16:48.132N 062:12.435W

Whisper
Noel Dilly
Tue 26 Feb 2013 17:15
Montserrat - 23rd February"

After a somewhat rolly night at anchor we took the dinghy ashore to check into the island.  As it was a Saturday, the Customs Office was not manned, but the security guard ushered us into a rather dilapidated shed with equally dilapidated office furniture. We filled out a preliminary form with the usual details about Whisper whilst the security officer made several telephone calls to the Customs Officer requesting him to come and give us clearance.  Being a Saturday it was possible that we would be charged  'overtime' for this convenience.  As we waited we watched the occasional port activity, cars arrived and the official traffic cone was removed from the open gate way to allow access and nonchalantly tossed back into place once the vehicle had passed through, only to be removed again several minutes later to allow the vehicle to leave again.  Judging by the happy banter in Creole between the drivers and the security guard the vehicle drivers were well known, this is not really surprising with a population of only 5,000 and everyone living in the north of the island.  In between this activity, the security officer transferred our details by hand into a huge ledger, like something out of a Charles Dickens novel.  Eventually, the non uniformed Customs Officer arrived and once more the traffic cone was removed and we were allowed to proceed to the more substantial Customs and Excise shed.  Once we had filled out another form and paid our fees we were directed to walk out of the port enclosure and up a dusty track to the Immigration Department.  This office was a large converted transport lorry, the type which is normally hitched onto a separate cab and engine, it had a huge sign on the back proudly displaying "Royal Montserrat Police Force Marine & Immigration Dept".   Here is a small island trying to carry on its business in the best way that it can, it's capital city Plymouth with the Governors premises, all its official departments, schools, college,  hospital etc, lying less than 10 miles away completely buried in deep ash, every thing destroyed, a modern Pompeii. 

The formalities over,  we were very fortunate to meet up with a splendid taxi driver and guide who was able to take us on a tour of Montserrat that day.  He was exceptionally knowledgeable and had obviously spent hours researching his information and collecting many photographs which he displayed on his iPad so that we could see photographs of the scenes we were observing before the volcanic irruptions took place.  He drove us into the exclusion zone where we had to pass through a checkpoint and give our names, before we could pass through.  Inside this zone, he showed us his village, it was not covered in ash, but it was completely destroyed by nature, we had to peer into the undergrowth to see the houses all over grown by the jungle.  He pointed out his house, his sons pre school, the children's playground, his parents home, houses belonging to his friends all by name.  The whole village was evacuated, the majority emigrating to England.  They could only take a few belongings as they had to stay with relations or friends.  Only now do they live in their own home again. A home which Joe has built himself for his family, it is not yet finished but they have water and electricity.  He calls it his paradise, it is high on the hill with a cool breeze daily, the garden is full of wild fruits and he is delighted with his pumpkins.  Evidently his wife threw some seeds out of the door and they just grew, so they have plenty and he kindly gave us a slice to try. 

We continued on our tour passing through an area where several companies are busy extracting the sand and gravel from the river beds, this is Montserrat's biggest export.  Massive graders were working even on Saturday, huge trucks billowed ash dust everywhere as they raced along the compact ash tracks down over the city onto the jetty where a coaster lay waiting for its cargo of sand.  I wondered if the lorry drivers received danger money as they backed their way along the covered jetty to a ramp on the remaining section where they then tipped the contents of their truck into the waiting boat.  As the boat filled and sank lower under the weight, so the ramp became steeper until the next truck in the convoy decided that it was too steep! We watched this from the top of Garibaldi Hill, where the observatory has a great over view of Plymouth, the massive volcanic flows can be seen sweeping down from the Soufriere Hills volcano.  A few roofs and spires are visible poking up through the ash and a small part of the commercial jetty remains protruding out from the altered coastline created by the vast flow of volcanic effluent reaching down to the sea.  On the hills either side of the city, remaining houses can be seen, but in many cases the roofs were burnt by the immense heat or the ash on the roof once wet from the rain does not dry out so the wood below just rots.  Joe took us to a residential area on the hillside above Plymouth, beautiful fancy houses with gardens which you could imagine were once full of bright flora all desolate.  We stopped at a hotel and wandered inside, the floor in the reception area was deep in ash, the restaurant the same, the patio was feet deep and the swimming pool just recogniseable as a pool, its diving board hanging over the pool inches from the surface of packed ash. 

Our next stop was at the islands only golf course!  If Joe had not shown us the photographs of the road junction and bridge over the river, we would not have believed there had been anything there.  Stark dead trees stuck up from the ash, piles of rocks from the excavation and sorting of washed down boulders lined the trail.  The small river had grown to a wide plateau completely wiping out any sign of a golf 13 hole golf course, the club house was not to be seen.  We saw photographs of a beautiful three storey private house on the edge of the golf course, the only part of it visible now is the top floor windows and roof, we walked past it and peeped in the windows, it was full of sand!

Joe took us see George Martins recording studio (AIR).  Many famous artists have recorded their records there, including stars like the Beetles, the Rolling Stones, Jimmy Buffet and many more. Sadly now it is empty and derelict but Joe led us about with his torch and showed us photographs and video footage of how it used to be - quite amazing but also rather sad to see this beautiful property in such disrepair.  George Martin was the instigator for raising funds after the volcanic disaster to build a new Cultural Centre.  He organised a huge concert where all of the musicians performed for free.  He also owned a guest house where the artists could stay and take a break from the stresses of recording.  This now is run as a small hotel, the rooms are decorated with the "Gold Discs" awarded for the sale so many copies of an album or single record and also by a collection of black and white photographs taken by Linda McCartney and donated by Paul McCartney.  The name of the road in which this guest house stands is "Penny Lane".

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour, it was so informative  and Joe made it fun and exciting, the addition of photographs of how it was before the disaster meant that we had the real picture and did not have to try to imagine it.  We returned with information and video links of footage of the volcanic eruptions, studio recordings and the fund raising concert which  we can look at when we have both time and a decent reliable internet connection! 


Photographs: "Hotel Swimming Pool"
                    "Delivery of Sand to Barge"
                    "Three Storey House on Golf Course"

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