A long awaited update!
We returned to our beloved island a couple of weeks ago to see for ourselves how Andara and the rest of the island faired post the 2 back to back category 5 hurricanes of September 2017 known as “IRMARIA”. We expected the worst and were humbled by the incredible recovery effort that was evident as we immediately stepped off the ferry in Cruz Bay. The people of St. John along with the numerous recovery workers pulled off nothing short of a miracle in 4 months!
The lush greenery is on the hillsides, the water is the same brilliant turquois, and the warmth of the sun was very welcoming to us north east dwellers. After picking up our rental Jeep at Courtesy Car Rental, Greg the owner picked us up at the ferry in a spiffy new transport bus that had plenty of room for people along with the multitude of villa supplies we hauled with us, we were off to the Marketplace for a few provisions. Greg informed us that his vehicles made it through the storms unscathed – amazing!
The grocery stores on Cruz Bay were fully stocked and it was business as usual. We didn’t do much shopping as the plan was to eat out every night to support the local restaurants, no arms needed to be twisted on that one;) Power had not made it out to the East End yet so non-refrigerated items comprised the list.
With much curiosity we made our way to Andara along Centerline Road. The road was completely cleared and in pretty good shape, considering…As stated previously the trees are filling in nicely and nature’s pruning has opened some vistas not seen before. Sure there is evidence of the significant destruction, one can’t deny that, but there is improvement daily.
Speaking with folks that lived through the storms hunkered in whatever bunker they could find was eye opening but they appeared to be handling it well and were busy putting their lives, both physical and emotional, back together and are moving forward.
It was a short visit for us but we managed to eat at the Lime Inn and Skinny’s x 2. Both restaurants were quite busy and the food was as delicious as we remembered.
Andara faired very well post-storm and did not suffer any significant damage. There were guests at Andara during Irma, they described the villa as a “fortress” and said they felt very safe during the maelstrom. They were on St John for the vacation we all know and love and did not sign up for hurricane mitigation duties, a big shout out and thank you for taking care of Andara as if she were your own home! We are extremely thankful for the tremendous effort. We expressed are forever gratitude to our builder for constructing our fortress!
We did a few projects at the villa and accomplished our prime objective of installing and activating Hughesnet Satellite internet, woohoo!! We were able to make phone calls via the Wi-Fi calling setting on our cell phones, not bad! Prior to Innovative, now Viya, running lines out to our villa a few years ago we had satellite internet and television. We switched over for a landline phone/internet/TV bundle once available. It looks like Viya’s land lines will not make it out to the East End any time soon so it’s back to satellite services. I guess what comes around goes around! The best part is that Hughesnet has upgraded their service with a new satellite and we installed the Gen 5 system, broadband internet, sweet.
The plan is to re-install and activate DISH Network satellite TV in March.
Our trip was short but we accomplished a lot. The airport experience was fine, we traveled midweek and did not encounter any long lines. The ferries are on a regular schedule and the workers truly seemed happy to see tourists and said come back soon.
Ironically, while hanging out at the airport waiting for our Delta flight connecting through Atlanta I receive a message that power was RESTORED to Andara!! We had seen the BBC guys working on our road just the day before and spoke to the foreman expressing how thankful we all are for their service. He said they were very close to “flipping the switch” to our area, little did we know how close 🙂
Delta was uneventful and it was great to be able to track our checked bags through the process. Our connecting flights were very smooth, good movies and plenty of snacks were offered. We fly on AA in March, I hope to be able to say the same.
All in all we are very relieved to see how quickly the island is rebounding and at this point the return of visitors is greatly appreciated (although a very quiet Trunk Bay with no fees charged was kinda nice).
I will try to post more in the coming months to keep you all in the loop. Villa Andara is also on Facebook so you can look for updates there too.