Monserrat - 16 48.10N 062 12.48W

OOJAH's AWESOME ODYSSEY
Peter & Christene Tanner
Fri 5 Apr 2013 16:46
We had a good sail back from Barbuda to Antigua to complete Peter's root canal treatment & then bid a final farewell to Gordon & Carol before continuing on to Little Bay, Monserrat. Monserrat was a very attractive colonial island before being hit by a succession of fearsome hurricanes, & then the eruption of Galway's Soufriere in 1995. George Martin set up a recording studio here where many famous bands including The Beatles, The Stones, Sting, Eric Clapton Stevie Wonder and many more came until it was destroyed by Huricaine Hugo in 1989 - Christene was very excited to wander round. The studio remains, minus the equipment, all covered in volcanic dust.The volcano is still active & the whole Southern half of the island including the ruined former capital Plymouth have been abandoned and 8,000 of the original 12,500 inhabitants have left. Our guide Jo was impassioned about showing us homes embedded in ash or mud that had engulfed the whole area & we visited a shoe shop where the shoes were still on display, all covered in ash. Those people remaining are now struggling to build a new life in the North but there's a long way to go.

Peter & Christene