All:
Reef song is fine. She was at the marina at Spanishtown. The Bimini material will need some repair. Hurricane was about 125-135 MPH. During the storm I drove from the villa to the marina during a lull. (maybe 70) RS was at a dock with the dock lines holding well, heeled over about 15 -20 degrees. I climbed on a dock line and retrieved the mooring lines and another fender and installed those. After that the storm got much worse.

We stayed at the villa but could not even go outside to turn on the generator so we sat up a long time in candlelight. We ate some grapes and wine for dinner. No interest in food. We went to bed in the main wing upstairs in the twin room. Slept well thru the storm.
The wind and gusts were howling. At one point (stupid me did not bring in the BBQ) and it went down the deck at great speed and put a hole right through the pool wing wall. Pam and I then decided to get the BBQ and bring it inside. As we opened the door, the wind ripped it open and sprung the door. We did get the BBQ inside and my carpenter thinks he can repair the door. Then is go even worse. I would have been blow over or blown away if I had ventured outside. We watched things coming off the villa, hoping that we would not have a roof failure or other catastrophic failure. The waves on the reef were about 20-30 ft high.
We lost 2 gutters and some plastic soffits under the eves. It did sound like the villa was coming apart. Water coming in under the doors and some other minor leaks. (not that we did not expect this). We lost no window panes. Windows held up well. The villa held up well. One of the upstairs bathrooms had a failure in that the sheet rock blew out from the wind force. It too is intact and can be sued again. The small wood door to on e of my outdoor showers failed and pulled the wood off the wall. Again all repairable.

Our vegetation took a great beating but will come back. Some trees now only have broken limbs. These were beautiful full trees before the hurricane.

One of my palm trees is at a list and will have to be righted. I think my favorite lime tree is gone. Over at 90 degrees. All cactus plants have their tops broken off. No flowers at the villa, but they will be back in 1-2 weeks. The pool lost 2 ft of water. South Sound was one immense haze of blowing salt water. You could see the wind pick up the water and blow it away.

At one point I decided to go to my dock which I discovered was now awash with waves and my dinghy was getting mashed. I tried to pull it up the stairs but did not have the strength. I called Dennis who came right over and the two of us pulled it up the stairs about 5 ft and tied it to the cement railing supports. There it remained thru the storm. The wood part of my dock came apart but can be repaired. The waves were about 1-3 ft high with large surges of water.

The locals have told me this is the worst storm they can remember. Lasted about 40 hours with about 10 hours of intense wind and gusts. Not that much rain. No tornadoes or lighting although you could see lightning in the horizon.

Some guys came today with a dinghy and helped me get my 2 kayaks back form the beach. They broke their lines on the cement kayak supports. They were on a small freighter that had holed up in the hurricane hole near the villa. Their entertainment was watching our villa to see if it survived!! Their dinghy broke free so they watched in at night with huge beams of light. Strange seeing these huge beams of light all night in the midst of a hurricane. Turns on one of the guys fixed my Jeep A/C several years ago. Very nice guys and they helped me get the sand out of the kayaks and put them back on the supports.

It certainly was the worst storm I have been though and the first for Pam. She did not enjoy it!!

All in all we came though this well but I have a lot more respect for hurricanes. My desire to skinny dip in my pool during the hurricane was not fulfilled. I was much too up tight and upset.

I will check on RS today and see if she is hauled. I am still on generator power and expect to get government power today.
Local phones are working. Cell 284-540-1598 is the clearest. Villa phone 284-495-7425 has some static. No internet yet.

Leaving for Ct on Friday.

Virgin Gorda has survived well. No one got hurt or killed. The roads have been cleared

Thorsten

P.S.
This is coming out of Leverick Bay. They have lost the main electric line in Leverick, as have we to the South Sound Villa. It will be several days before all of this gets sorted out.

tpcook