Montserrat – For Leisurely Caribbean Vacations

One of the reasons why Montserrat is not so well-known as the rest of the Caribbean island groups of hot tourist destinations for beach holidays and super-cool celebrity spotting is that it does not cater to the mass tourism culture of even the best and most carefully preserved island cultures that claim they do so. This is because instead of making tall claims, the tourism board and locals here have intentionally not worked on building up the hype that draws in the crowds to other surrounding Caribbean islands that have been hit by the tourism boom experienced by a recovering US dollar and the opening of foreign skies that has helped increase travel to tropical islands.

However, this is not to say that Montserrat does not have anything to offer and that’s why it chooses to keep stuff hidden. No way! It couldn’t be further from the truth, which is that its beauty lies in the quiet and gentle calm of tranquil beaches, clean and clear dive sites and memorable hiking trails to distinctive and historically relevant tourist attractions that are natural wonders in their own rights, like the Soufrière Hills volcano!

Just lying southeast of Puerto Rico, Montserrat is situated in the Caribbean Sea and spans a mere 39 square miles. Its capital city is called Plymouth, but recently recorded volcanic activity in this region caused forceful resettlement of government offices to Brades. Plymouth had been covered with volcanic debris and ash so thoroughly that it was hardly a choice for relocation actually, rather a forced shifting of departments, say official reports.

Shopping scope for tourist at Montserrat

However, the advantage for American tourists visiting Montserrat is that the local eastern Caribbean dollar has been fixed to the US dollar and affords a lot of shopping scope for US tourists, who also find it easy to communicate with the locals since the language spoken on the island is mainly English with its local population comprising mainly of Roman Catholic, Anglican and Methodist people.

A comfortable average temperatures of 76 to 86 degrees makes Montserrat a good choice for holiday travel to a beach destination in the beautiful Caribbean anytime beyond the months from June to November since this is the hurricane season and so either ones needs to be prepared to deal with the challenges faced by the locals here and make the trip or simply avoid it during these months.

Apart from beachfront activities like picnicking, lunching, barbeques, there’s lots of scope for diving, hiking and local crafts shopping, besides checking out the active volcano situated here. Named as the Soufrière Hills volcano, eruptions were reported as recently as July 1995 in the island’s southern part and two years later, it was more or less abandoned by the offices and government departments housed here, declared as the area was - off limits for everyone.

Thus, some look upon Plymouth as the modern equivalent of Pompeii. It can be sighted from the water so many tourists prefer to do so when they book a boat tour and also enjoy the views of Richmond Hill and nearby attractions in one go.

Local cuisine comprises exotic dishes like frog legs, which are known as mountain chicken for some reason and goat water, which is a stew style dish made from goat’s meat. Some of the bigger restaurants serve a variety of unique Italian-Caribbean dishes, besides lots of seafood that is typical fare for all beachfront eateries.

This quaint island town was originally inhabited by the Carib Indians and Arawak but only discovered as late as 1493 when Columbus set sail for America; by 1632 though, Montserrat was one of many small island towns colonized by the English and Irish. Close to 1700, many African slaves were brought here too. A battle ensued between the British and French thereafter, which resulted in the British taking possession of Montserrat in 1783 but a lot of devastation had occurred as a result of this violence that was hard to reconstruct and took a long time in the re-making of Montserrat.

Montserrat vulcano

Finally, due to the volcanic eruptions recorded here since July 1995, the township was abandoned by nearly 2/3rds its population with a major eruption as recently as July 2003 limiting its native inhabitation as well as tourist influx to a great deal. Though volcano watching continues to be a big crowd puller (from a safe distance that is) for the selective tourists that do plan a unique Caribbean holiday to Montserrat because of its rich and varied island culture, history and geological origins of the island, not to mention its exclusive Volcano Observatory and week-long St. Patrick’s Day celebrations that are a treat for concert loving musically oriented souls who love good time dinners, dancing and carnival culture.

Finally, hot island activities include birding, (noteworthy being Montserrat’s national bird, the Montserrat Oriole, a rare species that is often the subject of attraction for avid bird watchers and photographers alike), turtle watching on black-sandy beaches that are natural nesting sites for 7 species of sea turtles, including the Hawksbill and the Green Turtle among others.