kwren

Wed July 21

Not much going on today...just relaxing and eating!

Lunch: People's Place - no menu. the server just told us there was fish, chicken, a rice dish and roti, so we ordered one of each. The chicken and fish came with potato salad, salad, cole slaw and rice and beans. The roti was much bigger than the one yesterday at the Attic. Everything was delicious. They serve goat water on Fri and Sat so we may be back

Dinner: Ziggy's - the highlight of the day! If you want a fancy dinner, this is the place. Marcias and John own it and are as nice as can be. To make it romantic, request the voodoo room. It's surrounded on 3 sides by open walls, but completely surrounded by the outside plants. Add many tiny candles and what atmosphere. I had butterfly shrimp, steak in a sauce with roasted potatoes and veg, and chocolate sludge (a rich choc tort with choc ice cream and choc sauce. Yum!) While the chocolate dessert was absolutely delicious, my husband's ginger honey ice cream was to die for. If anyone goes, and if you like the flavor of real ginger, you HAVE to have this if it's available. (The boat bringing cream only arrives every other week so they don't always have ice cream) I never tasted anything like it. As a matter of fact, they gave me a big container to go!!!! I'll eat a bit every day for the rest of the trip. The best anniversary dinner!

kwren

Thurs, July 22

We woked up early today so we walked over to Runaway Ghaut and walked up the short path through the palms and other Caribbean foliage. We drank some of the water since the legend is that if you do so you will return to Montserrat. Once we got back, and since the kids were still asleep, we decided to drive to check out some other villas in the area which we had considered. We saw Nice Diggs and Inis Ealu and they both looked beautiful. Nice Diggs appears to be out of the Zones and Inis in Zone A. We could imagine coming back without kids and if so, would need a smaller place, although I would give anythihng to stay here again - can't get much better than this villa. If anyone would like info on either, let me know.

All that driving makes one thirsty so we went on our first official "limin' " stop at Desert Storm. Limin' = drinkin' and chattin' with the locals. I had to twist my husband's arm since it was 9:30 am (!) I asked if we were the first drinkers of the day and Miga, the owner, laughed and said no way. He gave us some island tips, we bought a watermelon next door, which was more expensive than the drinks, stopped at the food store - no more milk coming in until next week - and went back to the villa.

The weather is improving - lots of blue sky for the first time!!!
More later.

mamodavis

Thanks for the Tip on the crackers,Im glad you had a happy Anniversary,I remember you telling me it was in July.The food all sounds lovely.Im not mad into deserts but for anyone that is they sound devine.I won't have to twist my Husband's arm to go Limin at 9.30am haha it must be the Irish in us,some things just naver change.What price are the drinks & food,?glad the weather is improving.I won't be back on to you till Monday so enjoy.

kwren

Thurs July 22 cont

We went to the Woodlands Beach to go snorkeling before lunch. It wasn't the best snorkeling, but we did see lots of small colorful fish anywhere where the coral was yellow. Guess why we left...it started pouring! We went to the villa, got changed and went for lunch at Wilson's Chicken. I don't know if they served anything but fried chicken and fries ("chips"), but it was fresh and delicious. (15 EC per plate, 5EC for a big glass of fruit punch or tamarind punch) The rain intensified so much that on the way back we noticed wash-outs, mud and rocks covering the roads. Be careful driving here - seeing large rocks on the edges of the roads is not unusual.

Christine - to answer the question about cost of food...Ziggy's was the most expensive place here so far. The steak was the most expensive meal at 90 EC, appetizers 20-30, desserts 20 EC and a glass of wine 20 EC. The meals at People's Place were 25 EC. At the Attic, burgers were about 12 - 16 EC, the quesadilla was the most expensive at 40. In the food stores, a box of cereal is about 12-15 EC, a loaf of bread is 5 EC , a small jar of PB is almost 11 EC. We're going through our money like water (excuse the pun!)

Have a good weekend Christine - I'll miss you!

