discussion on Monseratt

hello

Anyone here been to Monseratt...what's it like?

If anyone can point me to a discussion group on the island or any
other internet resource I'd really appreciate it

thx

J

Brian K <brianxt1951@> wrote

> The main volcano on Monseratt is very active. You really don't want to
> go there unless you are working with some charitable volunteer
> organization or are a volcanoligist come to study the volcano. If you
> want to see a volcano, go to Hawaii. While one in the volcano park shows
> signs of activity, the volcanoes in Hawaii are a bit more predictable
> and safer to see.

Montserrat is open to tourism, and is in fact an interesting place
to go on holiday. As you and others have pointed out, there was
very recently a large dome collapse and will take some time to
clean up, but once the clean-up is complete (and certainly after
the rains of sept/oct) it will be a good location for tourism again.

An airport capable of handling fixed-wing aircraft (flying from
Antigua) is still being built and will be in action within a year
or so. In the meantime, travel from Antigua is via helicopter
and fast ferry.

The diving in Montserrat is reasonably good, though somewhat
difficult (beach entries) because the operator is not permitted to
use the only existing jetty. I recall a dive seeing 50 to 100
rays, seeing seahorses snorkelling, turtles, and excellent
night dives due to the lack of light pollution.

Being on an island with a live volcano is interesting. It isn't a
typical tourist location though, and has few restaurants, fewer hotels,
and relatively poor grocery facilities. When everything's cleaned up
again, the villas you can rent affordably can be very nice to spectacular.
Car rental is possible, though you won't get insurance. There is a
hospital on-island, though those in frail health might be better going
elsewhere since travel off-island isn't possible between dusk and dawn.

There is an email discussion group; contact me for details.

--
Ken Tough

Many thanks for the replies...I wonder if anyone reading this actually
lives on the Island? I'd like to know what thats like...

thanks again

J

focus <jheery@m> wrote:

>Many thanks for the replies...I wonder if anyone reading this actually
>lives on the Island? I'd like to know what thats like...

I lived there in 1999/2000. See my other reply; things haven't
changed all that much.

Living there isn't too easy in some ways, great in others.
There's good diving/snorkelling just a bike ride/walk away.
There's very little crime, and we never closed up the various
sliding glass panels all around our house (except for when
the ash was falling). We sometimes left vehicles at the
ferry with the keys in, when off-island. Things are quite
quiet, and the way Gary falls asleep while serving at Gary
Moore's Wide Awake Bar (in Salem, surely closed for the time
being until Salem reopens for business) just about says it all.

On the other hand, there's little in the way of fresh fruit
and veg (you have to know who brings the stuff in from
Dominica, or who to go to for some bananas etc).

The ash is a pain, especially when it's as bad as from the
recent collapse where, if you're in the wrong place, it will
be an average of about 10 cm up to drifts of who knows how much.
It's basically like concrete dust, and difficult to shift.

Property is relatively cheap and posh rental villas abound,
but it's not really all that cheap, considering. Travel
on-off island is a bit of a drag. Internet connection is
relatively good except in hurricane season. There are currently
water shortages, and the big disruptions from collapses like the
recent one can make life a bit annoying.

There's a few nice beaches, but sadly of the two nicest, one
(Foxes) is in the exclusion zone (personally my favourite, nice
black sand and not a person around), and the other has been turned
into the port/commercial centre and so is pretty much trashed.
There is another (Rendezvous) to which you have to hike, but
compared to other islands it's not worth the hike. Woodlands
beach can be nice when it's got sand on it (hurricane scouring),
and has very good snorkelling off it, including a very cozy bit
of reef. The dive operator is very good, very experienced,
though he can only offer beach launches which might be a drawback
to some. Personally, I'm not a beach person so lack of beach
means nothing to me.

The jungle is deep and interesting, though the wildlife is
perhaps thinner than you might imagine. (Birds are about
100x more plentiful here in S.Africa). There are things like
agouti, lots of lizards, huge mountain-chicken frogs, the
ubiquitous tree frogs, sea birds, and reasonably consistent
sea turtles. Lots of rays at times, never saw any dolphins.

The lack of restaurants would be a drawback for travellers,
and people who don't like cooking goat and chicken all the
time. Shortages of things like cooking gas and petrol are
not unknown since shipping is difficult, but they're getting
it sorted gradually.

Other questions?

--
Ken Tough

thanks Ken

You seem to be the man in the know,perhaps i'll mail you with some
other questions...

cheers

J

focus <jheery@m> wrote:

>thanks Ken
>
>You seem to be the man in the know,perhaps i'll mail you with some
>other questions...

There may be other people here who are from Montserrat, even
though they might not live there anymore. Alphonsus, are you
the one we might think, or another one?

