Today we went on a tour of Monserrat. We took the ferry from St. John’s, Antigua, to Little Bay, Montserrat, which was a 70-minute ride.

Our tour guide, Winston, was fantastic and very informative. Monserrat is a very beautiful island that is so lush and green on one side and barren on the other where the volcano buried homes with ash and completely ruined the capital of Plymouth. The Soufriere Hills volcano first erupted in 1995, and there have been other eruptions since then. It is still considered an active volcano, you can see and smell the sulphur emitting from the volcano, so the government hasn’t allowed people to return to their homes that they had to abandon. We also visited the Montserrat Springs Hotel, which was completely covered in ash. There were adding machines and ledger books still on the reception desk, and the pool was filled with ash and overgrown with weeds. It must have been a beautiful hotel at one time.

The ferry back to Antigua was a horrible ride, pounding into the wind and waves. Very happy to be back on our boat and went straight to bed.