Montserrat

While on Antigua, Christie and I decided to visit the island of Montserrat. Because of the lack of protected anchorages, we decided to fly over and tour the island on land. We arranged a private tour with a local who met us at the airport. This is a trip anyone visiting the area should make.

We toured the entire island, except for the areas off limits due to the volcano. Montserrat is physically beautiful. Being volcanic, it is mountainous and probably because of the increased rainfall due to the mountains, the vegetation is more tropical than that found on most of the other islands in the vicinity.

Unfortunately it has a sad story to tell. In a nutshell, the active volcano had a massive eruption in 2010 which destroyed the capital and with it the infrastructure which might have enabled the 11,000 or so residents to rebuild. Instead, they were forced to relocate to the other end of the island in cheap, modular housing provided by the Dutch government. Many decided to leave instead reducing the population today to about 3,300. A large swath of the island that was not directly impacted by the lava flows was heavily damaged by the airborne cinder ejected during the eruption, resulting in large portions of the south end of the island, previously populated by high end home owners and posh resorts, remaining off limits to habitation or development.

We were able to view the still active volcano and the ruins of the capital from a safe distance. We were also able to tour some of the damaged areas that have recently been reopened to local tour operators.

This is the new beach area created from lava flows. Don’t think you’ll see any swimmers or sunbathers there any time soon though.

In this photo you can see the hardened lava and part of the path it took right through the capital of Plymouth on the way to the ocean. 

One of the most striking parts of the tour was visiting a hotel which only 4 years ago had been one of the premier resorts on the island. 

This is the entrance to the hotel. The whole place reminded us of something between the Forbidden Zone in Planet of the Apes and the overgrown Park complex in Jurassic Park III. It’s amazing how quickly nature takes over when man releases control. 

The entire hotel; lobby, rooms, ballroom, etc is under several feet of ash.

Note the thick volcanic ash in this hotel room.  

Note the juxtaposition of several feet of ash and the relatively intact draperies and ceiling. Much of the roof on this hotel has remained intact due to its terracotta tile construction.  

Believe it or not, this was the hotel pool. Below the Jurassic park like vegetation is about 2 feet of water over about 5 feet of ash. The whole scene becomes almost surreal when you notice the swim ladder to the left. Want to take a dip?