Montserrat

Had a great sail across to Montserrat on the Monday once the gusty winds from the day before had died down a bit.  The direction is slightly west of north and so its an easy reach all the way up.  The distance to the island is about 30 miles and you can see it from Deshaies quite clearly.

Montserrat from afar

Some people may remember the news stories from around 1997 when an eruption of Mt Soufriere forced the evacuation of the main town of Plymouth on the south west coast.  The following eruptions decimated the southern part of the island including engulfing Plymouth.  The volcano is still active and has since erupted a couple more times.  As such there is an exclusion zones around the south of the island and so we decided to sail up the western side and then around the top to get to Little Bay which is the new island capital and where we eventually dropped anchor.

The sail up the western side is pretty spectacular as you get a great view of the volcano still smoking away and looking pretty ominous.  We later learned that this volcano does not spew out lava but more pyroclastic clouds or flows of ash and debris.  One of the biggest flows was down the western side and it engulfed a small town called Spanish Point.  You see the extent of it from the water.  From the mountain top there is a huge grey river like swathe down the mountain side to the sea where it fans out into a solid delta.  One good thing about the volcano is that its making Montserrat bigger all the time although that would be little consolation to its population.  its only the southern part of the island which is affected by the volcano.  As such the landscape in the south is barren and rocky whereas the northern half is lush and green.

The volcano and old pyroclastic flow

The smoking crater

Little Bay was very quiet with just a few small fishing boats riding on moorings and a couple of anchored yachts.  The water in the bay was clear and there was a good sand bottom to grab the anchor.  There was a bit of a swell running through and it was easy to see that this could get pretty uncomfortable if the swell picked up.

Little Bay

Next day we went ashore to meet a tour guide Charles who we had booked and who was going to drive us around the island and show us the sights which are mainly centred around the volcano.  Just before we left we were informed by the port authorities that we had to move the boat to a different part of the anchorage and this happened to coincide with a torrential downpour. So by the time we started the tour we were all soaked.  

Since the eruptions of 1997 the southern half of the island has been off limits due to the ongoing activity of the volcano.  The population of the island went from somewhere around 8000 before the eruption to 3000 after as people decided to move abroad.  The people who stayed were moved to the northern part of the island and resettled and a new island capital is being established around Little Bay but currently it is little more than a few building..  The population now is around the 5000 mark.

Charles first took us through small villages and housing clusters in the North towards a place called Jackboot Hill which is the lookout over the pyroclastic flow we had seen from the boat.   On closer inspection in the middle of the flow you can see the remains of chimneys and houses sticking up.  Everything else is just obliterated or covered beneath the ash and debris.  Antigua is a silhouette on the horizon.

The northeast coast

We next headed down the west side towards the south of the island and the volcano observatory.  The west side coast is beautiful and has dramatic views over the water past the island of Redonda towards Nevis.  You would think you were on a separate island.  There are large homes owned by the wealthy islanders and expats nestled amongst lush gardens with rainforests on the slopes above.

The volcano observatory overlooks the mountain and is home to the vulcanologists who monitor the volcano 24/7.  There was a really interesting film about the volcano history and the ensuing disaster which befell the island.  Next we drove down to the outskirts of Plymouth.  You cannot enter Plymouth itself but can get oretty close.  On the way we stopped at a abandoned house which was actually a recording studio owned by Sir George Martin (Beatles manager).  In its day in the 70‘s and 80‘s lots of famous musicians came here to record - Clapton, McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Boy George to name a few.  The place is now in ruin but you can still see the studios.

The volcano observatory

The Air Recording Studio

We drove further and eventually stopped at an abandoned hotel and looked over what remains of Plymouth.  Like Spanish Point the town is completely covered in ash and mud.  It is absolutely desolate and looks like the aftermath of a war zone.

The remains of Plymouth

The downtown and waterfront district of Plymouth

Talking with Charles over lunch about the eruptions and history its hard not to feel sorry for the people who lived here.  The population was about 3000 and then almost overnight everybody had to evacuate the city, leave everything they could not carry and move to a new home in the north of the island and start again.  Businesses would have been lost, schools and hospitals and other infrastructure destroyed and most people would have had to start over.  And this in a place where people don’t have that much to start with.  Saying that though Charles was pretty optimistic about the future and you can’t help but admire the locals tenacity.

It had been a great day and hopefully the kids have learned a bit from the experience but must say sometimes its hard to tell.  We are off to Nevis next about 30 Nm away.