Finally, on Friday the 25th the waves went down under 10 feet and we decided to start making the passage to Guadeloupe. But we wanted to see Montserrat which is nearly half way and stopped at Little Bay & Rendezvous bays at the north end of the island. We decided to risk getting ash on our boat from the volcano in Montserrat in order to see the island and the devastation it has endured since its explosion. Some of you may remember the big explosions of Le Soufriere volcano which made the news in the late '90s as it completely destroyed the capital city of Plymouth and most of the south-end of the island. The volcano continues to spew ash and pyroclastic flows continue to dump into the ocean. We did not see any ash as we had favorable winds and managed to see amazing views of the island and the destruction it has endured. We sailed into the west side of the island and went north to finally anchor at Rendezvous bay after bypassing the more-busy and rolly Little bay. The next day we sailed down the east side of the island and took amazing pictures of the lava and pyroclastic flow paths. The south-end of the island is uninhabited and many of the efforts to relocate residents back have failed as the volcano still continues to dump ash. It is sad to see what was a beautiful island destroyed by the forces of nature.
Copy the following link to a web browser to view pictures of Montserrat - the west and east side.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sailingourway/Montserrat?authkey=AdrTOa0w-QU