Movies, board games, popcorn, an open bar and the odd PlayStation ensured Elbow Beach was among one of the best places to be when Hurricane Fabian struck.

The luxury South Shore hotel, which lost Mickey's Beach Bar, Lido Restaurant and The Deep nightclub to the hurricane, retained just 75 guests for the night, with staff desperate to make those who braved Bermuda that night feel as comfortable as possible.

And recreation manager Paul Harney, whose job it is to provide entertainment and activities for guests, was on a desperate mission to keep things "normal".

"The day after the storm was one of the most glorious days you have ever seen," said Mr. Harney, the 34-year-old recreation manager whose life at Elbow Beach began with an internship 11 years ago.

"Our job was to make sure the guests receives the highest standard of service and entertainment and so we had to get on with business despite the hurricane.

"As part of our preparations, we had put away all the beach furniture, but we made sure we got out again and cleaned up what we had to on the beach because about 30 guests wanted to sunbathe on the Saturday morning.

"We brought down coolers full of drinks and with all the destruction behind them, our guests were able to enjoy the beautiful beach we have here within 24 hours of the hurricane striking.

"We kept this up all weekend. We worked around the clock to ensure that everything went as smooth as possible.

"Everyone pitched in and at one stage we had the food and beverage manager and the director of sales and marketing come out to assist taking out extra furniture because we had all the extra guests arriving from the Southampton Princess."

His role as recreation manager has evolved in the recent post-Fabian weeks both because he is now helping out with the redevelopment of the beachfront and because a tree landed in his office.

The unwelcome arrival of a trunk, three feet of sand, as well as an enormous concrete block, has left Mr. Harney working without an office, which gives him more time to rake the beach - something he has to do after the tractor attachment, which meant the daily sweep could be done by a vehicle, was washed out to sea.

The immaculate tennis courts were sand-covered for a while, with one being brought back into use at a time as part of the round-the-clock recovery to normality.

The hotel's swimming pool, although littered with debris in the storm, was back in action by the end of Fabian weekend for general use and for the aqua-aerobics, another programme that Mr. Harney oversees.

The volleyball court is one notable victim of Fabian, the beach, which lost a lot of sand and is suffering from slowly-collapsing cliffs, is no longer wide enough to offer the popular sport.

The nature walks he used to run for guests are now being rerouted due to some of the Railway Trail's failure to match the recovery speed of other parts of the Island.

Mr. Harney, like so many people in so many professions post-Fabian, has been far busier than usual in his daily work.

Things are returning to normal now, six weeks on, but certainly in the immediate aftermath of the storm, life was pretty busy.

As well as the round the clock work on cleaning up the beach and running indoor activities while the clear-up went on, he also had extra clients to entertain.

Staff with no power were offered accommodation, which meant extra children to come and join in the already busy kids' club at the hotel - with a schoolteacher even hired as the hotel sought to manage the extra young people.

Mr. Harney says that since the storm, they have been inundated with letters and e-mails of thanks from many of the storm guests and those who came subsequently.

They went the extra mile, it seems, to make sure that one of Bermuda's premier hotels continued to operate as one despite the multi-million dollar damage to beachside properties.

Life is returning to normal at Elbow Beach, although Mickey's, Lido, the Deep and the honeymoon cottage/cum beach toilet, are not as they should be.

But Mr. Harney is excited to be working on the redevelopment of the beachfront, seeing it as a fresh challenge, and a chance to ensure that the guests are as well entertained as possible.

After all, there is only so much popcorn and Playstation a tourist can take.