Carrybean

Excellent trip report. Never been to Montserrat & always wanted to go. Thanks for sharing your trip.

kwren

Hi Carrybean - thanks! Go if you can - it's really beautiful and so relaxing!

kwren

Friday, July 23

FINALLY! A sunny day! Give us some sun and we’ll make the most of it.

We left fairly early to go to the Green Monkey Dive Shop to rent kayaks for the 5 of us: 15 EC per hour for a double and 10 for a single. As promised, it took about 15 minutes to paddle around the promontory to Rendezvous Beach, the only white sand beach on the island. We were the only people on this beautiful long stretch of beach. We had brought enough snorkeling gear for 2 of us and rented for the 3rd (10 EC for the day) and set out for the rocks at the base of the cliffs. While our 2 youngest stayed on the beach to build wonderful coral and shell-decorated sand castles, the other 3 of us went snorkeling. We saw lots of pretty fish in yellow, black and /or white stripes, bright blues, aquas, dotted cube-shaped fish, and more. I saw a few clumps of coral just covered with sea urchins, but the most unusual for me was the huge loggerhead sea turtle. He watched me warily, then took off faster than I would have imagined possible. A great snorkel trip.

After that, of course we needed a drink so it was sodas for everyone at the Monkey Bar…except me. I had to try the rum punch – yum! Little Bay is where the new government buildings are being erected and the bad news is that the Green Monkey is being evicted January of next year to make way for more modern buildings. They are so upset about this and may just move back to the US as so far there is no where else for them to go. If so, what a loss for the island! They organize all sorts of water sports including boat trips to see the devastation of Plymouth, the old capital covered by volcanic ash, and dive trips.

Next it was lunch time, so we headed for the Food Fair of the Calabesh Festival held at the Lyme (a large bar). Island music and food booths around the bar were crowded with island people, kids hoola-hooping and some people dressed in some sort of old Montserrat dress covered with long bright ribbons. The kids got some chicken lunches, mango-banana smoothies and a coconut; my husband and I had pina coladas. We hoped to see some sort of dance demo, but other than them milling around for a long time, nothing seemed to be imminent so we finally left in search of some goat water, the national dish, which we finally found at the People’s Place.

Goat water is a goat meat stew in gravy. We couldn’t place the seasoning and were surprised to hear that it was clove and thyme along with what we would consider more typical ingredients. The goat meat was very good, while the sauce took some getting used to, but we’re glad we tried it.

After that, we went to the ATM and then took the long bumpy ride to Jack Boy Hill, a high point of the island perfect for viewing the old airport and surrounding area, all covered with ash, and the volcano. It was amazing that we saw so many goats on the way up – no houses, no people, just lots of goats mostly running around free, but on occasion tied up. Once at the viewing facility (amazingly modern and well-tended in the middle of all those broken up roads), the lush foliage around us was a stark contrast to the ash covered distant fields of what we thought were huge rocks in a field of grey. When we looked closer, we determined that most of the “rocks” were actually buildings. What a great loss for so many people. The old airport was covered up as well, but we had trouble making that out. We waited there for a while hoping that the clouds would move on and uncover the top of the volcano, but that was not to be. We could however, see many vents from which steam was exiting the volcano in bursts. The ride up had been rough with many enormous potholes and some small rock slides covering small parts of the roads in desolate terrain with some great views of the ocean (luckily we were the only car around as we weaved back and forth across the road to avoid destroying the car!), but the ride back was even more harrowing. We took the main road going through the center of the island instead of the northern road, wrapping around hills and through valleys and wondered how we could be on a two-way road when it was only about the width of our car. Thankfully we didn’t meet another car while winding through the jungle, as the right side of the road often plunged straight down from the road side. We finally got to “our’ side of the island and back on the road to our villa.

We sat on the verandah with wine and cheese, took a nap, and were called outside by our 20 year old who was intent on finding wildlife with his flashlight. And find it he did! We were called to witness his tarantula and 1 inch frog! (Guess which I preferred…ewwwww!) It was enough to drive my husband and me back to Little Bay for some limin’!

