It was a toss up that morning of where we were headed.  I really wanted to go to Montserrat, it has been on my top list for this trip.  I mean an island, with an active volcano???  You can’t pass that up!!  Salida and Makai were headed for Antigua to take on fuel and meet up with Fine Line and Dawn Dancer.  As we left Nevis that morning, we hit higher than expected winds and higher than expected seas.  After being beat up for an hour, and the prospect of 7 or so more hours of this heading for Antigua, versus about 4 to 5 for Montserrat, we said good bye to Makia, Salida and headed to Montserrat.  Great choice.

In 1995, with 11,000 people on the island, the Soufriere Hills volcano erupted, destroying the town of Plymouth.  Tons of ash came down the mountain, burying the town and extending out to the sea, extending the coastline.  The government came in and put in an exclusion zone.  About two thirds of the population left.  The island started getting back to normal, but then the dome on the volcano  started building up again.  In the summer of 2003 the dome collapsed, spewing out more ash, and killing 19 people.   Another close one for the islanders, and it looked like the worse could be over.  Unfortunately, the dome is building again.  In May 2006, the dome collapsed again, dropping another inch of ash over the town.  More people left the island, with the British government paying for relocation for those who wanted to leave and head either to England, or to Antigua.  The population started dwindling down to the current 2000.  If the population drops to 1000, the British government will close the island.  The volcano is still active, with more rumblings this past May.

As soon as we had anchored, a dinghy appeared at the back of our boat.  It was Patrick, from the catamaran Passage.  He and his wife Sylvie, both from France, had pulled in earlier.  Patrick stopped by to see if we wanted to share a taxi for a tour of the island.  Of course. 

The tour consisted of a ride to the Volcano Observatory, and then a drive around the island.   The observatory showed a video of the eruptions, and the outside deck offered a great view of the volcano.  Steam was streaming out the side vents on the volcano, and you could tell the dome was building up again.  After that, Christian, our driver, took us into the exclusion zone to see the ash flow. 

    When the ash and rocks spewed from the volcano, they formed a river coming down the side of the mountain, burying the town of Plymouth in its path. Rocks the size of houses, exploded from the dome and made their way to the town of Plymouth, following the flowing ashes. Christian drove on the ash “river”.  The ash here was 58 feet thick.  Christian stopped the car and let us walk on the ash. It was like being on the moon.  Large gray rocks, sitting on top of gray dust, and not a soul in sight.  Tristan felt the ash and then “knocked” against the road. It was hollow sounding.  Very weird.  I picked up a few small rocks to bring back with me, and Tristan picked up what he thought was a rock to take with him.  Christian took it from him, telling him it was ash and he couldn’t bring it in the van.  Not a friendly driver.  From there we drove up to a hill as far as the van could go, then we had to walk, almost straight up, to the top of the hill, where we had an unobstructed view of the devastation.  Unbelievable.  It was as if a nuclear bomb had gone off.  Everything was grey.  The buildings were still intact, but the ash filled the interiors to the second floor.  No animals, no birds, no people, nothing,  Just ash.  From there we drove through the country club, and on the golf course.  Beautiful, expensive houses, still fully intact, lights hanging from the ceiling, glass still in some windows, beautiful carved wooden doors, and ash filling up the space to the second floor.   We stopped by a hotel in the exclusion zone.  There were curtains in the window, glasses on the counter, an open  magazine next to a chair.  Everything was just as they left it after the last explosion.  It was so erie.

Montserrat also has a green side, it isn’t all gray.  But the volcano has done more damage than just to the island, it also seems to have put a pall over the people.  Monterratians are not unfriendly, they just seem tired, a little wary, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop.  The schoolchildren, usually the most animated on other islands, passed us with small smiles.  The people here have seen it all, death of friends to the volcano, loss of property and the pain of family members who have chosen to leave and start anew in another land.  I believe there is also a big fear that that Britain could close the island and force them all to leave.  It’s sad.

On the tour, our taxi driver stopped alongside the road, where a freshwater stream was cascading down the mountain.  We all took a drink from the cool, refreshing water.  Legend has it that if you drink from this stream, you will return to Montserrat.  May Hope take a long drink. 

 Abandoned houses in the exclusion zone  Ash flow

 River of ash  

    Town of Plymouth     

 You can see the cruise ship dock that was put in and never used, as the lava flow surrounded it, extending the coastline out another kilometer. 

 Gullies formed by the lava flows.

  It seems as if we are flying through these islands.  The truth is, the anchorages are rough and we are trying to make the most of the islands and our time as we head in to hurricane season.  Still, things are starting to blur together.

