And the Rain Continues........

Well, rain mentioned in the last entry was only the beginning. Starting mid-day Sunday, the clouds grew dark, ominous and very pregnant with the possibility of a rough night. Then, a low rumble of lightening accompanied by an increase in winds warned us the storm was about to hit. We had checked weather information and apparently an unusual low pressure system was sitting over the West Indies that was going to be dumping rain on us as well as the Virgin Islands, just six miles away. And man, did it! For most of the day Sunday and into the night, it rained heavily with periods of pretty severe lightening and thunder. Monday started soggy but not quite as wet but it picked up again into the afternoon and by evening we were getting pounded by torrential rain, high winds and heavy lightening and thunder. After a particularly loud crash in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, we gave up trying to sleep and sat up reading from about 1 a.m. until 2:30. The claps of thunder were so loud and close that we could actually feel the cabin vibrate with them. Now, there have been times when we lived in Seattle, where thunder and lightening storms are a rarity, that I would say to Jim I actually missed them (we used to have them in Texas frequently, but nothing like this). Well, I have to say, that by the time dawn came Tuesday morning, I was pretty unnerved by it all and will have had my fill of thunderstorms for quite some time!

Once it was light enough Tuesday morning we went outside and discovered the source of the crash - a tree had blown over in front of the Manager’s Cabin. You can see from the picture that it wasn’t a huge tree but certainly big enough that we had to use the chainsaw to cut it up and get it out of the way. The only other major problem caused by the storm was the swimming pool which, besides practically overflowing, was really green from the mustard algae which apparently can easily spring up in a pool after a storm. This would necessitate a trip to the hardware store to pick up some more algae killer to treat the pool.

Meanwhile, the gals in Family Cabana were able to get their car towed out of where it was stuck and offered to take us into town with them and grab a bite to eat. Now, as you know, we have our own little sweet ride, but we simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a comfy trip in the back seat of an almost new Jeep with air conditioning - yippee!! So, off we headed. This was the first time in about four days that we had actually been able to get away from the property so it really was a treat. The roads around the island had a lot of debris on them and in some places, there were minor slides from runoff in the higher hills. Fortunately, we were able to get around without too much difficulty. We ended going to Duffy’s on the beach in Esperanza after finding out that the restaurant we wanted to go to, Mucho Gusto, was closed. According to several of the guests we’ve had who have eaten there, it is really good, authentic Puerto Rican food, so we’ll definitely have to try it some time.

Anyway, we sat down at Duffy’s, which is a covered, open air restaurant with a very casual atmosphere and pretty good pub type food. Jim enjoyed a famous Duffy’s Sunset cocktail while I had an ice cold Medallia (Puerto Rican beer). Ahhh!! Talk about recharging your batteries! From our vantage point, we watched the dark clouds form again over the Caribbean and in no time it let loose around us again. This time, though, it was much more tolerable sitting in a comfortable restaurant watching the storm as opposed to being pounded by it in our little Manager’s Cabin. Now there's appreciating the small things in life!