On the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Emily, a group of hardy visitors reunited to celebrate their passage through the storm and the friendships that followed.

"We were all here on vacation at Astwood Cove and did not know each other at the time,'' recalled Emily Survivors' spokeswoman Cathy Henne yesterday.

The Rye, New York, resident added: "We have been coming every year since 1980, sometimes more often.'' On September 25, 1987, Hurricane Emily struck and devastated the Island. John Himmel of Quincy, Massachusetts was in Bermuda celebrating his honeymoon when the storm struck.

"It was a wicked storm. We sat up on our porches and sort of looked at each other.'' Larry Warden, of Branchville, New Jersey, has his own special memory of Emily.

"I was in the house nearest the pool. This Rottweiller walked in during the height of the storm and the wind picked him up and threw him in the pool.

Everyone was screaming at me to get in the pool and help him.'' Mr. Warden said he did so and saved the dog which otherwise would have drowned.

"He was so grateful. After the storm calmed down (the dog) came walking in with a tennis ball. He was supposed to be a guard dog and here he is bringing a tennis ball in and wanting to play with someone.'' "We had no power for eight days and during that time we became friends. We could not go to a lot of places so we stayed around and got to know each other,'' continued Ms Henne.

"We had one week with working toilets, one week without,'' added Mr. Himmel.

He remembered going to the big hotels around the Island which had power and filling up bags with ice from their ice machines.

The group ate together at night around the facility's pool using the gas grills that were there and when it got dark they would go to bed with the promise, "tomorrow we'll have power,'' said Ms Henne.

"Then it was time to go home and we still did not have power,'' she said, laughing.

But unlike other vacations where addresses are exchanged but eventually people lose touch with one another, the Emily Survivors continued to visit each other a couple of times a year.

"We just became the fastest of friends,'' said Mr. Himmel.

"I think this was initially because of the hurricane and then how we dealt with the lack of water and power afterwards. It worked out well, we had a ball.'' "We stayed in touch. Right away we all started getting together. We had Emily Survivors' shirts made up and we gave them away for Christmas,'' added Ms Henne.

The Survivors also began visiting the Island every September to celebrate the anniversary of the storm.

The group grew from its original size when "we discovered another couple who had been here at the same time but we never met because they were at a different part of Astwood Cove,'' she said.

From there "it got bigger every year'' as "a few other lucky people joined in.'' Now the annual event has grown to the point where about 100 people attended a barbecue on Thursday night to commemorate the event.

About 40 people travelled to the Island from overseas to be part of the experience this year, said Mr. Himmel. "It's just kind of mushroomed.'' Mr. Warden said: "We have established a real bond of friendship with these people. I am the senior of the group and they still allow me to come.'' All of Astwood Cove's guests are invited along with friends the Survivors have made around the Island.

Mr. Warden drew special attention to the Lewin family who own Astwood Cove Resort Apartments.

"They are the greatest people in the world. They are very close friends of ours and very accommodating. They make us feel like part of the family.'' Ms Henne said: "Now we just can't imagine not coming back here and being together.''