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Kathy had gotten up early, as she usually does, and was reading her book on the porch. I woke up suddenly sensing something was wrong and lay in bed staring at the ceiling, trying to figure out what was out of kilter. Finally, it hit me. The fan wasn't turning. When I got up and tried the lights, they weren't working either. The power was completely off at the Pink House. This was cause for concern for three reasons. First, the water pump is electric and, although we still had water pressure enough to brush my teeth and flush a few times, it would eventually stop flowing altogether without electricity. Second, we still had five pounds of shrimp and a bunch of groceries from the three-of-everything store in the refrigerator and freezer. And finally, you can't make a decent Cuba Libre without ice.
I got dressed and went downstairs in a foul mood. Kathy hadn't noticed anything was wrong, since the breeze and ocean hadn't stopped, but I told her to get ready to go into town so we could do battle with the utility companies (still no phone service either) and get them off their little island butts to get our Pink House working again. Ever the voice of reason, Kathy said, "Don't be an ass. Give them a few hours until noon and if it's not working by then we'll go do something about it."
She was right of course. Before noon, the lights came back on and the phones were working perfectly without static. We got a phone call from Ray Flax at the telephone company making sure everything was okay and my foul mood blew away like an ocean breeze. We spent several hours on the computer, writing and answering emails and catching up on the world's events. I threw a banana, some mango-orange juice, some ice, and some rum into the blender and made umbrella drinks that were delicious.
Our adventure for the day was to climb to the top of Gorda Peak, which we did in the afternoon.
As I have mentioned before, Gorda Peak is the 1359ft mountain directly behind the Pink House. We drove most of the way to the top and pulled off at a trailhead within the National Park. The hike to the top was strenuous, especially in the heat of the day and with little breeze, but it was worth it. There were bay trees and bromeliads and interesting lizards. But the coolest part (literally) was the observation tower at the top of the mountain. A wooden tower built by Her Majesty's Navy that allowed a complete 360-degree view of Virgin Gorda and the surrounding islands. We could see Hurricane Hole and the roof of the Pink House to the South, The Bitter End Yacht Club and Prickly Pear Island to the East, "The Dogs" (a number of small uninhabited islands) to the Northwest, and Tortola and surrounding islands to the West. Due North, the surf breaking on the enormous reef surrounding Anegada Island, 15 miles away, appeared like a mirage. Horseshoe Reef, as it's called, is the third largest barrier reef in the world, and Anegada (which means submerged) is a flat coral island, that is indeed mostly under water.
Back at the Pink House, we reflected once again on the fact that the only fresh food we had managed to catch for ourselves was a coconut and a poisoned apple. We still had no fishing tackle to use with the two fishing rods we found in the utility room, so I set out to make a fish spear. Using a steak knife, I carved a stick into a sharp point with a barb on it, and inserted it into a length of half-inch PVC pipe Kathy had been using to herd the cunning cows. Then I drilled a hole in the other end and inserted the rubber band from our underwater disposable camera.
Voila! A pole spear that looked like it would do the trick. I set it aside and waited for daylight to do battle.
After finishing the spear, which Kathy called "your little sword," and admiring it for a while, I came in and made fresh linguini in the pasta machine we had lugged all the way from Texas. To go with the pasta, Kathy made the most amazing shrimp with cashew nuts and ginger and we ate until we could barely make it up the stairs and into the bed where the breeze did its thing on us within just a few minutes.