gee thanks SAn for shooting this to the top for me. I enjoyed reading every second of this report.
Since the volcano I thought Montserrat was pretty much dead and empty.

I have friends who used to live there but who moved to St. Kitts. Their reports of their visits back were so dreary and sad...ash ash everywhere! I guess it is different when you lived there and lost everything as opposed to being a visitor there you know?

Your report actually offers so much hope for the island!

Loved reading it!

Question : How was the ash situation? Was there still ash everywhere or has the island been cleaned up?
You mentioned that it took a while to get through customs...does that mean that the tourism sector is doing well? How are the businesses doing?

Customs - no, they are just slow and they search all the residents bags, they don't want the drug issues that some of the other islands seem to have. Tourists are pretty much waived in. We started having some ash showers near the end of the week, but there was little impact where we stayed. It did shut down the Airport for most of the day that we left though. They are essentially still rebuilding, but it is coming along. The best times to go (based on the residents) would be December (they have a big XMas party) & St. Patrick's Day (since they have an Irish heritage). The major thing is that there is little to do there except explore & relax. If you have to have nightlife & fine dining, there's not much happening there. Perhaps because of the situation I would say the people there are the friendliest of anywhere I've ever been. I'm not sure how they keep a smile on their face, but they do...

thanks SAn.
I know several people who left Montserrat when thevolcano started acting up. Several of them went to St. Kitts and have never been back.
I'm still trying to convince them to let US plan a trip there! :)

I can only imagine what it would be like if you had lived there...The exclusion zone, is interesting, terrifying, fascinating & sobering all at the same time. It almost doesn't look real, if you can imagine. As bad as the south is, the north (which I believe was probably mostly goat paths & wasteland when they left) is the exact opposite. Showing the resilience & dedication of the people of Montserrat, of maintaining the island as their home.

Where on Montserrat did they live ?

SAn,
I'm not sure where they lived. But what I do know is that their home was completely covered in ash. They left in 1996 or thereabout...when the volcano first started acting up. They currently live in St. Kitts & Trinidad.

Just curious, there are a lot of homes that look quite livable w/a little work that are close to, but not in, the exclusion zone. Probably much like your friends, they just left & never went back.

yeah...a lot of people left and started new lives, new jobs (like my friends) in other countries.

When the volcano started spewing it was pretty scary. For those having experienced the panic of trying to leave before the thing totally blew and "killed off everybody!", I doubt many of them will return any time soon. I don't blame them. I wouldn't want to move back into Montserrat and then have that volcano start up its antics again! :) No matter how safe it is!

I wonder if there are any Montserratians on this board :?

Just got back from Montserrat in July, to attend a friend's wedding. It was a bit harrowing to get there (WinAir cancelled the last flight out of Antigua because of weather and we were stuck there overnight) but totally worth it! We stayed at a villa at Woodlands, overlooking the gorgeous black sand beach. Verrrrrrry relaxing! Also did some great scuba diving with Bryan at Sea Wolf [www.seawolfdivingschool.com].

Have pics posted here, if anyone cares to see them:
http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailsh...154/t_=7442154

This was actually part of a 2.5-week Caribbean junket starting with a week in Jamaica. The wedding got tacked on later. I was actually really surprised at how difficult (and expensive) it is to island-hop in the Caribbean. I was expecting it to be more like Europe where you can hop ferries from place to place, but that infrastructure just does not exist.

Regardless, I had an amazing time! And of course it sucks to be back to reality. ;)

It's nice to read some reports about trips to Montserrat. I had been wanting to go there for a long time and finally had my chance a few weeks ago. I was with a research team investigating the effects of the volcano on the environment.

Since the alert level was 4, we weren't able to go into the Exclusion Zone to revisit some sampling sites (other team members had been there before). So for me, the trip was mostly orienting myself to the island, touring around, and relaxing.

It was my first trip to the Caribbean and I was pleasantly surprised by the comfortable weather. There was always a breeze and it never was too hot.

Two of my favorite places were the Monserrat Trust (and trail across the road, behind the school) and the Belham River valley (mudflow area). I also liked the ride to and the view from Jack Boy Hill. And of course, the MVO (Volcano Observatory).

We stayed on Baker Hill and just walking around was beautiful. The people were so friendly.

Two quite exciting events from the trip -- first of all, I severely fractured my big toe and went to the hospital to have it checked out. They couldn't have been nicer. And the total cost was only $20 EC.

Secondly, the dome of the volcano partially collapsed on our last day on the island. I hobbled outside and was amazed by the swirling black clouds, the ash plume. I was somewhat scared for a few minutes (what if this was the "big" one, was the ash going to land in our area, would we be able to fly back to Antigua and the US in the next two days). What an awesome sight!!

Well we did get back to Antigua the next day. It was HOT there and all I could do was watch the World Cup match on tv in the air conditioned hotel room. The next day it was a long flight home by myself, but American Airlines was very kind to me and my toe. They wisked me from plane, to immigration, customs, and my new gate in San Juan.

I can't wait to get back to Montserrat!!

I'm very happy to see others at least visiting Montserrat. Despite the volcano (or even beacause of it). As far as the island hopping, since Win-Air has a virtual monopoly on some routes, I don't expect it to get cheper anytime soon. But it is well worth the expense.

I'm in Jamaica and have only been to a handful of the other islands. It's ridiculously expensive and difficult to island hop.

Every time I start planning a Caribbean trip I end up giong some place else instead!
It's easier to go to Europe from Jamaica than to get to St. John! It's crazy.

JAGIRL - You are exactly correct, I, too, can go to Europe cheaper than the Caribbean which is why we only recently (in the past 5 years) started exploring that area.

The 1st time I went to Montserrat I was looking for property. I was drawn there becasue of property prices, crime rates, english over seas territory (being Canadian) and the fact you can drink the water and there are no shortages. BUT, I was not convienced Montserrat was the perfect place so I kept on traveling. I now have been to 27 islands and have purchased property on MONTSERRAT! It is a great little island rich with history. They have had their share for problems for the last 11 yrs but I believe the island will make a full come back. Everyone just needs to learn about how great the island and the people are. Please travel and see for your self. Virgin Air and Travel are now starting a day package to the island. Come see us. www.milesawayvilla.com

We will be returning this Winter & are also exploring the possibility of purchasing property there...where did you buy yours ?

I understand, you're just advertising your property, now that's not allowed...

property there should be pretty cheap, huh?

I don't really know...the problem may be finding someone to take care of it for you. We're planning way ahead here, but there are so few places to stay there (& we love it) we intend to explore all available options. I'm sure buidling materials would be pricey & have to be brought over from St. Maarten or Antigua I guess (?). So an exisiting structure would make more sense.

Maybe a townhouse/ strata/.condo type property might be best if they have those. You pay a monthly maintenance fee and don't worry about it.

so you <i><u>really</u></i> liked Montserrat huh? Sounds like you're planning on going back very frequently. I really must try to get over there. It's just so danged difficult.

We absolutely loved it &amp; the people are great. I didn't see much in the way of Condos but we'll try to do a little more 'in depth' looking around this trip. It is just very difficult getting motivated when you are smack dab in the middle of a place where doing nothing seems strenuous...