Around-the-World with Drew & Erin: St. John

Join The Blogging Post as we head around-the-world with our friends Drew & Erin. They’ll be sending us regular dispatches and updates from all over the globe. This is their second post — from St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, where they worked (in exchange for room & board) for one month at an eco-resort in Maho Bay:

The Island

St. John is a beautiful little slice of paradise in the Caribbean. It’s a small, tropical island - only about 7-8 miles long and 2 miles wide - so you feel like you can get to know it well. We haven’t had a car so we’ve hiked and hitched all over the island. It’s cool setting out in the AM and exploring a new place. And the hitching adds a fun dimension.

The locals are very friendly and colorful so it’s a good way to get around and meet some interesting folks. Our excursions generally end up at a beach where we’ll go for a swim and snorkel. We’ve covered most corners of the island. Our most recent adventure took us to the top of Caneel Hill which is a short steep hike to one of the higher points on the island. From the top, there was a stunning view out over St John, St Thomas, the British Virgin Islands, and all the little cays in between.

Last night we went for a night snorkel under the full moon. It was amazing. We saw a small octopus and witnessed it take down a fish in an underwater ambush. We also spied a giant lobster, some shrimp, a 5-foot tarpon, and lots of other fish. The octopus and lobster were the last two underwater creatures I was really hoping to see so I was psyched to catch them. On our other trips we’ve had lots of opportunities to swim with turtles, seen a number of sharks, and have gotten to know a decent amount about the fish and coral and other creatures. The waters here are loaded with life. A sea kayaking trip to a nearby island was one of our other highlights.

History of St John

- Original natives were Taino indians who were wiped out soon after others arrived.

- Other groups that inhabited the island early were Caribs, a strong warring nation of people who conquered their way up the island chain from South America.

- St John was a colony of Denmark in the 17 and 1800’s. The island was filled with sugar cane plantations which were owned by rich plantation owners and worked by slaves.

- The US eventually bought the island for $25 million in 1917 and that’s how it became part of the U.S.

- A wealthy Rockefeller donated much of the land to the US government in the mid-1900’s to form Virgin islands National Park. Today about 60% of the island is national park.

- Tourism didn’t really take off until later in the 1900’s. Now real estate is super-expensive.

Cost of Rum

You can actually buy a glass bottle of rum for less than a plastic bottle of water on St John, on an equal volume basis.

The Maho Bay Experience

For someone looking to spend a month on St John for a little work and little cost, the Maho Bay work exchange program is a great option. (Drew was on the maintenance crew and Erin was on the housekeeping staff during their stay.)

But prepare yourself for a lesson in psychology and social dynamics. Since it is a self-contained place, you live, work, eat, sleep, shower, swim, and socialize all with the same group of people. It makes for an interesting scene.

I heard it described in many ways, all of which are accurate in one aspect or another - hippie commune; a cross between Survivor and Melrose; living in a tree house (that’s our cabin in the photo); Swiss Family Robinson. The most accurate description that I heard was that Maho is like the book The Beach by Alex Garland. The book’s about a traveler who finds his way to a secret commune on a small, idyllic island paradise in Thailand. It’s a perfect place in many ways - but at the same time it is faced with all the same problems and human imperfections that are impossible to escape. I found Maho to be similar. My first week or two there I thought it was incredible, almost perfect. But as time wore on, I witnessed and came to understand other sides of it - nothing major, just that it was like everywhere else in some ways. In the end, though, it’s an incredible and awesome place. It just needs to be understood in its entirety and from all sides. If you think you might be interested, check it out.