Montserrat
Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Fri 17 Apr 2009 03:36
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The distance from Nevis to Montserrat is only 32 miles,
but it's upwind and we sailed all the way, tacking back and forth
covering 62.9 miles! Starting with our customary 2 reefs in the main and a
well reefed genoa we made around 6kts in 20kts or so apparent bashing
into a lumpy sea and swell - water and spray everywhere. Once well south of
Nevis the wind and swell came round a bit and shaking out a reef gave 7kts.The
port tack was a lot more comfortable than starboard so we tended to stay on it
longer and made more southing than easting until closing Montserrat. This did
mean that we got a good view of the west coast and the old capital, Plymouth,
that is now covered in lava and ash. The volcano is in the south of the island
and has lava flows down to the west and east coasts. Little Bay on the
northwest of the island is the only recommended anchorage, and only in good
weather, so that's where we headed and anchored behind 3 other yachts,
just as the the sun was going down.
 The ash and lava flows on the west coast, covering
the old capital Plymouth
 Flat water as we are in the lee of the island,
tacking towards Little Bay, the volcano towering
above
 Just a little closer
The following day the winds eased and came more from the
east, making it an ideal opportunity to sail on to Guadeloupe. So we moved
on, sailing down the windward (east) coast of an island for the first time.
There is still the risk that the volcano will send out clouds of ash
so going down the west coast is not a good idea unless well offshore, and that
would be going away from Guadeloupe. So getting quite a bit closer to
the 2 miles exclusion zone around the south half of the island than we had
intended, we headed down the east coast. Never having seen a live volcano that
close, it was fascinating. With blue skies all around, the clouds and smoke
over the volcano made it look quite threatening, so we continued on our
way, not wanting to push our luck too far!
 The volcano was 'quiet' when we passed,
although it
was still smoking!      |