USVI-On-Line

A thought just popped into my head - to extend (by stretching my wallet) the time on St. John - I'm thinking of starting out at one of the camping facilities for 3 or 4 nights - then get a condo or villa for the last 5-7 nights...

So... WHO has done the camping thing on St. John? Which ones? What did you like - what did you hate?


Thanks

My wife and I stayed at Maho Bay Camps & Estate Concordia Eco Tents for our honeymoon. Had a blast! Loved the proximity to 3 beaches, and great snorkeling at Maho. Amazing sunset view at the dining pavilion. Lots of stairs to walk but we like a little exercise. Loved the tranquility and breezes at Concordia. Probability is that Maho may not be around much longer, so if i were you I would at least give it a try before its too late. Only thing i didnt 'like' about concordia was not being near the north shore beaches, but at the same time it was nice to be near Coral Bay. Cant think of anything i didnt like about Maho. It speaks to me.

we've done maho and concordia--not really camping! I would love to try cinnamon at some point --
maho is terrific, very vertical so you need to like steps in some places--it's getting a bit worn around the edges as it is scheduled to close in 2011--if you don;t like shared bath facilities or walking outside to get to the bathroom it's not a place for you. bonus is that you can walk to Maho and francis and waterlemon from here--the food is decent and inexpensive (dinner and breakfast) and the people that opt to stay there are generally very laid back and friendly
concordia is much newer and all of the tents have their own bath/toilet facilities.
at concordia you must have a car--but it is in a lovely location above salt pond/drunk bay--attracts a bit of the same crowd--but not as many kids-(in my experience)
their dining option for dinner is a bit more up scale--breakfast items (coffee, muffins etc) are available at their store--

If I could, I would go to Maho before it closes. I am sad that I won't have that opportunity myself.

(Or maybe we can all write big checks to TPL, and it won't close...)

I have pitched a tent at Cinnamon more than once and would definitely do it again. You can't beat waking up a few yards from the water.

I have not seen the new facilities at Concordia but have only heard great things about the place.
The many long weekends spent at Maho while my daughter was growing up are some of the best STJ memories ever in our family.

We stayed at Cinnamon Bay Campground for a week in May, and liked it there ok. We stayed in a cabin and it was sufficient. The only thing we really disliked was that the patios were yukky and there was no nice place to sit in the evenings. It rained all week when we were there, so the beach was not an option. In hindsight, we should have asked for a broom and cleaned up.
We go for the beaches, the hiking, the snorkelling, and were out of the cottage before dawn and went to bed shortly after dusk, so we weren't there enough to really mind that much.
That being said, we're going to move up just a bit, on our next trip....just for that "nice place to sit around in the evening thing."

We have camped at Cinnamon this past April in a cottage and enjoyed it very much, Infact I've been looking at possibly bringing our tent down next yr. on one of their bare sites. Its 30 a night and no tax. It could be a fairly inexpensive getaway... and we too go for the beaches, the one drawback I had was not enough parking in the day time when we would return from an AM snorkel mid day.
Here is a link to a forum that has alot of information about camping at Cinnamon Bay
http://groups.google.com/group/cinnamonbay