Montserrat: The Gray Pearl

Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, the number one place I wanted to travel to was Montserrat. If for no other reason than because I'd read so much about the warm, friendly people; the beautiful scenery; the recording studio made famous by McCartney, Sting, and other stars; and last but not least, the goatwater stew (Montserrat's national dish) in Plymouth. With a name like "goatwater", it had to be good. I was determined to try a bowl of goatwater.

Unfortunately, the 1995 violent reawakening of the long-dormant Soufriere Hills volcano (the very one Jimmy Buffett once sang about) on Montserrat changed everything. Within a few years, most of the island was covered in ash and lava. Indeed, the town of Plymouth is gone.

Two weeks ago, another eruption occurred when the lava dome, which builds up only to collapse, once again collapsed, sending out more ash and covering the island once again.

Here's a Montserrat website with a large collection of video and still photos of this July eruption.

Reading dispatches from Montserrat these days is sad. For instance, from a recent Reuters article:

. . . the volcano's dome has been continuing to grow and then periodically collapse, spewing superhot rock and ash. Half the island is still off limits because of the danger, and rockfall from the latest collapse was limited to that uninhabited area.

Work crews were still trying to clear main roadways on Wednesday, shoveling the sun-hardened ash into trucks.

Residents were using so much water to scrub away the mess that rationing was implemented. The water supply is drawn from underground springs, and the taps are turned off daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. so the springs can replenish the storage tanks.

The heavy ash crushed flat tin roofs on a few small rum shops and garages, filled the coastline with dead fish and killed off doves and pigeons. It choked the fields, destroying 95 percent of the vegetable crops and leaving livestock gasping for breath and unable to find forage under the dust.

The eruption also may have wiped out the national bird, the already endangered Montserrat Oriole. "There have been no reported sightings since the explosion," Greaves said.

Here's a link to the full Reuters article.

Following the eruption, the governor of the island declared Montserrat a disaster zone.

In 1991, the Montserrat census showed 10,639 residents. Today, there are less than 4500 people left living on the island, which from the home page of the official Visit Montserrat tourism website, you'd never know was in such dire straits.

Montserrat's chief medical officer, Dr. Joseph Hawes, was recently quoted saying, "Montserrat is still safe, still nice -- not the emerald green but we are now gray pearl."

I still hope to visit the island some day. I'd love to know if they're still serving goatwater. Posted by brian at July 31, 2003 11:58 AM