Montserrat: a truly beautiful, natural and friendly Caribbean island.
The Caribbean island of Montserrat. Often described as the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean, and as the friendliest of all Caribbean islands, it has many charms to entice and reward the adventurous, curious traveller.
A truly beautiful, natural and unspoilt Caribbean island.
The Caribbean island of Montserrat is a tiny British overseas territory, located in the Leeward Isles to the north-west of Guadeloupe. Tiny, unknown (by us at any rate) and not to be confused with its namesake: the Montserrat mountain and monastery in Spain. They are not the same!
Little Bay, Montserrat
Montserrat has a turbulent recent history whereby it’s suffered two devastating natural disasters.
The first was Hurricane Hugo which hit the island in September 1989 – the eye of the storm raged over the island for a terrifying 14 hours and lay waste to many buildings, including George Martin’s Air Studio which had previously attracted many rock stars and celebrities to the island. More than 2,500 people were made homeless.
Then, in 1995, just as Montserrat was hauling itself back to its feet, the dormant Soufrière Hills Volcano erupted for the first time in almost 400 years. Early warning systems meant that almost everyone was evacuated to safety, but two-thirds of the southern part of the island, including the capital, Plymouth, was devastated and still remains buried beneath thick hard-baked layers of ash, mud and boulders, up to two storeys high.
Teams of scientists now very closely monitor the risk of further volcanic eruptions and hurricanes, and systems are in place to minimise risk. But Montserrat is nonetheless an island that won’t suit everyone: if your goal from a Caribbean holiday is to stay in an all-inclusive, high-end hotel and to recline all day on sun beds on white sand beaches; then look elsewhere – Montserrat is not for you!
If you love adventurous travel, natural beauty, wildlife, chatting with locals and exploring non-touristy places, then you should add Montserrat to your bucket list.
Unless you’re scared of flying, in which case cross it straight off again!
Getting to Montserrat
At the moment you can only reach Montserrat by means of a tiny twin-prop plane from VC Bird International Airport on Antigua, where 6 passengers are squashed in with their bags and the pilot.
It’s a noisy flight and can also be rather bumpy, but it is short (20 minutes) and the views are spectacular. Plus it’s an incredible experience! You can fly to Montserrat with one of two airlines: Fly Montserrat, and SVG Air.
Getting around on Montserrat
Montserrat is tiny and furthermore two thirds of the island is now completely unpopulated because it lies in the Exclusion Zone – the only natural disaster exclusion zone in the world.
We fondly imagined we’d be able to walk most places, but in reality you can’t actually walk anywhere because it’s hot, humid and incredibly hilly.
So you’ll probably want to hire a car, although you could just get around by taxi. Be prepared to wait for your taxi though – ‘island time’ very much exists in Montserrat and you’ll soon relax into a wonderful state of not actually minding what time things happen – ‘just being’ is enough. You probably won’t relax when driving though – the roads are narrow, winding and always going steeply up or steeply down. But on the positive side, everyone smiles, waves and beeps at each other and there’s a very friendly, happy atmosphere!
Hiking in Montserrat
The Montserrat Tourist Board provide a map of hiking trails - you can pick it up in the airport. The trails are absolutely stunning and provide complete immersion in nature: a goatherd moving his flock through the forests was one of only a few people we saw in several days’ hiking. Heliconia, the Montserrat national flower, grows in towering clumps – the vibrant yellow and scarlet bracts hold water and act as tiny little reservoirs for wildlife, and the strong fibrous leaves are easily pulled apart by the endemic Montserrat Oriole to make a delicate nest that it secures to the underside of the leaf, thereby protecting it from possible danger. Wild mango trees are heavy with fruit. Tropical birds sing their hearts out in the canopy but are elusive – a guide such as Scriber will help you spot the Montserrat Oriole (we failed to do so without one). But we did see a Bridled Quail Dove which our ‘twitcher’ friends were very impressed with!
The Central Hills area of Montserrat provides excellent hiking trails of varying levels of difficulty. They wind through lush, verdant, tropical forests and landscapes of immense natural biodiversity and beauty – progress is slow due to frequent photo stops.
You can also hike near the edge of the exclusion zone: a narrow trail runs from above Isles Bay around the cliffs to Foxes Bay and then you can follow what remains of old roads to Bransby Point where there are several old canons still watching guard.
The tracks near the exclusion zone take you through some of the areas destroyed by the volcano; past decaying homes that nature is reclaiming. The droppings (and distant braying) of apparently now unfriendly feral donkeys give a further stark reminder of the island’s history. This area doesn't feel so welcoming, and the incredibly spiky re-growth seems to warn you not to linger.
Montserrat beaches and snorkelling
The beaches on Montserrat, other than Rendezvous Bay, are volcanic black sand, and the Caribbean Sea is generally choppy and of many different hues. Not as picture perfect as the white sand and turquoise sea in Antigua, but the beaches are blissfully quiet, natural, and the iguana and turtle tracks are truly wonderful to see. Sitting on our deserted local beach watching the sunset while pelicans and egrets flew lazily by, and an iguana scuttled off into the undergrowth, remains one of our most magical moments ever.
Montserrat has some great snorkelling, and we did a couple of trips to the sheltered Rendezvous Bay where we swam on the coral reef among fish of every possible colour – absolutely magical and mesmerising. There are also coral reefs at Woodlands Beach and Bunkum Bay, but the sea was too rough while were there. We’d thoroughly recommend Scuba Montserrat, run by the lovely Andrew and Emmy, who provide boat tours around the island, snorkelling and dive trips and also Monday morning yoga sessions at Isles Bay Beach Bar – surely THE most beautiful place to do yoga in the world. They even saw a whale during one session last year!
So, is Montserrat worth visiting?
In our view, most definitely, but be honest with yourself before you book: can you cope without the trappings of modern tourism? Even getting an ice cream is a challenge on Montserrat! But if you are a relaxed and accepting traveller, precious memories of Montserrat will linger for a very long time and even tempt you to return. Memories of warm, friendly people, living in a stunningly beautiful place where nature is king, and where every moment of every day is incredibly special.
A true paradise.
Where we stayed on Antigua and Montserrat
We had 24 hours in Antigua between our flights and stayed at Orries Beach Bar & Hotel. It was 30 minutes taxi ($48) from the airport (longer when traffic is heavy) but was well worth it – an authentically Caribbean experience. Located across a narrow, quiet road from a stunning golden beach fringing the bright turquoise Caribbean Sea. Orries is owned and run by the lovely Shawn - it has just 6 beautifully furnished rooms, all with balconies, comfy beds and a great bar/restaurant. We loved it and wish we could’ve stayed longer – next time!
On Montserrat, we did a house exchange – staying in a lovely villa, Waters Reach, with fantastic views over both the sea and volcano. It can be rented at Tradewinds Montserrat – we thoroughly recommend it!