Visiting Plymouth

In Montserrat I visited hotels and restaurants and various attractions—the standard travel guide updating shtick. Montserrat is a fascinating place, all the more so because it's been rebuilt and resettled since its volcano first started erupting madly in 1995. The island lost about 60 percent of its population in the aftermath, and though the number of people on the island is growing today, it's a place altered significantly by what one Montserratian I spoke to called "the volcanic crisis."

Naturally, I wanted to see the volcano close up. While visiting the Montserrat Tourist Board's office this past Monday I casually mentioned that I'd love to visit Plymouth, the abandoned former capital of the territory, and was told that I was out of luck. Currently, there are no scheduled tours. So I visited probably the best vantage point on the safe side of the island: Jack Boy Hill, where the tourist board maintains an observation area.

Amazing, isn't it?

Then, around mid-day, the tourist board's Cherise Aymer intercepted me while I was ordering a sandwich for lunch. She told me that Jad Davenport, a photojournalist doing a story on Montserrat, had managed via his formidable powers of persuasion to convince the Montserrat Volcano Observatory to allow him to visit Plymouth. A serious Mensch, Jad suggested to Cherise that I accompany him into the restricted "Exclusion Zone." I was grateful. I'd just met Jad that morning, at our hotel.

A few hours later, Tappy Syers of the MVO drove us into Plymouth. The experience was otherwordly. There are scores of abandoned houses and buildings, in various states of collapse. There are massive, well-fed cattle wandering around in packs. There are countless examples of life interrupted: newspapers covered in ash; hair care products in a bathroom; a label gun in a destroyed supermarket. It's difficult to grasp the intensity, the gravity, and the scale of the evacuation of Plymouth. Montserratians had their lives interrupted and reoriented radically, yet almost everyone survived the volcano's worst, and many continue to live on their beautifully green island.

Throughout our visit Tappy—Scientific Assistant at the MVO—answered dozens of our questions about Montserrat's volcano. Thanks again to him for allowing me to tag along.

Here are some images of Plymouth.

A bakery.

Montserrat's former Government House, which appears on the EC$20 bill.

Hotel.

The police station.

Montserratian customer service.

The view over Plymouth near sunset. Note the bull in the lower right corner.