Montserrat home to Soufriere Hills volcano, one of the most monitored active volcanos. Quite the following.

We left Antigua and headed Southwest to the Northern tip of Montserrat. A rain shower got in our way so no pictures to parade about this time. But the approach to the island was magnificent. Beautiful dramatic cliffs that plunge straight down into clear waters.

We anchored in the only clearing-in harbor, Little Bay. The anchorage tends to be rolley particularly when Northerly winds prevail. Even in our luck with due East winds, we found the anchorage to be uncomfortable on our ketch. The two masts make our boat more top heavy than sloops or cutter rigs so when a beam side-roller hits the boat we keep rolling back and forth whilst other boats bob like a cork.

Coming in, we knew the “must-do” tour of the volcano runs around $100-130 USD. Yikes! 4 hours and you see the town Plymouth which was covered in 40 feet of ash, Richmond Hill, and the Volcano Observatory. Since we were just two lonesome folks…. we thought that was outrageous. So we decided to take the local buses which will run you $5.00 EC or $1.85 USD. Yay! Prices I like.

We wandered to the bus stop with a few locals helping us along the way. Everyone was laid back and genuinely nice. Throughout the day we spotted hints of the Irish past. McCoy Hill, Pudding & Pies stores, green lucky charms over old pubs called Sullivans. A long time ago the Irish laid claim to the Northeast side of Montserrat. The people of Montserrat celebrate St. Patricks Day but for more reasons than one…. there was a great slave rebellion that is remembered on that day. Our bus driver told us about the island and dropped us off at the observatory. He gave us his story in remembering the ’95 eruption. Thousands of people left the island but more relocated, leaving their homes behind. The observatory had a moving and interesting 20 minute video that we really enjoyed. The ’95 eruption allowed for the largest pyroclastic flows to be recorded on camera. Unbelievably enormous blooms of smoke billowed up into the sky for miles and miles.

The town of Plymouth like several other villages is completely covered in ash. Second floors of hotels and buildings vanished and tops of church steeples were all that remain in some areas. The sheer heat of the magma, immensity of the clouds, and pyroclastic flows is terrifying. I kinda want to be a volcanologist now…

We walked back to the main road curious to see if we could get closer but we ended up following our stomachs instead. We had noticed a cute little restaurant and were trying to return to it. In asking for directions from some locals… one of the men offered to give us a ride. So we had our lunch on this cute little porch and had french primrose and sorrel juice (both had hints of cinnamon). One fish sandwich and roti plate later we were undeniably satisfied. Our waitress took good care of us and made sure taxi drivers didn’t try any tricks on us. If you are in Montserrat near the observatory…. go to The Attic (located in Salem). From there the botanical gardens and tourism info desk was around the corner so we wandered over there and witnessed a lizard fight. They were about 8 inches long. Two of these guys flew out of the bushes entangled and nipped at each other until one ran away. We meandered the area a bit more and enjoyed the locals. As the day was coming to a close we were tired and found a taxi to Richmond Hill would costs us $40 USD; despite being only 2 miles away. Tired of the high priced taxis we went home and snorkeled in the crystal clear water – priceless. We met our neighbors on the Bavaria 42. Two really fun couples who had the misfortune of tearing their main. We exchanged contacts and we hope to meet up with them in St.
Martin for the Heineken regatta in early March!  In the end I fell in love with Montserrat but two nights with barely any sleep was wearing on my sanity. So we reluctantly pulled up anchor and made way for St. Kitts where our old friends from Dominica were currently hiding out.