside the tents, but they are good to have around for eating the bugs. Be sure to bring some bug spary for the mosquitos!

...and yes, I was a part of the work exchange program...

Citygirl,
If you are still checking in on this board, can you email and tell me more about your experience in the work exchange program. My husband and I are scheduled to be there in May for it and would love to hear from someone with first hand knowledge. This goes for anyone else who has been apart of it.

Thanks in advance

Hi
I too have applied to work at Maho , so when did you hear the good news? I asked for July . Thanks

We found out this week, we are scheduled to go in May. I think the people who go in July find out in April. It may depend on how many people actually commit to coming. We are really excited, hopefully all the timing will work out ok. I'll keep you posted.

Hello Defyinggravity - congrats. I hope you will take mental notes when working at Maho and share your experiences with us here, I am sure others who might be thinking of doing the same would find your comments rewarding and interesting to read. All the best.

--Islander

Absolutely! This board has been such a great help to us, we're glad we'll finally be able to make a valid contribution. Maybe you guys could have another get together in May and we can meet some of you. We are so looking forward to the trip. If anyone else has any advice for us feel free to email us or post here.

We would like to mail some items to ourselves there, so we can save some packing room. (We're trying to keep what we carry to a minimum. Does anyone know about how long priority mail takes from the States?

Thanks in advance!

Hello Defying Gravity,

I look forward to hearing about your adventure 🙂 Priority mail usually takes 2-3 days... maybe 4-5 if its going to St. John.

--Islander

Thanks for that info , can you tell me how old you are , because I was told only young people are chosen, is that true?

One of us is 30 the other one is turning 30 this month. I don't remember them asking our age on the application. I hope that is not true, besides, I can't imagine only younger people being able to fulfill all of their needs.