--
Ken Tough

Brian K <brianxt1951@> wrote in message news:<nFlYa.1392$vo2.285@newsread1.news.atl.earthl ink.net>...
> On 08/05/2003 6:18 PM focus wrote:
>
> >hello
> >
> >Anyone here been to Monseratt...what's it like?

Great place. Nothing commercial about it.


> >
> >If anyone can point me to a discussion group on the island or any
> >other internet resource I'd really appreciate it
> >
> >thx
> >
> >J
> >
> >
> There's this big Volcano on Monseratt. Jimmy Buffett wrote a song
> called "Volcano" with a chorus of "I don't know, I don't know, I don't
> know where I'm gonna go when the volcano blows". It was recorded in a
> little recording studio on Monseratt. Shortly after the song was
> released, the volcano blew its stack and the studio was covered in lava.

The open air recording studio has never even been close to any lava.
In fact, not a single building on Montserrat has been damaged by lava.
The recording studio is a mess, yes, and isn't safe to go inside.
Only because the owner has totally neglected making any maintenance to
it since 1997.
My parents own the property right next to the recording studio
(Waterworks), which has also suffered from volcanic ash over the
years, but they have spent time and money to maintain it, as have many
others in the open areas of Montserrat.


>
> The big Volcano recently blew it's stack again. Right now, I imagine
> most places are still covered with ash, and the air in some areas still
> may smell of sulpher. When the dome collapsed in June (de volcano blow)
> villages had to be evacuated. The airport was closed due to poor
> viability from volcanic clouds. Tourists were refused entry.

The airport was closed many years ago. This last erruption had
nothing to do with it. Several pyroclastic flows have destroyed most
of the airport terminal and covered most of the landing strip. A new
airport is being built, should be ready by Spet 2004.

>
> The main volcano on Monseratt is very active. You really don't want to
> go there unless you are working with some charitable volunteer
> organization or are a volcanoligist come to study the volcano. If you
> want to see a volcano, go to Hawaii. While one in the volcano park shows
> signs of activity, the volcanoes in Hawaii are a bit more predictable
> and safer to see.

There is very little volcanic activity on Montserrat at the moment,
since mid July. For over 2 years, the maritime boundary for safe
passage around the south of Montserrat was 2 nautical miles. This has
been recently lifted, and fishermens are now allowed to fish in the
south, where this volcano is located. I don't think the MVO or the
local government would allow people to fish at the foot of this
volcano if it was "active".

I've been to Montserrat several times over the last 16 years. If
you're interested in pictures, e-mail me and I will send you links to
tons from several trips, many include volcano pics and damage caused
by it.

SMP_Homer <mike@poolsters.on.ca> wrote:

>Ken Tough <ken@objectech.co.uk> wrote
>> There may be other people here who are from Montserrat, even
>> though they might not live there anymore. Alphonsus, are you
>> the one we might think, or another one?

>I've never lived on Montserrat, but my family has owned property for
>hundreds of years, and I make semi-frequent visits whenever I can.
>Waterworks, which is pretty much in the middle of the island, can be
>seen from almost anywhere in the Belham Valley, Old Towne and
>surrounding area, was built in the 1700s (if you're in those areas,
>look for a big white house, red roof, and lots of BIG palm trees
>around it).

I imagine Waterworks was hit pretty hard by the latest dome
collapse. It was looking good a few years ago when we lived
there (except for the massive water main which has been broken
for years and gushing like mad making a new ghaut...)

>In the mountain above and behind it, is where you will
>find Killikranke (and I'm sure I misspelled it), which is where 90% of
>the water on Montserrat comes from.

Used to. AFAIK (my wife worked on the water project) no water is
taken from Killikranke any more, though in future they might link it
back up with the other springs. It's very far south for the newly
relocated population base and reservoirs. Great hikes up there,
but watch out for the sand flies at 05:00!

>Ken, where abouts did you live on the island? My parents moved from
>Waterworks quite a few years ago, settling in Old Towne until they
>were evacuated last Oct, and then found a place in Woodlands.

Used to live in Woodlands, down by where Public Works moved
into a villa years ago. Forget whose place it was now.
Spectacular pool.

>Old
>Towne is re-opened, and they have cleaned off the house, you may have
>seen it, the driveway has raised lettering that says Avalon (or No
>Lava) if you read it the other way. Their neighbours have a bright
>yellow house, and are just 3 minutes away from the Vue Pointe.

I've probably seen it, but don't remember it. Glad they're back
in place now and keeping going with it. There'll be at least a
good year or maybe even two before the same thing happens again
(unless it's all stopped now). Just as a point of wording, they
haven't claimed it's not active yet even though there doesn't
appear to be magma rising at the moment. Seismology is pretty
quiet, but given past history it'll be a while before anyone
decides to go on a limb and say it's gone inactive. To a
complete layman, it just seems pretty unlikely that it would go
inactive at exactly the same time there was a dome collapse.
More likely to me it's just "catching its breath".

--
Ken Tough