Hello fellow readers, I have not forgotten about you!

We've been so busy tanning on the beach, we have not had time to post our recent encounters..

Stay tuned...its coming...

Hurricane Earl hits the BVI - 30 August 2010

Hurricane Earl was a category 3 hurricane to hit the BVI and the surrounding Virgin Islands.

I has just returned from London on Saturday night, and I was looking forward to spending a day of relaxing on Monday in lieu of the 16 hours of travel on Saturday. Sunday rolled around, and phone calls were coming in from work not to come to work till the storm passes! We spent entire Sunday picking up groceries and inspecting the safety of our house.

We went to bed Sunday night and work up to what seemed like nighttime on Monday morning. In the middle of the night, the entire island lost all electricity and water. It was apparent that the BVI electricity company was anticipating the worst.

Originally we had planned to shelter at home. Tanis and Casey phoned us, to tell us that the office had a generator and we should bring food, beers, the xbox and Dundee. With no better reason to stay in our home, we packed suitcases and bedding with intentions of staying the night at the office. The KPMG office is considered an approved hurricane building in the BVI.

At the office, the four of us kept each other entertained - we stuffed our faces with food, looked out into the storm (and the drunk crazies walking in the storm!), made bets on structural casualties, and listened to Casey's memories of hurricane Ivan when it hit the Cayman Islands. Time elapsed quickly... with the help of some rock and roll on the guitar hero and a case of Carib.

Long Bay west end

Road Town ferry station

The ocean flooding over the concrete wall at Cane Garden Bay.

200 Mile per hour winds

Bomba Shack in the early stages of destruction

The eye of the storm must have passed us later in the evening, just as we thought it would be safe to go home, we only saw the worst. While everyone was still sheltered at home, we were one of the first cars on the road to witness the damages. We drove over branches, around tree trunks, under electrical wires, and through rubble, back to our dark home with no electricity. There was nothing left to do but go to bed. On Tuesday morning, the government requested for everyone to stay off he road....

The damages in the aftermath of Hurricane Earl.....


There were no reports of major damages, injuries or death, but many trees were uprooted and houses on the lower flat facing the sea suffered some amount of flooding from rising sea swells.

The wind has blown all the leaves off all the trees, and the jungle is now reminiscent of damages of a forest fire - everything is grey and bare - really sad looking :o(

Bomba Shack was completely destroyed.
Ironically, Bomba will probably have more than enough driftwood to repair the bar in no time.

Someones power boat - likely a new BVI dive site soon

Festival tents hanging off the tree at the four-way stop near the Police Station.

Its Thursday night, we have had electricity for about 24 hours now, and we have returned to work. Almost everyone we have spoken to still does not have electricity or water - but they have been promised to have it running by Friday!

Tropical Depression Guston is approaching from Africa, and should be arriving in the BVI in the next couple of days. Unless it dissipates, we are on our routine of packing the family, together with the xbox and a case of beer for entertainment.

Anegada - One flat island

August 1st was Festival Week on the island. Its a 3 day Stat Holiday in the BVI, where the BVI celebrates its emancipation. Its absolutely crazy - all the people come out, there is a rise and shine parade every morning at 4:30am, and the parties go on into the early morning. Its very colorful and exciting, but also very noisy and unpredictable. Some photos of the festival: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=194625&id=164902712399

We opted for the quieter scenes. Upon sunrise, we took the earliest 1 1/2 hour (22 miles away) ferry to Anegada. The remoteness of Anegada is what makes it so attractive. There is only approximately 250 permanent resident living on the island! The island is protected by the 18 miles long Horseshoe reef which is the fourth largest reef in the world. Because of the reefs, sailing a boat to the island is nearly impossible unless your an expert. There are hundreds of shipwrecks around Anegada - a divers dream.

Because Ben was away at training with KPMG in the Cayman Islands, I was responsible for all the planning involved in the trip. Late one night, I did some research on the internet and mastered the best trip to Anegada - go to the French Deli, pick up some fancy cheeses and meats, pack a bottle of wine, and some towels in a backpack. When we get to the island, take a taxi to Town, rent two bicycles from the 'convenience store', and bike over the the bakery to pick up some breads and journey across the island to all the beaches. Sounds like a good day right? That's what I originally thought! Working against me were the following:

A) the scorching heat!

B) the fact that it was festival week and absolutely everything was closed

C) the island is 10 miles long and 2 miles wide, with undeveloped sandy roads.

