16:48.52N  62:87.83W

Position at 13/1/1012

We arrived in Montserrat on 13^th Jan, and after dancing around the tight anchorage in Little Bay  with two large barges I eventually decided to go around the bluff to Rendezvous Bay to drop the hook, there are no marinas or even ports on the island. After clearing customs etc we sat out winds gusting to 30 knots but were quite comfortable.

In 1995 the volcano erupted after 400 years of dormancy, and there have been further episodes right up to 2011. There were 11,000 people here, only about 30 were killed in the eruptions but the population has now reduced to 4,600 through emigration, mainly to the UK. The eruptions have left millions of tons of ash and sand everywhere.

The capital, Plymouth, was destroyed, and remains inside an evacuated exclusion zone which covers around half the island. Only last month the zones were relaxed, and we were able to visit by 4 wheel drive taxi some of the abandoned areas. Many areas and buildings have been buried under sand and boulders washed down by subsequent heavy rains.

Our driver / guide was Joe Phillips (Avalon), who deserves the high praise he gets in Doyle’s Guide. He took us for 4 hours around inaccessible places, pointing out his own home which is now over-run with vegetation and the abandoned school where his son went. Despite all this he maintains a fantastic positive attitude, looking forward not back. Just before Xmas he moved into his new house which he built himself from scratch.

The sights were tragic, with many beautiful homes in wonderful countryside being gradually overgrown with vegetation. We walked through a hotel where the swimming pool is full of sand, the reception desk still has a phone on the desk but even the inside floor has a foot of sand inside. Upstairs are bedrooms with marvellous views, and even a few pieces of abandoned furniture, but all with various levels of sand in them.

All the remaining population have relocated to the north of the island, and they are building a new capital at Little Bay, which is a pretty unsuitable area, but all they have. After the manicured property developments of Jolly Harbour the contrast could not be more stark. Little Bay consists of one rough concrete dock, onto which they drive the barges we tussled with on entry. The eruptions brought huge quantities of volcanic material to the surface, and subsequent rains have washed it into valuable building sand. A fleet of large American trucks shuttle onto the barges – they are selling the volcano that brought such destruction – good on them.

This is a fantastic and beautiful island with friendly and helpful people. I wish them well in their long recovery from disaster.

Here are some photos which I hope will give a flavour of the effect of the volcano and the later rain washed flows down the river beds.

Before: A lovely house beside the golf course. Note the highest red roof behind the tree.

After: This is the top red roof, the rest of the house is buried.

Before: A tree lined avenue beside the golf course:

After: The same view now.

The land has grown out to sea, to engulf half the length of the pier at the abandoned capital of Plymouth.

Now that’s what I call a pothole.

Joe took us across this river of sand and boulders.

Salila at anchor top left. Middle right is the only active port / jetty in Montserrat.