To Montserrat

We had a good weather window on Friday, January 14, to sail the 25 or so miles southwest to Montserrat, so off we went.

We had made an attempt to visit this island in late 2009, but the anchorage at Little Bay, the only harbour on Montserrat, is not recommended in a northerly swell, which we had had. We managed to hang tight overnight, but then were attacked by a vicious, thundery squall which caused us to drag, so we ended up circling about trying to anchor. In addition, Montserrat's volcano was having a bad year. The hazard level (as determined by the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, www.mvo.ms) rose to 4 of a possible 5. Its activity finally began to wane in the spring after a dome collapse during which it spewed volcanic ash nine miles into the air. During our previous visit, there had been numerous pyroclastic flows (fast-moving steam and rocks) as well as ash pumped out at an impressive rate and carried it straight over Little Bay. Volcanic ash is bad—very bad. It contains sulphuric acid which eats up metal things, likc windlasses and other expensive yacht fittings. We and our guests had very much wanted to visit the island but, in the end, we turned tail and fled to Nevis.

This time, we had much better luck. There was no swell and not a great deal of wind. Little Bay was a pleasant stopping place, the volcano was behaving, with the alert level being a balmy 3. This meant we'd be allowed into the Daytime Entry Zone, the northwestern corner of the Exclusion Zone.

Django sitting pretty in a calm and pleasant Little Bay, Montserrat.

Perhaps a bit of history is in order.

Montserrat was originally settled by Arawak and then Carib indians. Columbus sailed by it and named it Santa Maria de Montserrat, for its toothy mountains. It was claimed by Spain, but no one did much with it. To the immediate northwest were the islands of St. Christopher (St. Kitts) and Nevis. The latter was British but the northern part of St. Kitts was held by the French. In the mid seventeenth century, the British were worried about a possible French invasion. A lot of their workers were indentured labourers from Ireland and there was concern that these might sympathize with and take the sides of the Catholic invaders. To remove the threat of rebellion from within, these workers were resettled on Montserrat. To this day, the Montserratians have huge St. Patrick's Day celebrations, and the island retains a few very Irish place names such as Cork Hill and St. Patrick's.

In the 20^th century, Montserrat became a favourite playground of the fabulously wealthy. George Martin built his Air Studio there and the elite of the pop and rock music worlds recorded there: Sting, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Clapton, Stevie Wonder and more.

The front building is the erstwhile Air Studio.

In 1989, Hurricane Hugo devastated the island. The studio closed. The beautiful people faded into the distance.

Then came 1995, as though the island needed more drama. The Soufriere Hills Volcano woke up.

Six major ash/mud flows careened down the mountain's sides, creating land where water had been, annihilating everything they touched. Nineteen people died. The capital town of Plymouth was engulfed and is now a ghost town. Islanders fled their home in droves. The population shrank to less than half of its pre-eruption head count. There are about 4,000 inhabitants now, all living in the north third of the island. The remaining two thirds are the Exclusion Zone, to which access is carefully controlled.

The Montserrat Volcano Observatory keeps close watch on the volcano, adjusting the hazard level as needed and, with it, access to various parts of the island. The locals were told the grumbler would probably give up after five or so years. It has been 15 years, and still it belches and groans.