Down a narrow set of stairs Terry pushed another wooden door open against a barrier of vines and brambles and stepped out into a fascinating yard where old copper boiling pots sat upon rock walls. A lady from the States has a little cottage in the corner which she visits ever once in a while. With a little cutting back of intruding vines we could appreciate her fascination with such a charming setting.

Sunny drove us up to the Montserrat Volcano Observatory. From this point, using binoculars, we could peek in on Plymouth. The citizen’s were proud of their modern capital ... whose grey skeleton buildings now stand storeys deep in rock, mud and ash. It is an eerie sight ... like something out of a sci-fi movie ... but for the citizens of Montserrat it is real ... too real ... yet stands as a testament to the people’s strength of character and resilience.

The still active volcano’s gaseous steam mixed with low cloud shrouded it’s lava domed peak (est. 1050m) which is now higher than Montserrat’s original highest peak - Chances Peak. "It’s quiet today," said Sunny who, when necessary, is part of a 24 hour watch team.

We thought this was as close as we would get to the devastation ... but Sunny had something special in mind.

He drove us, oddly enough, to Happy Hill where he parked and we followed him on foot.

We walked out on what seemed to be a dry riverbed. "This was once a golf course," Sunny said surveying the wide expanse of light grey/brown dirt pocked with pebbles and boulders. "The volcano spat them out creating rock showers." Buried beneath our feet was a bridge while above our heads the now dead telephone and electrical lines were within reach."

We walked "upstream" to a home nearly buried in mud.  It's front porch had trapped tree stumps and thick branches.   Windows were broken and walls beaten.  Rebar and not rocks held up a corner of the house.  It was odd to see a porch light bulb in place ... unbroken.  Terry looked in through one window ... it was the kitchen with mud about as high as the upper cabinets.

We walked away. The experience had been very moving. We picked up three different stones and showed them to Sunny. "This one," he said of the reddish stone, "comes from the belly of the volcano; it’s a good find. This one, comes from nearer the mouth; and this one is pumice."

Pumice is a very light, porous volcanic rock. It’s often so light that it will float on water. Pumice stone was once liquid which during a volcanic eruption is turned to foamy glass and then to pumice, trapping bubbles as it cools in the air ... "You can see flecks of shiny glass in it," Sunny pointed out.

The sun set as we climbed back into Sunny’s car and made our way to Gingerbread Hill where we had reservations for the night and finally got to put a face and voice to the friendly emails we had exchanged with Clover. She showed us to the latest addition to Gingerbread Hill ... ‘Mango Cottage’. This charming place unto its own offers bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and table and chairs on the covered porch. We immediately wished our stay was not going to be only overnight.

Clover lent us a copy of her husband, David’s, excellent DVD "Price of Paradise - Memories of Montserrat" - the story of the volcano’s eruption ... really a family effort with David’s photography and narration, Clover’s music and voice and Sunny’s computer skills. "We usually have people look at the dvd before they go on an island tour," Clover explained, "but sadly you weren’t able to give Montserrat more time." She’s was right. Many people try to do Montserrat as a day tour, some like us give it only a short day (don’t count on WinAir to get you there on time) and a short night ... Montserrat deserves more.