Montserrat, the smallest British Antil

Montserrat, the smallest British Antil

Montserrat is a small island in the Caribbean, part of the British empire. It was discovered by Columbus and he named it after the Spanish Abbey of Montserrat. In 1995 the volcano erupted and still more than half of the 40 square miles is designated as no-go zone. During daytime, when I tried to get close to the previous capital there was military personnel guarding the access roads.

My father Antony passed Montserrat in 2010 on a very small cruise ship. The smoke of the volcano was thick and heavy. Afterwards the whole boat was coated in a layer of ash. In 2017 I visited the island of Montserrat.

The eruption of 1995 also destroyed their airport and harbour. There’s a new airport and a new harbour, however I’m unsure if the harbour is in service for anything else than pleasure and fishing boats. I flew in from Antigua. It was a really tiny plane, only 7 passengers and a pilot. At check in we were weighed to make sure the airplane wouldn’t be too heavy.

Driving yourself is very possible. I rented a car which was dropped off at the airport. The same lady who did the immigration control also manned the police station. Here I had to get a temporary Montserrat drivers license, seemed like a cheap way for them to make some extra money from tourists.

There will be various hotels on the island, but probably more to the north side. I picked the AirBnB location closest to the volcano I could find, and the views were amazing, I could see the volcano from the veranda. The apartment was located in Frith, probably the most southern location where it’s still allowed to go.

Unfortunately, just like in Saba, it was very cloudy during my stay. On the picture it’s not very clear, but if you look on the left slope of the volcano, you can see three fumes going up into the clouds. The volcano is still smoking.

I’m sure you understand by now that the volcano is the biggest attraction on the island. You can view the volcano from one position and the landslide of rubble from two positions. For the best view on the volcano itself you should head to the Volcano Observatory. The view from there is a little bit better than the view from my apartment, but similar point of view. There’s a small museum here, the same building is also where the volcano scientists take office.

For one of the viewpoints for the rubble you’ll have to drive all the way around the island to Jack Boy Hill. It’s easy to find because it’s where the road stops. Here you can clearly see the devastating power of the eruption. Where once were villages and thick patches of forest, now there’s only sands, rocks and ash.

The second viewpoint for the landslide is Garibaldi Hill, which is located a bit to the south of Salem. I had no problems accessing it, as far as I understand the area is open to the public during the day but closed at night time, I’m not sure what the exact hours are.

What’s interesting here are the abandoned buildings. Several hotels or apartment complexes which aren’t entirely destroyed but aren’t suitable to be inhabited any more. The places are full with volcano dust and nature is already trying to reclaim it. Be careful though because some structures might collapse.

The island has various hiking trails to offer. Once again I have to blame the clouds, so I didn’t do any of the trails. However at the tourist info I was told that some trails required a guide with machete because the difficult trails weren’t much walked and would be overgrown very easily.

Montserrat also has some beautiful beaches, so I decided to check them out. Cliffs like the one pictured always give a good rocky seabed which is good for snorkeling. So once you’re fed up with the volcano you can always go for a hike or for a snorkel.

This trip was made in 2017.

If you have any thoughts or questions feel free to leave a comment!

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