Montserrat

We sailed from Nevis to Montserrat. We left at the same time someone else we knew was leaving and were quite pleased with ourselves when Varuna took off and they grew smaller and smaller behind us. Who knew she'd be such a fast (relative term for sure) boat! Unfortunately, the current was very strong between Nevis and Montserrat and it kept us fighting to get close so it ended up taking a few hours longer to arrive than we planned (note to self: always leave early just in case). We have done many night sails in our big charter boat, but none in Varuna yet, so I was very anxious. I really don't like arriving in a foreign anchorage in the dark. Luckily, we made it in fine and anchored in Rendezvous Bay b/c maneuvering through Little Bay seemed challenging with all the fishing boats scattered about. It was a very rolly night and we didn't sleep much. We moved over to Little Bay the next night and it was surprisingly calm. We've heard that anchoring in Montserrat is always rolly.

It was rough out there with 20-25 knot winds and 6 foot seas, but the boat handled well. We buried the rail many times and I found lots of new leaks inside (GREAT!). We have not been blessed with nice cruising weather and are not fluff sailing like I thought we'd be :)

See the water on the left! My first experience so I was a little freaked out. It was fun and scary and then fun again. I am still trying to shake that feeling that we are going to "tip over" when it does that. Matt reassured me that we wouldn't but I was white knuckled the whole way. 

We did a land tour to see Montserrat and the devastation caused by the volcano. We couldn't believe how big Montserrat was and how green it was! Once you finally get over to Plymouth, where the main destruction was, it is pretty shocking. It's hard to put into perspective even standing there looking at it. Some areas were filled 100 feet deep within in minutes. We explored what was once a nice hotel in the area. 

The front desk of the hotel, floor buried in ash. 

The office. This was the most moving for me. Seeing the papers with the dates and inventory from right before the eruption happened was very sad. 

The dining area.

The swimming pool...

You can see the volcano and the lava flows over Plymouth in the background. Apparently there were burning rocks the size of buildings rolling over town center. 

The Little Bay anchorage. Quite pleasant in an Easterly swell. Looks like it could be a fun little bay, but being off season everything was pretty much closed. 

Matt's best pic yet. Happiest hotdog ever!

Caribbean colors.

Relaxing with a rum and coke, listening to our little bluetooth Bose speaker (that thing is great!). Best part of the day!

Leaving Montserrat and headed to Guadeloupe. Lots of ash in the air.