The capitol city of Plymouth covered in volcanic ash and boulders
The morning we left to sail to Montserrat was very calm. So calm that the mooring ball we were tied to at Pinney’s Beach in Nevis kept banging against our boat all night since the wind wasn’t blowing hard enough to keep us away from it. We had a sleepless night so we were up and ready to leave early! We were excited to get the chance to go to Montserrat since they have an active volcano that had been erupting for the last two years and the latest spew was in December. Boats near Montserrat during that time were covered in ash and volcanic cinders, so it is definitely not a good idea to be there when she blows! Prior to leaving we were checking their website to be sure it was safe to go and the one anchorage on the island was not included in the exclusion zone, so we decided to give it a try.
That morning we were the only boat sailing towards Montserrat. We met a group of guys on a catamaran the day before who said they were going also, but catamarans are fast, so they were still sleeping in when we left. When we were about half way there we see them off in the horizon behind us. They caught up with us quickly and as they passed, they couldn’t resist shooting off a white flare to signal their victory. Our response was a blast from our air horn……..damn those things are loud!
When we were approaching the one tiny bay where we had to anchor we noticed that the only other boat there was the catamaran that passed us. We anchored near the ferry dock and hung out for a few minutes before checking in at customs. It is not unusual for the water to be too rough to anchor here, so we were glad that the rolling in the bay wasn’t too bad that day. We gathered up our boat papers and passports and headed to customs to check in. Normally customs is located in the main town but in Montserrat there are no more towns, so customs and immigration were located in a metal building and a trailer at the port. The city of Plymouth, the capital, was completely wiped out by the volcano in 1995. No towns have been built since, only communities remain. Plymouth is like a ghost town now. All the buildings are buried to their roofs in volcanic ash and boulders. Before the volcano erupted there were about 11,000 people living on the island, but now only about 4,000 remain. Living conditions became harsh and the volcanic dust made it difficult to breathe. Many lost their homes and businesses, so they left the island.
After clearing in at customs and immigration we decided to get a taxi driver to take us on a quick tour so we could see the island and the volcano. It was late in the day and we weren’t sure we could find a taxi, but we found one dropping off a group who said he could take us on a short tour. As we drove around we were surprised at the beauty of this island on the north end away from the path of the volcanic flow. It is so lush with a main two lane road winding around through the small communities. We drove through the lush countryside and then up a steep hill to the volcano observatory. From there we were able to see the volcano clearly and it was definitely still smoking. We could also see the town of Plymouth and homes along a former golf course that were covered. Two days earlier they had another mud flow from the heavy rains, so the destruction continues. The devastation was so sad to see. The people who remain hope that Montserrat will become a tourist destination and that people will move back again. There are even plans to build a new capital city at the port area one day. Some construction is taking place (funded by England), but they have a long way to go.
When we arrived back at the bay where we were anchored we were surprised to see it was full of boats and all of us were rolling back and forth. No more calm anchorage, we knew it was going to be a long night. As we took our dinghy back to our boat we grabbed a pumice stone from the water. They were floating all around our boat. One was even about 10 inches in diameter!! As expected it was a long sleepless night. Two boats even left in the middle of the night! We hung in there and at daybreak headed to Guadeloupe….our first French island.
No comments:
Post a Comment