Boldly Go Solo

Ever been to the U.S. Virgin Islands? Wanted to go but didn't want to go alone because going alone is scary? Well, my friend Diane, another travel writer, passed along this testimonial from a 50-year-old male guest at Maho Bay Camps, an eco-resort on St. John.

"I went to Maho Bay alone in November," he wrote. "I enjoyed my stay and found that meeting people, although not my forte, was not hard to do. Dinner time at the pavilion is a good place to sit next to someone and chat."

So were the glass-making demonstrations and the kayaking lessons, he added. 

AND…Maho Bay Camps offers discounts on the room rates for solo travelers from now through December 14! Hallelujah. Instead of $80 a night, it's $60. They're actually "tent cottages" with private balconies and shared bathrooms and showers. Hence the low rate.

And, once you're at a place like that, you don't walk away from the kayaking, never to see the person you met again. You run into them and then you're likely to smile and say hello, or hang out with them again somewhere. Especially if they came alone too.

The resort offers an 80-degree aqua ocean, reefs and colorful fish for snorkelers and a white-sand beach.

A 40-year-old woman who went alone described Maho as an "adult summer camp," with plenty of people around. Now THAT'S my kind of place! I'm not a beach bum in a lounge chair with a book in my hand, looking for a tan. I'm a doer! Especially if it's trying something I haven't done before. Like glass blowing.

Photos: Courtesy of Maho Bay Camps and Estate Concordia Preserve