The four systems
Sun, spring, gas, and a boat for everything else
Power
Solar panels and a battery bank, one set per bungalow
Lights, the fridge, and charging your phone and laptop. It is sized for comfortable use, not unlimited use — this is a bungalow on a solar array, not a hotel on the grid. No generator, so no generator noise.
- Runs the fridge, the lights and your devices
- Several days of cloud in the rainy season can draw the batteries down
- Bring a headlamp each; there are candles too
Water
Mountain spring, gravity-fed
It arrives by gravity from a spring above the property. No pumps, no chemicals, no tank to run dry. It runs cold and it runs continuously. Tested clean — and every bungalow has a five-gallon bottle of filtered drinking water on a dispenser if you would rather not drink from the tap.
- Cold water never stops
- Hot water from a solar heater or an in-line gas heater, depending on the bungalow
- Filtered drinking water on a dispenser; it may be part full on arrival, and we refill on request
Gas
Propane tanks
The stove, and in most bungalows the hot water, are powered by propane gas. Tanks are changed by the staff, so you will probably never think about it. If one runs out while you are here, someone is on the property from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday.
- Gas stove in every bungalow
- Gas or solar fridge depending on which bungalow you take
- Staff change the tanks — not your job
Waste
Everything leaves by boat
There is no garbage truck, because there is no road. Trash and recycling go out by boat. Vegetable scraps go over the rail to the land crabs, which is less a policy than a spectator sport. Meat scraps and bones are different — those go into the ocean, so they do not draw unwanted animals and insects up to the bungalows. Septic systems are simple here, so paper goes in the bin, not the toilet.
- Vegetable peelings to the land crabs
- Meat scraps and bones into the ocean, never in the bin
- Paper in the bin beside the toilet, never flushed
- Separate glass; everything else leaves by boat