The morning of our trip, without Ben's knowledge, I made a swiftly change in plans - scrap the bicycles, and rent an air conditioned car instead! Best move I have ever made!

We started to sail the ferry away from Tortola, and as we went deeper into the blue ocean, the Captains crew asked everyone outside to come and sit in the interior cabin. Sooner than I could say the word "wave!" we were gawking through the windows of the boat at the overflowing ocean that was reminiscent of the deadliest catch TV show.

We arrived to the island with a few other local, and some other tourists. Ben asks me where we are going, unsure myself, I calmly told him that for now we are following the tourists in front of us to see what they are doing - hahaha. I called the car rental place, no answer. I called the bicycle rental place, no answer. I called the bakery, no answer. oh crap! Did I pick the right day!

As we walked away from the ferry dock, we came across a couple of remote variety stores advertising bicycle and car rentals! Yay! NOT! They were closed! This is where I learned to always call in advance.

In desperation, we turned into the Anegada Reef Hotel, showed up to front desk and asked the lady if she could help arrange a car rental for us. As a convenience to hotel guests, the hotel provides car rentals! We forked over $75, and were given keys to a white suv parked outside that the lady pointed to through the window. No inspections for damage, no check to see how much gas is in the car, hand made linoleum floor matts, beer cans dangling in the back seat - yup this was definitely a Caribbean rental car. Ben had to literally sit on the clutch to get the car started!

We are ready to go! First stop - I dont know - the roads are not marked.

This decorative pole, along with the cow in front, lead us to believe that we were at Cow Wreck Beach.

If it were up to me, this decorative driftwood would be making it back to our living room as decoration.

Our next stop was Loblolly Beach

The choice is yours...

Camping fort on the beach. The stairs were completely damaged to the top. Determined to see the views from the top, Ben convinced me to give him a boost to the first level.

View from the top was worth the scrapes Ben received coming down from the fort

Looks like oil spill? Turns out to be a school of fish.

In the center of the island are salt ponds which are homes to seagulls, iguanas and pink flamingos.

The closest resemblance to a dual lane highway. Unlike the rest of the islands, Anegada is completely flat. Dirt roads + random pools of water + neglected rental car = an entertaining doom buggy relay!

True to its words - Anegada was heaven on earth.

New pet

These little guys are lizards that hatched near the entrance of our back door. They are so small, they literally fit in between cracks in the house. On most ocassions, when we come home, they are waiting there to greet us at the door. They were so cute I took the liberty in naming them Paris and Nicole.

This is Paris

Unfortunately, recently, Paris and Nicole had a falling-out and Nicole is nowhere to be seen.

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On another note, this is Eeyore. During our time here, we have seen this stray donkey on parts of the island.

Most mornings, we let Dundee outdoors through our side bedroom door rather than walking him through the house to the front door. We then meet him at the front door after he has done his business. On this particular Sunday I open up the front door to call Dundee, but there was no Dundee, instead a confused donkey looking fixedly at me....

I called Dundee's name a couple of times, but he wasn't anywhere in sight. I was scared for Dundee - What if the donkey kicks Dundee? I was scared for the Eeyore - What if Dundee hurts the donkey? I quickly ran back to the bedroom and glanced out the side window of our house to find petrified Dundee who did a complete 360 and tucked himself away to the opposite side of the house!

Eeyore continued to return to our house despite Dundee's little attack at him. We liked his presence so much, we started to secretly feed him carrots. Every time she saw him, the land lady threw stones to scare him away. She was obviously not impressed, as donkey was also butchering her vegetable garden :o( Sadly, since then, we haven't seen our pet donkey. We asked a couple of local cows, but they were not aware of his whereabouts. I'm considering making a LOST poster.

Dundee vs. Donkey

Dundee and Donkey were not hurt in the making of this movie

Dundee is a Google Maps Star!

The other days I received an interesting email from my friend Ainsley. Last year, Ainsley and her family agreed to take care of Dundee for a couple of weeks while Ben and I ventured off for our Europe trip last summer. Recently, Ainsley Googled Mapped her house, using the new street view, and to her surprise Dundee was captured in Googles photo of her family’s house!

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=53.499075%2C-113.575287&spn=0%2C0.727158&t=h&z=11&layer=c&cbll=53.499283%2C-113.574812&panoid=VGLOOvS9Bi0v8nL4jO68Wg&cbp=12%2C332.89%2C%2C1%2C3.64