Maho Eco Resort Closes: End of an Era

Leslie in front of a "tent"

tents and walkways

The Maho Bay Eco resort started in 1976 with a vision of a resort which is made of recyclable materials and whose buildings blend in and have a minimum impact on the flora and fauna. So the resort is about 100 tent platforms raised above the ground with canvas cabins on them.

Beach snack bar

George and his water sports rental

 They are connected by a series of elevated wooden walkways and stairs to each other and other areas like the beach, water sports, bathrooms, showers, restaurant, activity centers and stores.

The restaurant

Dinning Room

General store with $2 cold beers

Leslie at the craft gallery

Glass blowing studio

Clay studio

The resort also had a vision of ecological activities to offer its guests. As a result each week had a schedule of activities like hiking trips, sailing, snorkel and scuba trips, kayaking, daily yoga, glass blowing, clay work, paper making, tie dyeing, fabric batik and others.

The dive boat and small sail boat

Down to the beach

The resort seen from the bay

The beach

Reception and activites center

Turtle with Remora at Maho

The uniqueness of the resort has been copied by other resorts, but the Maho Eco Resort still remained the most sought after. It served a couple of generations of ecology minded guests and it is a shame that it is no more.

I was fortunate to go on the last scuba trip they offered, and Leslie and I ate the last meal the restaurant served as we watched a slide show on the many happy guests the resort had served over the years. I also drank the last beer sold at the little store as we took a last walk around the resort. That night we drank a toast to the end of an era, the end of the Maho Bay Eco Resort.

Sunset from the Maho Eco Lodge "dinning room"

Strange things happen when you cruise. When we went to go to bed in the starboard cabin we were hit by the smell of dead fish! We smelled around and it seemed to be coming from the porthole. So we shut the porthole and went to bed, but it still reeked of dead fish! About 5 in the morning Leslie starts rummaging around and soon finds a dead fish under our mattress!  A couple days ago Leslie said she found the porthole screen ripped down. She thought it was odd but saw no cause and so repaired it. Apparently this fish, about an 8” Jack, had jumped through our screen and landed by the mattress and worked its way under it before dying. There it had lain for two days starting to decay. We got rid of the fish and stripped the mattress and put vinegar on the wood and mattress and put it up to air and the bedding in bleach and vinegar water before going back to the port side for some more sleep. Upon getting up we worked further to eliminate the odor, but it looks like we will sleep in the port cabin for a few days. Unfortunatly in the early hour and our haste to get rid of the smelly fish, we forgot to get a picture. Oh well!