We met Jhonna and Monet and family at 9 o’clock at the Dock. Today the name of our driver and guide was Charles. He was already waiting for us and once we had loaded and organized to get our Dive bottles filled, we were on
our way to explore the Island. He took us all around the Island and we were stunned by the beauty despite the devastation that this
Island has experience the last 15 years. Montserrat like all other Caribbean Island got discovered by Columbus in 1493. It was quiet a place to be and experience a boom with the rich and famous, especially marked through the record studio “AIR” of former Beatle Manager George Martin. Then in 1983 Hurricane Hugo swept over Montserrat and destroyed nearly 90 % of the entire island. The Islander did not give up and it only took them 5 years to clean and to rebuild the Island when the second disaster struck, this time is was irreversible. The Sourfriere Hills
Volcano that had been sleeping
for over 600 years decided to make itself known. For the next 10 years the Volcano creates a show and works really hard to put himself on the map. He is taking over half of the Island of Montserrat and nothing will ever be the same again. Today Plymouth is covered and buried under the volcano ash and it is forbidden to enter the entire southern part of the Island. Charles took us to the observatory from where we had a great view over the Volcano or what is left of it. The power of nature is still on show and we can see smoke coming from the crater and where the Lava had flown down the Volcano and had made its way towards the ocean. I am shocked and devastated of what has happened there; it is always shocking when you see it on television, but seeing it with your own eyes brings more reality into it. We watch a 20 minute documentar
y on the erupt
ion and volcano before making our way to our next stop. We are crossing the Lava flow to the other side, which is named Zone B. Zone B is the Zone which has to be evacuated if the there are any signs of volcano activity, otherwise you can still be a resident in this zoning. From our next stop we have a great look onto the buried town of Plymouth and the result of the lava flow; which is now a Zone A. Zone A is an exclusion Zone where everyone had been evacuated and the people are not allowed to go back to their properties. People still have property in the zoning A, but either have now left the Island or have moved to the northern side of Montserrat, which funnily enough was never populated very much before because of its climate. Plymouth was always the more fertile an
d flat land and popular as it was close and easy accessible from the sea. The population of the Island has dwindled down from 12000 to 5000 people. However we do notice that the people are very friendly here and that the whole Island is spreading a very welcoming and nice vibe. I can understand how people can fall in love with Montserrat. The rest of the afternoon we spend on and around the boat, snorkeling and swimming. We do prepare ourselves to sail down to Gouadeloupe tomorrow.
our way to explore the Island. He took us all around the Island and we were stunned by the beauty despite the devastation that this 
Island has experience the last 15 years. Montserrat like all other Caribbean Island got discovered by Columbus in 1493. It was quiet a place to be and experience a boom with the rich and famous, especially marked through the record studio “AIR” of former Beatle Manager George Martin. Then in 1983 Hurricane Hugo swept over Montserrat and destroyed nearly 90 % of the entire island. The Islander did not give up and it only took them 5 years to clean and to rebuild the Island when the second disaster struck, this time is was irreversible. The Sourfriere Hills 
Volcano that had been sleeping 
y on the erupt
ion and volcano before making our way to our next stop. We are crossing the Lava flow to the other side, which is named Zone B. Zone B is the Zone which has to be evacuated if the there are any signs of volcano activity, otherwise you can still be a resident in this zoning. From our next stop we have a great look onto the buried town of Plymouth and the result of the lava flow; which is now a Zone A. Zone A is an exclusion Zone where everyone had been evacuated and the people are not allowed to go back to their properties. People still have property in the zoning A, but either have now left the Island or have moved to the northern side of Montserrat, which funnily enough was never populated very much before because of its climate. Plymouth was always the more fertile an
d flat land and popular as it was close and easy accessible from the sea. The population of the Island has dwindled down from 12000 to 5000 people. However we do notice that the people are very friendly here and that the whole Island is spreading a very welcoming and nice vibe. I can understand how people can fall in love with Montserrat. The rest of the afternoon we spend on and around the boat, snorkeling and swimming. We do prepare ourselves to sail down to Gouadeloupe tomorrow.
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