Welcome to Paradise - Category 4

View from our car of Sopers Hole on Monday morning

To say that the last week has been a bit challenging, would be the understatement of the century! Not only has Tortola not had a hurricane for 15 years, it can't remember the last time it had a 'real' one like Earl! We've managed to arrive in our new home the day before a hurricane hit it!

So the flight over was long but uneventful and all the other connections went well. We checked into a hotel on the north shore and were warned about a storm but everyone seemed quite laid back about it. Anyway we snorkeled around and kept saying things like "pinch me, pinch me"  and then on Monday all hell broke lose. This is a photo from the car - we had rushed over to the meet the headmaster (Tyler was actually freaking out because we were 20 mins late) and when we got to the empty school this completely incredulous person said "no of course we are closed , it's a hurricane!"

We hunkered down in our electricity-less,water-less hotel for 2 days until they threw us out and hoped that we would get to see our new life longer than a weekend. When we got up the next day (can't say we had much sleep) the world was a very different place, with major damage and a completely gob-smacked populace, who were annoyed that the hurricane services had not given a hurricane warning when one was actually hitting us (but since it was not hitting the US Virgin Islands and NOAH is Miami-based, go figure).

Anyway we survived, and since Wednesday things have been getting back to normal. The kids started school on Friday. We have found a lovely house, and we are starting to sort things out, but it is slow - mainly due to the impact of the hurricane and clearn-up.

Will get back on-line tomorrow again (we are sitting at the Nanny Cay bar with wi-fi right now) and start replying to individual mails and getting re-connected again.   Will also post more photo's and more news. This is just a quick one to let everyone know we hadn't been blown away!

I realised with deep certainty today, that we are well and truly in the Caribbean, when I tried all 5 radio stations in our brute of a Mitshubisi Dakar 4X4, that every single one was playing reggae.

Even as I type, Bob Marley (Exodus) is blaring out in the background, and Georgie has just bumped into a little school friend who lives on a yacht.

We are all well, but boy sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for!!