Several people have asked me where the island of Montserrat
is located. Although it is relatively unknown as a vacation destination and
sometimes is omitted altogether from maps of the Caribbean ,
Montserrat lies 27 miles southwest of Antigua ,
which is a well-known cruise ship stop-off. St. Kitts is about the same
distance to the northwest. On a clear day, both can be seen from Montserrat .
All three of the above-mentioned islands are part of a long
chain extending from Puerto Rico in the north and
continuing south to the coast of Venezuela .
A lot of these islands are ports of call for winter-weary North Americans.
Most Caribbean islands were formed by
volcanic activity, either long since ended or at least quiet for now. A volcano
on Montserrat , unfortunately, came to life in 1995 and
over the intervening years has destroyed the southern two-thirds of the island.
That substantial chunk of Montserrat remains a "no
go zone."
 |
| Montserrat's volcano |
How long will it remain so? Will it never be inhabited
again? You can never say never, I suppose. This past summer, we visited Pompeii ,
which is in southern Italy
near Naples and Sorrento .
Over the years, people have moved back into the shadow of Mt.
Vesuvius Pompeii and Herculaneum
in 79 AD. Its last eruption was in 1944, but another "Big One" is
expected.
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