Platform Party on Salt Cay

Tim & Nancy Connolloy, long time Winter residents on Salt Cay, lost their home in Hurricane Ike - well at least the top half of it... and the bottom half was filled with water and debris. UGH! They have shipped down tons of building materials and are preparing to rebuild. BUT... no event can go without a party - and if anyone knows how to do that it right, it's Tim & Nancy! Knowing that the barge full of building materials was due to arrive on Tuesday (or Wednesday, or Thursday), they hosted the first (and last) Salt Cay Platform Party at Captain Morgan's Retreat on Salt Cay! It was strictly a BYOE (bring your own everything) event.

They had a stairway on the outside that went up to the "platform" but it was deemed too shaky and we walked through the bottom of the house to the inside stairway. Here's a picture of Mike James coming up through the stairwell to join the party. It was a bizarre feeling coming up the stairs to the open platform that used to be the second floor of the house!

What a view of the island from the "Platform"! You could see att the way to the South... and the views of the water and salinas were breathtaking!! Mike Hawkins brought a battery to plug in a converter and operate the blender, everyone brought snack foods and the Platform Party was on! Little by little more and more people arrived bringing their own chairs, food and drinks.

Tim (in his solar hat) and Don Shope took a little time out to study the plans for the new house. The Platform will be transformed into a wonderful kitchen, master bedroom, living/dining room and two beautiful decks (one on the south side and one on the north side of the house). I can't remember what the plans are for the bottom of the house, but if Tim & Nancy are on island, they'll be happy to show you the whole thing. And by next year it will be ready for the actual house warming party! WooHoo!

This is just one small story among many of the recovery efforts after Hurricane Ike. During the Platform Party, many people took the time to sit and talk about their own experiences with recoverying from the winds and waters that came through the island. Earl Talbot and Mike Hawkins sat and talked about the history of hurricanes on Salt Cay - it's fantastic to listen to Mr. Earl talk about the history of the island and what past hurricanes did to the island.

We were all a bit nervous about how many people could safely be in one place on Captain Morgan's Platform... but not so much that some of us didn't brave it and get together for a group picture to commemorate the event!

Tim & Nancy are fantastic... in the face of all of this they always take time out to remember why we were all drawn to Salt Cay in the first place. The sleepy, laid back atmosphere, the wonderful people who call it home (permanently or seasonally), the fun times getting together to celebrate (and needing very little reason for this!), the beautiful waters to snorkel, dive, kayak, swim and just float it - and so very much more.

BEST WISHES TO TIM and NANCY!