TR Day 13 - Maho!

Travel discussion for St. John
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awardb
Posts: 191
Joined: Fri Jun 05, 2009 2:06 pm
Location: Columbus, Ohio

TR Day 13 - Maho!

Post by awardb »

OK, OK, we'll tell the truth! In 5 years of coming to STJ, we've NEVER been to Maho. I know, I know, what kind of knuckleheads are we??? Call us snorkel snobs, if you will. We usually frequent the beaches with the best snorkeling. And Maho, according to most of the books and conversations, is a great beach, but NOT a great snorkeling beach.

But some of CapnKirk's pictures and other comments convinced us to give it a try. So today we did!

Got up early, found plenty of places to park as we arrived at Maho at about 10:30AM. What a great beach! Beautiful sand, with clear, calm water, and just as picturesque as one could ask for. This is another of STJ's beaches that we'll be returning to, year after year!

We were about in the middle of this very long beach, and we decided to snorkel over to the rocks that separate Maho from Little Maho (thanks to CaptKirk again). It was a long long snorkel from the middle of the beach to get over there, but what sights we saw along the way!

First up, Sylvia stumbles over this large turtle, and took a bunch of great shots of him. Then, shortly after, we saw a ray, still on the way over to the rocks. Once at the rocks, there was some decent fish life and coral in places. We surfaced to turn around, and saw the pelican pictured, grooming himself on the rocks.

On the way back, we saw several different turtles, though the best on was the one with the remoras (I think that's what they are) semi-attached to him. What a sight!

We got back, and spent more time at Maho until about 3:30PM. We discovered that (in our opinion) Maho is a a better AM and early afternoon beach for two reasons: Any shade you can find on the beach pretty much disappears by mid-to-late afternoon, and the bugs really began to come out a bite by the time we left.

We finished up with a trip to the Cinnamon Bay Ruins, one pic enclosed. Ended the day back at our villa, where we ate in for a change. Tomorrow, we hope to spend the day with fellow-forumites Denny and Coral.

Here are the pics of TR Day 13 - Maho!

https://picasaweb.google.com/awardb/Mah ... jqWF1OfpRQ
AwardB
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop. - Lewis Carroll
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msgcolleen
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Location: Allen, Texas

Post by msgcolleen »

Thanks for sharing your simply mah-velous Maho day with us! Looks like the turtles are having fun too!

You kids have fun tomorrow and tell CO&DEN howdy from us! I would jump back on the plane and join ya if I could . . . 8)

Take lots of pics and thanks for the live reporting from C9! :wink:
I've got 2 tickets to paradise~Pack your bags we'll leave tonight!

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Coden
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Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 7:18 pm
Location: Ky

Post by Coden »

Awesome!!!!

p.s. see my PM to you this a.m. :D

Hi msgcolleen....wished you were here with us to play!
Coden
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ColumbiaSCTraveler
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Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2011 9:33 pm
Location: Columbia, SC

Post by ColumbiaSCTraveler »

I've never considered Maho a snorkel-kinda beach either, but our visits there this year were AWESOME. Saw a TON of turtles (middle of the bay - seagrass), conch, a HUMONGO tarpon (which I originally mistook for a shark - yikes :shock: ), barracuda, an octopus, and stingrays. Cha-ching! Jackpot! :D Pictures and trip report soon come!
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awardb
Posts: 191
Joined: Fri Jun 05, 2009 2:06 pm
Location: Columbus, Ohio

Post by awardb »

Excellent, ColumbiaSC, bring 'em on! Yep, one trip to Maho changed our mind completely! It'll be on our list every year from now on.

Same thing happened to us several years ago with Cinnamon Bay - never went there, went to better snorkeling beaches. One trip there a couple of years ago, and now we go every year. GOOD snorkeling there.

Msgcollen, wish you and Kyle were here, and your ears will be burning today as we spend the day with Coral and Denny - we'll be talkin' about ya!
AwardB
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop. - Lewis Carroll
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onthelake
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Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2007 4:34 pm
Location: Upstate, NY

Post by onthelake »

Maho is a great beach for first time snorklers. The turtles and rays seem to always hang out there. Love it!

Thanks for the great 'on island' report!
8)
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