Visit of Plymouth

Today, our driver, Audris and Hyacinth brought us to visit another part of the island. On our way to Montserrat’s capital, we stopped at Runaway Ghaut. The legend says that people that drink the water will one day return to Montserrat… Needless to say, we all jumped in!

After this stop, we headed to the Montserrat Volcano Observatory where we had a view of the Soufrière Hills volcano. Low cloud coverage did hinder our view. Inside the observatory, we watched a short 20 minute film with pictures of the eruptions and the devastation left behind.

Shortly after leaving the observatory, we quickly began to see how much damage this volcanic activity caused. We began seeing houses, churches and schools covered in volcanic debris. Much of the area that we visited is under lock and key. The program directors with whom we are working obtained special permission to allow us to visit the area.

We made our way to Montserrat’s capital city which is a part of the zone that is restricted. Entering Plymouth was very sombre. Building can be seen all around us but they are covered in volcanic debris. The town is filled with large boulder that were propelled by the volcanic activity. The Soufrière Hills volcano is different in the sense that it emitted pyroclastic flows. Many of the building in Plymouth are still standing but are simply covered in debris that was caused by the heat and the pyroclastic flows unlike lava which would burn down everything in its path.

Entering Plymouth, we also went to the pier that was once an important part of the island’s economy. The picture of the town from the pier demonstrates homes and buildings that are in this exclusion zone. Plymouth has been abandonned completely since 1997.

The large rock behind us is one that was left there by the pyroclastic flows.

More of the wreckage…

Lastly, we visited the Montserrat Springs Hotel ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3xk36yFO6s&t=5s). The Montserrat Springs Hotel was once described as one of the island’s finest. Today, we got to enter the building and view the remains. The video above walks you through the building and shows pictures of what it looked like prior to 1997. We also got to visit one of the bedrooms.