We came into Nevis yesterday after another bouncy ride.  I guess big seas are the norm for this area.  We met up with Fine Line who had been here already with Dawn Dancer.  Since we were too late for customs yesterday, we checked in today.  Checking in took awhile, and the customs officer came out and took a good look at Tristan and Tessa, matching their pictures to their passports.  They passed, good thing!  We walked around town, but the town, I hate to say it, didn’t have that much appeal to us.  We did find a nice internet spot owned by Shelley.  Later that evening we went to the “famous” Sunshine Bar.  It is right down the beach from the Four Season resort, and is famous for a drink called the Killer Bee.  Of course the walls are covered with pictures of all the famous celebrities that have visited the bar.  I guess they wandered down from the Four Seasons Resort.  The drink was good, the food pretty good, but the atmosphere wasn’t there.  I did buy some DVD’s from a guy selling them so we now have some new movies.  All in all, I wasn’t that impressed with Nevis.  Or maybe I am just tired from moving too fast.  Of course we are leaving tomorrow for either Monserrat or Antigua. 

Dock in Charlestowne, Nevis   Sunshines Bar

 You know, one of the best things about this trip has been learning unexpected things about the islands we’re visiting. Here’s a trivia question for you. What was the first island to officially recognize the newly formed United States of America? St Eustatia. Didn’t learn that in US history? Don’t worry, neither did I. Here’s the story. In the 17th and 18th century, St Eustatia was the major trading port in the Caribbean. Countries who couldn’t trade with each other directly, did so through Statia.Each year thousands (I said thousands) of ships anchored off Oranjestad and the shore of the bay was lined with warehouses. The islanders were extremely wealthy. Statia was trustworthy too and Benjamin Franklin used to have his mail sent through here to Europe. During the Revolutionary War, Statia was our only link to Europe. In fact, Statia played a pivitol role in our war of Independence, by giving us a place to trade our goods, and by the Dutch Jews on Statia supplying us with arms and ammunition. On November 16, 1776, the American Brig-of-War, the Andrew Doria sailed into Statia harbor and fired a 13 gun salute announcing itself as an independent country. Statia acknowledged it with an 11 gun salute, becoming the first country to officially recogonize the United States of America. And how was Statia repaid for this? The British were extremely upset, and soon took over the island and it’s wealth, and expelled the Dutch Jews. Later the Dutch reclaimed the island, but it never achieved its past glory. On November 16, they celebrate St Eustatia America day, where American songs and Statian songs are sung. Though it ended badly for them, they still think fondly of us.

Kathy and Fred weren’t feeling well when we arrived, so we went with Craig and Liz from Salida, to explore the island. The old harborfront was long ago reclaimed by the sea during a hurricane. Now you have a steep walkup to get to town, and the fort. There is a medical college here, and about a half dozen chinese restaurants. Figure that one out. Of course we coudn’t wait to eat Chinese at Sonny’s Cantonese restaurant. Very good. After that we strolled through town. Everyone waves at us first, something that hasn’t happened that often on other islands. Its a very nice feeling. The town has nice paved streets. There is definitely a sense of pride here. We walked past the old cemetary, and down to Kings Well. King’s Well is a restaurant/hotel owned by Laura and Win. They owned a restaurant on Long Island New York, before deciding to make a life in the Caribbean. Dinner is by reservation. We had dropped in unexpectedly, but Laura gave us a quick tour and invited us to come back the next day for a swim in their fresh water pool.
After leaving King’s Well we headed down the road to Smoke Alley, a restaurant overlooking the water. We were still full from Chinese food, and decied to have a drink. Manuel the owner came over and talked to us. Here’s a story. Manuel owned a trucking company in Las Vegas. He saw this restaurant for sale on EBAY, (yes EBAY). He came to Statia to check it out and ended up buying it. That was 5 years ago. He says he isn’t getting rich, but he really likes it. The people are friendly, the diving amazing, the history of the island immense and the prices cheap. He is renting a 3 bedroom house for $300.00 per month. Unbelievable!! The houses are good cement houses too, well built. The only downside I see is a lack of white beaches, but other than that, we could live here.

  Statia houses  street

 Another great thing about Statia, they have a cute little library, with a big kids section, and plenty of history books on the Eustatia and the Caribbean islands.  We spent a few hours in here one day.

  Cemetary

  Craig, Liz and us at Smoke Alley

  Walking back to the boat down the slave trail.  Very steep!

 goats in the fort   

Alegria, Makai, Salida and Wanderlust in the harbor