We went to Soca Cabana to listen to the music. It turned out to be a local band who played Calypso music to the (extremely loud) beat played by a keyboard. Despite not being able to hear what anyone was saying, and getting tequila shooters instead of the ordered rum punch (I told you it was loud!) we enjoyed ourselves. We tried to go to the Monkey Bar for a quieter drink, but it had just closed. Driving home on these dark, rock-strewn, twisty roads was something else!

kwren

Saturday, July 24

Wow! Another beautiful day (defined as partly cloudy with 30% chance of rain on 3 weather sites)

We've been wanting to go on a boat ride past Plymouth all week, but now that the weather has improved it seems that everyone else here has had the same idea. The Green Monkey trips were full for today, and we didn't want to chance waiting for Monday when they had room, but luckily, a couple of locals recommended a guy named Hubert (cell 492-1570 or 491-7585 in case anyone else is in this predicament). We contacted him and he said to be at the dock at 10:00. That must have been Caribbean time because at 10:20, he drove by in the front part of an 18-wheeler and said he'd be right back with the boat. We waited, a bit nervously I have to admit, but he came back with nice speed boat and quickly backed it down the boat ramp and off we went. "Buffy" (pronounced Boo-fee) and his 2 sons were very nice, told us all sorts of anecdotes about life on the island, and told us we could do whatever we liked for our tour...stop at any sight, swim, fish, go all the way around the island, whatever, for the same price as the Green Monkey trip. We went down the coast, passing our villa, and when we rounded the promontory at Plymouth, we could smell the sulfur from the vapors being vented from the volcano. Everything was a soft grey and he pointed out that a 3 story building we were looking at had actually been 5 stories. He also told us that an ice cream shop he used to work in was completely covered over. There were hundreds of homes on the hillsides on either side of the lahars (hot mudflows/pyroclastic flows) - all terrible losses for the previous owners. His father used to live in one of them that had been covered. We had no idea that it had been such a developed area.

We continued on to the southernmost point of the island, but the wind whipped up and the waves were huge so we couldn't go around the island. He did let out the lines to see if we could catch a barricuda, but no luck. (He was bummed!) We sped back up along the coast throwing up huge spray along the boat and bouncing across the tops of the waves until we approached a small fishing boat with 2 men fishing. They showed us the red snapper they had been catching and Buffy let out the lines again to see if we could catch anything. No luck again. We continued on to the northernmost point of the island where again it was too windy to go on around. The landscape up here was just ragged cliffs, but still pretty. We tried some more fishing to no avail and headed back south to Rendezvous Beach (no on was on the beautiful stretch of white sand), but we didn't have our bathing suits (terrible oversight) so we didn't swim.

We got back to the port after being out for 4 1/2 hours. I think the trip lasted longer than usual - he does take tourists out on a regular basis - because it was a matter of pride that he catch a fish, embarrassing in front of friends and family if he didn't. We could have stopped the fishing at any time, but didn't since we were enjoying the day on the boat. Even though we didn't catch any fish, this trip was quite the bargain. I had researched deep sea fishing trips out of Montserrat and they were about $400 for the day. We got that for free with our Plymouth trip (although we didn't go out as far out as the fishing trip would have). When we got back, Hubert said he'd arrange for us to get some of the fish from the fishermen, but we didn't think too much about that at that time.

For lunch, we stopped at Tina's for sandwiches, which were good, and yummy pumpkin soup - really delicious - and ordered some pizza to be picked up in the evening. Tina's seems to be known for her pizza so we looked forward to that. We went home, swam, rested, and then we were off to the Music Festival finishing up the Calabash Festival of this week. This concert turned out to be a talent show for the locals. There were some unprofessional acts, shall we say, in the beginning, but later some excellent acts took the stage. We particularly liked the steel drum band of about 20 people, and some singers, and other acts. We left after 2 hours, picked up our pizza and headed home.

