On Jan. 8th, 2023, we left Antigua for Montserrat, an island that we didn’t have the chance to visit when we in the Caribbean in 2019-20. We arrived in the only feasible anchorage of Little Bay and anchored next to a huge cliff that looked like it was going to shed part of its’ wall at any moment! We were too late to go to customs so we just settled in to watch the sunset.
The next morning, we checked in with Customs. You never know what you’re going to get with these operations. Sometimes it’s quick and perfunctory, other times it looks like the agents are looking for anything to do but help you! There was a lot of paper rustling, stamping of stamps, reading of materials, and checking of documents, even after we had already entered all of our information in the electronic system. I think they were training a few of the people that day.
At any rate, we were going to walk through town but it turns out there wasn’t much onshore but Moose’s local bar and a few unopened restaurants on the beach. A cabby, who had offered his services as soon as we exited customs, provided a ride to the next town of Brades, where we stopped in the bank and then walked, visiting the local grocery, the hardware and the Tourism Bureau on our way back to Little Bay. It was a hilly two mile trek. By the time we returned, the Summer Breeze Restaurant was open and we enjoyed a pina colada, curry shrimp & Indian chili at the bar with the locals.
Some new Salty Dawg friends, Stephanie & Jim on s/v Hero, arrived in Little Bay before dark and we confirmed a plan to do an island tour the next day. Jermaine Wade from Fabulous Tours was our guide. He was more expensive than the cabby but very knowledgeable and we found out later, totally worth the extra expense!
Our first stop was the Montserrat Cultural Center, donated by Sir George Martin, the Beetles manager that did a lot of recording (and apparently carousing) on the island in the ‘70’s. This facility is used for events and government functions and houses artifacts from the musical heyday. Here you can compare your hand size to the likes of Gordon Mathew Thomas Sumner (aka “Sting”) and Eric Clapton, among others.
Next, we drove through the northern communities that were rebuilt by various countries after the volcano that destroyed half of the island in 1997. Jermaine could tell us who built them by the color of the roof and/or the style of the house.
And, we went to the Volcano Observatory, a bunker like structure where you can see the volcano (and a movie about it’s history) as scientists monitor and study it 24 hours a day.
The emotional highlight of the tour was visiting what Jermaine called the modern day, Pompeii. We drove through the restricted zone where you see the ruins of the capital city of Plymouth, which was totally covered in up to 60 feet of ash after the eruption in ‘97. Here you could see buried store fronts, hotels & schools, as Jermaine explained where he was (as an 11 year old boy) when it all happened. He pointed out his school, his home and where he and his friends would gather, as we looked on to nothing but overgrown weeds, ruins and miles of new black ash beaches.
After visiting the ruins, Jermaine cheered us up with a visit to JD’s Bakery & Bar, where The proprietor, Gun, cooked up some good old ‘bush’ rum for us. It’s a homemade concoction that they’ll put just about anything in to spice it up! After The rum we needed something in our stomachs and stopped at The Attic, where the simple menu included “chicken lunch”, “rib lunch” and “fish lunch”. This made choosing easy and we thoroughly enjoyed at least one of each!! We finished off the most excellent “Fabulous Tour” at Summer Breeze with a Caribbean staple, rum punch, where we toasted our new friend, Jermaine Wade from Fabulous Tours!!
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