Another day.......another volcano. It sometimes seems that our voyage has been a tour of some of the world's most infamous volcanoes.

We had a beautifully illustrated book when our children were young all about this island. The book captured the essence of  Montserrat, one of the most attractive of the Caribbean Islands. Its steep hillsides were covered by the greenest of green jungle whilst the lower slopes in the south supported productive farms on the fertile volcanic slopes.

All this changed in 1995 to 1997 when a series of major eruptions rocked the island sending searing pyroclastic flows down the mountainside and ash high into the air. Unlike the earlier eruption at St Pierre, the majority of the people were evacuated and only about 19 people lost their lives. The whole of the south of the island was devastated. The capital and most of the infrastructure were destroyed whilst much of the best farmland was covered by ash, mud flows and the other products of the volcano.

This small house is rotting away as are many much more substantial homes. A lot of the ruined buildings we saw had been very nice homes by any standards with airy balconies and attractive positions. The swimming pool at this luxury hotel quickly filled with ash and makes a fertile bed for the encroaching plant life.

Many of the 10,000 people who had enjoyed such an idyllic island were evacuated to neighbouring islands, to the UK and USA. The remaining 4,000 or so inhabitants squeezed into the much less hospitable northern 1/3 of the island where land here is hilly, dry and mostly of limited use for farming. However, a new town has emerged from the dry hill sides around the small pier which must now act as the ferry terminal linking the island to the outside world. The small airport can only take light aircraft so getting to and from the island remains a problem

Those evacuated had only hours notice and were told to pack a single bag. Even where houses were not destroyed it is only recently that people have been allowed back to their homes. Needless to say, some have never been able to stomach returning to see the destruction that the volcano, the weather, the plants and time have wreaked on their homes.

School books and homework

The Kitchen

The Gin

Much of the island remains out of bounds to the general public but we booked a tour with Jo Philip, a local guide who was born here and lived through the disaster. He has an intimate knowledge of the island and wants people to understand the impact of the volcano and what is happening on the island now.

He was able to take us to some of the forlorn remains of the residential areas around the devastation that was once Portsmouth, the capital.

Gryphon ll anchored in Little Bay the new capital and main harbour for Montserrat.