The pizza was all I had hoped for - delicious crust, homemade sauce and a variety of toppings!

Random thoughts - there are goats, chickens, roosters, and lizards, some huge, everywhere on this island. The roosters cock-a-doodle-doo to each other all day. Each time that we get home, there is a big frog sitting in the middle of our driveway. My son has a little gecko who visits his patio each evening. Little green lizards sometimes visit us in our bedroom. Cats chase lizards for fun, boys chase iguanas! There are lots of hairpin curves here. The sides of the roads sometimes have deep cement gullies running along them to channel the torrents of rainwater - be careful driving so you don't run into one of them. You'd need a tow truck to get out! The tiniest shack selling vegetables could surprise you and have a computerized inventory system inside (we saw that once today and is shocked us) Flowers are everywhere, and the locals will always stop to chat if you are so inclined.

Jenifer

I love these stories...I think my hubby and I have decided on Montserrat for our vacation next summer...there are some great values, it seems, on villas. Can you get me an email on yours...the email attached to the website doesn't work.

It seems perfect to us...a few nice beaches, remote and isolated. Just what we like...

kwren

You won't be disappointed as long as you know it could be cloudy (it didn't matter to us in this gorgeous villa as you may have gathered) and don't need night life or shopping. For info on our villa, write to Mike at [email protected]
Please tell him you read about it in my trip report on the Internet - he'll be happy!
If you decide to book it, I can give you even more info than I'm putting in here!

kwren

Sunday, July 26

I just realized we leave in 2 days so it's time for some serious down time.

However, we woke to honking outside so we went to see what the commotion was. It was Hubert from yesterday's boat trip bringing us the fresh red snapper he promised! Not only did he bring us fish, but he scaled, gutted and cut off the sharp fins for us. Hmmm...does this mean I have to cook???

Oh wait, laundry first! \/ *sarcasm intended* (If I have to do laundry, I might as well do it in the Caribbean!) Clothing in, soap in, pull out the button, and...nothing! Power out again.

The kids were still asleep so my husband and I went on a run for money and Cokes. We found out that the electricity was scheduled to go out for a few hours for some maintenance. It was announced on the radio, but we're tourists - we swim and drink - no radio for us! Anyway, getting into our daily a.m. rum and Coke routine on our balcony wasn't too hard to do. A bit of swimming after that and the troops were hungry, so off we went to Gourmet Gardens .

We've tried to eat at Gourmet Gardens a few times because quite a few people have recommended it, but it's always been closed. Today we hit the jackpot, but since the power was out, the owner (from Holland) was a bit limited in what she could do for us because she couldn't defrost things quickly. We ordered salads and not only were they out of this world, they were beautiful. They had some slaw, potato salad, grapes, brie (!) and other things. I also ordered some pumpkin soup and it was the best I've ever had. We asked her about her wiener schnitzel - I had read some rave reviews about that too - and she said she sold her last one last night. She said that she only gets the ingredients in every so often and when the locals hear she has it, they all come buy it up. If anyone tries it, please leave me a comment about how it is!

If I had time, I would definitely go back to this restaurant, just south of the Attic on the other side of the road. It's a pretty pink building with a big porch set back off the street. If you go on a Sunday for lunch, be prepared to wait - the owner is the only one working there in the low season, but it was worth the wait. The kids were entertained by all the chickens, roosters and chicks running around, but it's there that we saw the biggest iguana of the trip saunter by. Cool striped tail!

More swimming, did the laundry (couldn't they leave the electricity off a bit longer?) and just relaxed until our red snapper dinner on the verandah.

kwren

*Oops, make that Sunday, July 25 up above!

Jenifer

I used that email to ask questions and it came back to me...it said "remote host said not our customer." Maybe it's something on his end - I used the link off the website. I've tried twice and both times got the same message...I don't know if you have any way of letting him know..

