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Second Time's a Charm. My Trip Review (Part 1)
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Heather-in-MA
- Posts: 78
- Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2011 5:12 am
- Location: Central MA
Second Time's a Charm. My Trip Review (Part 1)
Dates: 7/1/11-7/10/11
Accomodations: Maho Bay Campground 7/1/11-7/6/11, Concordia Eco Tent 7/6/11-7/10/11
Transportation: USAIR out of BOS via Charlotte for arrival, to BOS via Philladelphia. Red Hook Ferry (both ways), Ground Transportaiton: Frett’s Maho Shuttle, Hamilton’s Taxi, Courtesy Car Rental
Vacationers: Me and Hubby, left kids (11,8,4) with grandparents.
History/important details: We had been to STJ two years ago last May and stayed at Maho Bay Camps. It was prior to a personal health issue being adequately treated. I wanted to re-visit Maho (and stay there for Festival-relying on the taxis) to experience it in better health, we wanted to try Concordia because we have 3 kids and they sleep 5 (Maho sleeps 4 and is slated to close next year). A single friend of mine that I have known since elementaryschool, happened to travel the same time as us for the first part of our trip.
***Note***
opinions expressed in the following TR are strictly my own, your opinion may be different
Festival: interesting. I am glad I experienced it, but probably won’t again. The parade was 4hrs long and seemed rather, um, unorganized (not surprised at that) but it was good. My friend experienced the bar scene with some locals and her stories made me uneasy (PM for details). If I were to bring my kids to this, I’d wait till they are all much older.
Transportation: Surprisingly all excellent. All flights on time (on the return trip all early even!) Will rent from Courtesy again (rented from L&L last time), very friendly, good Jeep. No issues with either Taxi service, but happy Hamilton picked us up a half hour early when we were done with the Reef Bay/Lameshur trail (see further on). Other than the ferry leaving late on Sunday for the return, no issues.
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Weather: Two Tropical Wave systems moved over us while we were there, we didn’t let that stop us though! It did seem to rain a lot.
Maho Bay Camps Review/Comments: We stayed here a little over two years ago and liked it. This time we really noticed that this place seems to attract a certain type of client-one who is younger than us and tends to party more. More like older college age/just graduated college age. There were also many families there (which we liked). We had a wonderful family in the tent next to ours. I don’t think that these two groups always mix together well. Maybe it is the time of year we went this time versus last time (May vs. July), maybe Maho is changing or maybe we just didn’t notice last time because everything STJ was so new? What I do know is that even if Maho doesn’t close and our family could stay here (we are a family of 5 and their tents only sleep 4), we would probably pass on staying here with our girls at this time. Our tent was A34, closest to Little Maho beach and a great view. LOTS of sand fleas though! I also had an interesting view of a naked fellow skinny dipping and making a fire on the beach on the morning of the 5th, I thought it was sort of funny but I was there without my kids. If they had been there my reaction would’ve been different. Having to climb many wet stairs in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom got old eventually-this didn’t surprise me though I knew from experience that that is part of the Maho package. The Pavillion Restaurant was adequate, huge portions, though rather expensive for the quality of food. The store was well stocked and we used it often to grab veggies for the meals we cooked in the tent. We rented a kayak from watersports one morning took it to Whistling Cay-more info on that later in the synopsis, staff was friendly and helpful.
(see waterproof camera bag=broke-ed)
To be continued...
Accomodations: Maho Bay Campground 7/1/11-7/6/11, Concordia Eco Tent 7/6/11-7/10/11
Transportation: USAIR out of BOS via Charlotte for arrival, to BOS via Philladelphia. Red Hook Ferry (both ways), Ground Transportaiton: Frett’s Maho Shuttle, Hamilton’s Taxi, Courtesy Car Rental
Vacationers: Me and Hubby, left kids (11,8,4) with grandparents.
History/important details: We had been to STJ two years ago last May and stayed at Maho Bay Camps. It was prior to a personal health issue being adequately treated. I wanted to re-visit Maho (and stay there for Festival-relying on the taxis) to experience it in better health, we wanted to try Concordia because we have 3 kids and they sleep 5 (Maho sleeps 4 and is slated to close next year). A single friend of mine that I have known since elementaryschool, happened to travel the same time as us for the first part of our trip.
***Note***
opinions expressed in the following TR are strictly my own, your opinion may be different
Festival: interesting. I am glad I experienced it, but probably won’t again. The parade was 4hrs long and seemed rather, um, unorganized (not surprised at that) but it was good. My friend experienced the bar scene with some locals and her stories made me uneasy (PM for details). If I were to bring my kids to this, I’d wait till they are all much older.
Transportation: Surprisingly all excellent. All flights on time (on the return trip all early even!) Will rent from Courtesy again (rented from L&L last time), very friendly, good Jeep. No issues with either Taxi service, but happy Hamilton picked us up a half hour early when we were done with the Reef Bay/Lameshur trail (see further on). Other than the ferry leaving late on Sunday for the return, no issues.
[/img]Weather: Two Tropical Wave systems moved over us while we were there, we didn’t let that stop us though! It did seem to rain a lot.
Maho Bay Camps Review/Comments: We stayed here a little over two years ago and liked it. This time we really noticed that this place seems to attract a certain type of client-one who is younger than us and tends to party more. More like older college age/just graduated college age. There were also many families there (which we liked). We had a wonderful family in the tent next to ours. I don’t think that these two groups always mix together well. Maybe it is the time of year we went this time versus last time (May vs. July), maybe Maho is changing or maybe we just didn’t notice last time because everything STJ was so new? What I do know is that even if Maho doesn’t close and our family could stay here (we are a family of 5 and their tents only sleep 4), we would probably pass on staying here with our girls at this time. Our tent was A34, closest to Little Maho beach and a great view. LOTS of sand fleas though! I also had an interesting view of a naked fellow skinny dipping and making a fire on the beach on the morning of the 5th, I thought it was sort of funny but I was there without my kids. If they had been there my reaction would’ve been different. Having to climb many wet stairs in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom got old eventually-this didn’t surprise me though I knew from experience that that is part of the Maho package. The Pavillion Restaurant was adequate, huge portions, though rather expensive for the quality of food. The store was well stocked and we used it often to grab veggies for the meals we cooked in the tent. We rented a kayak from watersports one morning took it to Whistling Cay-more info on that later in the synopsis, staff was friendly and helpful.
(see waterproof camera bag=broke-ed)To be continued...
Thanks for starting the TR. I always enjoy peoples perspectives on things. We've never stayed at maho but have stayed at the Concordia studios so it will be interesting to see what you write about that area. As you wrote, I'm sure that the time of year you visit can change the demographic of the visitor.
Keep writing
Keep writing
