Hoteliers and restaurateurs told last night how they battled on regardless during the Island-wide blackout on Sunday.

It seemed the power cut across much of Bermuda brought out the best in people, as hotel and dinner guests pulled together with staff to get the most out of the evening.

At Sonesta Beach Hotel, more than 375 people were enjoying a lawn party and some of the 200 hotel guests were enjoying dinner when the lights went down.

But, with a sense of humour and fun, the show went on.

Director of food and beverage at the hotel Francois Porte said: "We were right in the middle of dinner at the time, plus we had hundreds of people enjoying a lawn party, but we used the generator, which gave us some power, and we handed out flashlights to guests and lit candles, so we all had a good night.

Bermudians show grit in face of power cut "There were people out at restaurants who had to come back because the blackout meant they had closed, but we managed to feed those people, too, salads and sandwiches, so everyone was happy. We all pulled together.'' At Pompano Beach Club Hotel, the problems were not as bad as they could have been as the majority of the 130 guests were outside enjoying a Mother's Day grill night, rather than the usual dinner inside.

General manager Larry Lamb said: "We had candles everywhere and we gave people little candles to take to their rooms, so it looked very romantic. It was a beautiful night outside, so it turned into a very neat evening.'' But, for some businesses on the Island, the power cut meant bars and restaurants had to close, causing financial losses.

Henry VIII manager John Ferris said the power cut had cost him thousands.

He said: "Once the power went down and the A/C was out there were quite a few people we couldn't take care of and we had to close down.

"Sunday is a busy bar night. We lost about 25 dinner guests and about $5,000 in revenue. Also we couldn't process credit cards.

"The worst thing was not knowing how long it was going to be out for. There was no news. We didn't know whether it would be one, two or four hours.'' The Somerset Squire battled on despite the outage.

Maitre d'hotel Toby Palmer said: "We still had a table of 11 guests but we put out some candles and carried on serving. But we did shut a bit earlier.'' North Rock manager Arnim Donawa also closed early.

He said: "Even though we have a gas stove the exhaust fan is electric.

"The emergency lighting kicked in for the people who were still eating -- it was an added bit of romance. They were very understanding.

"We suggested getting the old barbecue out but that didn't go down too well.

"If it had been about half an hour earlier it would have been a nightmare. It was packed.

"The worst bit was working out people's bills manually.'' TOURISM TOU RESTAURANT EAT BUSINESS BUC