Your trip sounds amazing...nope, we could care less about the nightlife. We use these vacations during the summer (while the kids are at camp) to just be together..haha...

I can't wait to see the pictures when you get back. I am interested in the beaches mostly. I don't need a bunch - just a few nice ones..

We went to St. Barth three years ago and it was wonderful. We rented a villa and were on the beaches most of the time, all alone. I wouldn't want to travel there in the busy season. June is great...

kwren

The beaches here are not the gorgeous beaches you might find where there are huge resorts (there's a reason the resorts are near those beaches), but they are sandy - black or white sand - and you will probably be alone. The white sand one is the best one we have seen here, but we haven't been to them all.
Here are notes I gathered from my research:
Lime Kiln Beach - secluded, has a faucet to wash the sand off your feet,
Woodland Beach has a changing room (although I didn't go in), outdoor shower, picnic area, water can be rough, has some snorkeling and it looks like it has a food stand, but it was boarded up. (maybe open high season???)
Rendezvous - white sand beach, hike or kayak to it, no facilities, very good snorkeling
Bunkum Bay Beach (we didn't make it there) - beach bar with great wahoo and pizza
I did take pictures of the ones we went to so you can be the judge.

If you like pools, you can't beat this one...and the view!

I've emailed Mike at that address all along, so it's probably his server. Are you in the US? He lives near Phildelphia - I got this number off a rental site: 215 643-3423 I think it must be his home number. He won't mind you calling - I did and he was willing to answer all my questions.
Some of the things are different here now than in some of the pictures...better now! You'll see my pix and decide.

Jenifer

You're a huge help! Thanks!! Looking forward to pics...as long as there is some sand and that gorgeous Caribbean water, we are good....

Enjoy the rest of your trip!

kwren

We saw that gorgeous Caribbean water Saturday from the eastern side of the island when we went up Jack Boy Hill and at Rendezvous Beach from the boat. Boy, did I want to get out and swim! I don't know if the rains churning everything up on a daily basis are responsible for not seeing much of that Caribbean blue this week. We enjoyed it anyway!

The little island we see from our balcony is Redondo, not Nevis as I originally said. Redondo is uninhabited and I hear some people (not us) go there for snorkeling.

mamodavis

Hhoooooooooooooooooo What a lovely Monday morning read who wants morning papers when i have all this to read,well Karen you sound like you are realy enjoying yourselfs Im so glad the weather picked up for you's.Thanks for the prices it looks like your Dollar is worth less then our Euro.seems prices are like here in some things,could not figer what p/b was was till my husband told me thats some thing we dont use.I read something about the Green monkey closeing down that would be a sad thing if that happens.Your realy getting in to the swing of things with your Rum & Coke, Pina colada, We were in Cuba a few years ago & the Pina Colada was the best i ever had,I hope I can say Monserrat are better, What price would you pay for Rum & coke? Do you know how much Beer is?I have heard Tina's is lovely for food glad you approve,Have you been to the Royal Palm ? or Olveston House Sir George Martin has his Recording stidio, Its also a Restaurant,Can't belive your on the last few days of your holidays I hope you get to see the Volcano without cloud.looking forward to the photos.We have only 6 weeks left can't wait.Enjoy the rest of your time there.Christine

kwren

Off to the MVO now. It's my son's 21st B'day today so we're going to the Olveston House for dinner. I'll let you know how it is...English fare is what I'm told so maybe you've had enough of that!!! LOL

mamodavis

Tell your Son Kevin We wish him a very happy 21st Birthday,I hope he has a lovely day.21st Birthday's are a big affair here in Ireland,im not sure how much its ment in the states,except he can now drink legaley.so he can go Limin with you & his dad,lol.Enjoy you night.

kwren

Haha! We gave him a bottle of champagne already and it's gone...well, we helped. It's definitely a big deal for us in the US so we'll be buying him his first "official" drink tonight! I'll pass your good wishes along to him - thanks!