MONTSERRAT
Visit The Modern-Day Pompeii
“We had to break their arms off to fit them in body bags,” Tappy says as he jumps off the rooftop of Barclay’s Bank and lands with a whumpff on a 10-foot ash dune. “They were like statues, their hands covering their faces in fear.”
We’re deep inside the ruins of Plymouth, the abandoned capital of Montserrat, a West Indian island that was nearly engulfed by the Soufrière Hills Volcano in 1995. Except for Tappy’s stories, it’s a silent hike; no birds or insects chirp on this dead island.
Wandering past scorched, half-burned Toyotas, we explore the governor’s mansion, where an ash-dusted suit and tie still hang in the bedroom closet. But soon the mountain rumbles and our eyes water from sulfurous gases. Tappy tells me that our tour is over.
Later that day, after a drive down to Little Bay – about as far from the volcano as one can get on the island – a half-hour paddle in a kayak brings me to the sea cliffs surrounding the Rendezvous Bay and the headlands. The coastline slumps into grassy hills, and seagrapes shade the island’s only white-sand beach. I slip on my mask and fins and wade out into the grass-green water. As the sea rinses the grit from my hair and the ash from my skin, I hunt for a few of the island’s long-term survivors: the giant southern stingrays sleeping on the bottom. -– Jad Davenport
Illustration by James Noel Smith
Trip Planner (click on the map at left for a larger view)
Oceans to Ashes: It’s easy enough to travel on your own to Montserrat – just take the ferry from Antigua ($56 one-way; visitmontserrat.com) – but exploring the ruins is prohibited. Plus you’ll pack more in if the Green Monkey Dive Shop plans your itinerary. The outfitter’s Volcano package includes five nights at the villa (Pick Conemara; the pool deck has great volcano views), a boat tour of Plymouth, scuba diving, kayaking, and hiking ($885; divemontserrat.com).
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April 28th, 2010 at 1:48 pm
Although a bit of a dark and gloomy idea, it seems like this could be a memorable trip which ever way a person went about visiting Montserrat.
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May 4th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
Hmmmm… the story, as I heard it, was that George Martin’s AIR Studios were actually destroyed in Hurricane Hugo, not the volcano.
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June 3rd, 2011 at 11:28 am
My wife and I just came back from Montserrat, she never saw it before but fell in love immediately. My father had a house in Spanish Point but the volcano swallowed it whole.
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September 22nd, 2011 at 10:03 am
This description is a little misleading. Yes, the southern half was destroyed by a volcano. NO, you cannot legally visit Plymouth or anywhere in the “Exclusion Zone.” AIR Studios is still there, but abandoned.
That said, it is a wonderful island with lots of hiking, snorkeling, and extremely friendly people. And for the Carribean, the lodging is downright affordable. My wife and I went this spring and will be back again in the next few years.
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