We've been anchored in Mosquito Cove, near Jolly Harbor, Antigua since arriving here from Guadeloupe. The Montserrat Volcano continues to be very active with lots of ash flows and towering ash and smoke clouds. We've been hanging out waiting for the winds to die down some but we need to be here on the 5th of February to pick up a spare outboard prop that someone is carrying in for us. We then plan to head to Barbuda and hang out there for awhile.

Soufriere Hills Volcano

We left Deshaies, Guadeloupe Saturday morning early heading for Jolly Harbor, Antigua. On our crossing we noticed a very strange cloud - perhaps a cloud of ash over the Montserrat Volcano. Each year as we travel North and back South by Montserrat we notice the volcanic steam and clouds over the mountain but this year the look was totally different to us. Link to the Volcano website

http://www.montserratvolcanoobservatory.info/


As we continued North we began to see very
unusual boiling clouds - perhaps pyroclastic flows of ash and rock down the Northeastern side of the volcano. Several times as we watched, large brown billowy looking clouds traveled down the mountain.







With winds from the SE - SW yesterday there was a lot of haze on the horizon at sundown, producing a very unusual sunset - no green flash - but pretty and unusual. This morning we awakened to find a fine light dusting of what we assume to be volcanic ash all over the boat and dinghy. I checked the Montserrat Volcano Observatory Web Site this morning and it does appear that there is heightened volcanic activity on the Island. As our winds shift back to the East over the next several days the ash and dust should be blown away.

Yesterday was another beautiful day in Paradise (Dominica). I took the dinghy into town and mailed a birthday card, picked up some buns from the bakery and visited the recently opened Budget Marine store here in Portsmouth.

Later in the day Martin, an Indian River Guide and tour organizer supreme, stopped by and invited us to his home for the evening. At about 6pm Martin came by and picked us up and we went to his home in Portsmouth. We met his family (wife and two girls), drank some home made passion fruit/orange juice mix, learned how to make plantain chips - I ate to many, and got to know one another. This was a special evening with some very special people. I will try to take a few pictures of Martin before we leave and post them to the web site.

St Pierre and Mt Pelee, Martinique

We anchored for four days off St Pierre, Martinique. The highlight of our stop here this year was our hike up to the top of Mt Pelee. Mt Pelee erupted in 1902 killing approx 30,000 people in the town of St Pierre - all but two of the residents died during the eruption.

This picture was taken from the site of the old town jail where one of the residents, a prisoner in his cell, survived.













View of the town St Pierre, taken from the rim of the crater on Mt Pelee.










Anchored off St Pierre