Montserrat
feb 27 / 29
Our late afternoon arrival put us ashore after 5. Jim cleared us in to the country and we went to meet other boat friends Eric and Anne. Anne and Eric own a Kelly Peterson 46 foot sailboat; Kahuli. When asked what Kahuli means, Anne said it’s Hawaiian for money pit…
seriously, it means tree snail in Hawaiian. The name came with the boat and they have decided keep the name for now. We made plans to tour with them in the morning to see the volcano area. Cecil our guide.
9am. We met up with Cecil and his young nephew as he was loading the other passengers into his mini van. A family of 4 from Belgium. One, two, three …. eight, nine, ten. Ten of us in his mini van… an island mini van. We managed to fit and were mostly comfortable.
The island of Montserrat has an active volcano, Soufriere Hills, erupting since 1995. It is an ash volcano emitting hot, suffocating ash as opposed to lava. A major eruption in 1997 led to the evacuation of most of the islanders and eventual destruction of the capital town, Plymouth. The southern half of the island uninhabitable. The population went from 11,000 to todays 5,000. Many inhabitants relocated permanently. The dome of the volcano collapsed in 2003. Another eruption in 2006 followed by the biggest in 2010. There is an exclusion zone in much of the southern half of the island, although a small portion is open to day visits (tours) and some ash mining. The volcanic ash that fell and buried everything in its path is now exported to other islands for it’s rich nutrient content for agriculture.
Cecil guided us up and over the very steep mountain peaks and switch backs, narrating as we went. We made a quick stop at Runaway Ghaut were we all took a sip from the runoff of a mountain spring ensuring we would all return to Monserrat someday… according to legend. We went to the overlook at the observatory many miles from the crater which is still spewing ash and gasses making it impossible to see the actual rim. We continued down and through the Belham River crossing, warnings of mudflows following heavy rains along the road side. The air had the telltale sent of sulfur (rotten eggs). We were able to walk around and through several buildings that were abandoned. Many had items laying about as though the inhabitants would be back to continue with their lives. The ash was many feet thick is some places. Chairs and tables buried to their seats. Swimming pools filled with ash now large green spaces. The destruction immense. 
Many lost everything. Montserrat is a British Colony. When the island was evacuated Britain issued all inhabitants a British passport. A small consolation for their losses. Living in the shadow of a volcano, especially an active one is not easy. The new capital is in the north, Little Bay. Nearly everything there is new since it was only a small blip on their map with few inhabitants. Little Bay is situated on the very steep slopes of the north east side. A small semi protected harbor for ship traffic. There are plans to build a break wall making the harbor more hospitable to cruisers as well as ferry traffic and supply ships.
The tour concluded, we got a bite to eat at one of the few places open on a Sunday. Many of the islands still respect the day as family time as well worship. The special, ribs and chicken with Sunday dinner sides. Veggies, salad, rice.
Next up … cricket! We walked up to the athletic field and watch the teams warm up. None of us had any clue about how the game is played. The fans were quite vocal, shouting in the local dialect which was described by Cecil as broken english. The ending of words dropped and the rest spoken very, VERY quickly. We considered asking about the rules and meanings of some of the plays but 1) it’s cricket…. it can’t be explained 2) broken english is beyond our comprehension. Having watched over an hour with one team still at bat, we decided to leave. As it turned out the ‘inning’ was over and we made our exit without distracting the crowd too much.
Anne and Eric joined us for happy hour aboard Inishnee. We chatted boating and cruising, family and life. Then, made plans to sail to Guadalupe tomorrow.
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