Hurrah!! After 12 days we finally have internet again.
As we were preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Beryl in our house sit on the island of St. Vincent we didn’t realize the biggest hardship we ourselves would face would be 12 days of no or very intermittent internet service. Fortunately for us that was the worst of the storm.
The view as we looked south from our house sit a couple of days before the arrival of the storm. We were busy securing windows and any items around the property that could become potential projectiles. A shout out to fellow house sitters Nicky and Ian Mackenzie for their helpful advice in preparing for the storm. They survived a direct hit from Hurricane Erma so their words carried significant weight.The view looking south as the hurricane arrived. As the winds were whipping around us we were very appreciative of the first class construction quality of the home we were in.Luckily for us, not so much for the islands south of us, the eye of the storm jogged a bit south as its approached St. Vincent. The closest the eye of the storm got to us was about 90 km. We are staying just to the east of Kingstown.It was quite the show watching the wind rip by. As we are near the top of the hill we didn’t have to be as concerned about objects from other properties crashing into us. The best bet was to stay inside which, other than the occasional step out to get a photo, we did.We only lost power for 36 hours which we thought was very impressive. We expected it to happen so we were prepared with candles, flashlights, and extra batteries. Charlie, our cat, was more than happy to snuggle up on the couch and ride the storm out with us. We also lost our municipal water supply for 9 hours but that was of no real consequence as the house has a 250 gallon reserve. We also lost our cell service on our half of the island for a few days which was a bit of a pain. Mainly because it denied us the ability to let the home owners, friends, and family know everything was fine.When we emerged after the storm it was a hell of a mess. With no power for the pump it took a couple of days to remove all the leaves and debris from the pool. But we had it back in acceptable shape within 3 days.When we went out in search of cellular service or wifi to let people know we were ok we saw why we had no power. However within 36 hours the power company had installed a new pole and had power back on. We were able to pirate some wifi from the KFC closer to Kingstown to send out our first messages. The big challenge was the clean up in the yard. The way the wind simply shredded the leaves from the trees was incredible, and it left quite a mess. But three full loads in the back of our vehicle to the dump and we had a good handle on it. It was actually nice to have something to do after being forced to just sit around.The last big job was this Hala Tree which had been snapped off.By the time we had macheted it to manageable pieces and carried it up to the top of the property we were ready for a cold beer and a dip in the pool.
Hurricane Beryl caused some devastating damage to areas very close to us, but fortunately we dodged the bullet on this one. It quickly reminds you of how fragile our conveniences are that we take so much for granted. All in all though, it was a great experience for us. A fantastic reminder to enjoy life, get out and explore the world or your city, whatever is available to you.
I hope the homeowners appreciate all you did for their property, both before and after Beryl. Thanks for the update and very happy to hear it wasn’t as traumatic as it could have been.
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