Hello Montserrat …and Ziggy

I have some incredible news to share – Ziggy has been found, alive and well! When Ziggy took off on December 11, and after searching for him for 3+ weeks, I had lost hope that we’d ever be reunited. I hoped he had stowed away on a mega-yacht and was sailing the seas in style, but I would never be certain.

On March 27, I received a phone call from Tory, a man saying my cat is on his patio. We still get these calls, though rarely now as it’s been nearly 4 months since I put up the posters, so I was prepared to say “thanks for calling, but that’s not my cat”. What I didn’t expect was Tory asking me several questions first – where and when did I lose him? Did I tie a rope around him?! After I gave him the details and confirmed I would NEVER tie a rope around a cat, he sent me photos and we connected on FaceTime. The cat on his patio certainly looked like Ziggy, my gut told me it was my Ziggy, but I’ve been down that road before and since I am now hundreds of miles and a very expensive plane ride away, so I had to be sure. I asked Tory to please keep feeding the cat and at his first opportunity, bring him to the Humane Society to see if the cat has a microchip. Two days later the Humane Society called – the chip number was a match!

Once the tears of joy subsided, I needed to figure out how to bring Ziggy home. Sailing there is out of the question as it would take about 2 weeks and that’s assuming perfect weather conditions. There are no direct flights from where we were (in Grenada); I would have to fly via Miami and the trip would require two overnights and over 20 hours of travel time in each direction. So I called my brother, Elmars, and asked him if he wants to take a short trip to the Virgin Islands…24 hours later, Elmars was on a plane to St Thomas.  After a couple days and two plane plane rides, Ziggy is now at home in Cleveland with my brother (I’ll go get him soon). 

Ziggy is now safe and happy, eating and snuggling like never before. My theory is somebody found Ziggy and wanted to keep him. They fed him (Ziggy has actually gained weight) but didn’t have a clue that you can’t walk a cat on a rope. Their mistake was my win – Ziggy escaped and found his way back to me.  Truly a miracle.

Now back to our volcano journey…

Montserrat is a small island, approximately 40 sq. miles, east of Antigua. It is a British territory, still supported by the UK government. The official language is English, their currency is the Eastern Caribbean dollar, though US dollars are widely accepted, and the population is approximately 5,000.

Before 1995 nearly 13,000 people lived in Montserrat, with the majority living in the capital city, Plymouth, on the south-western shore of the island in the shadow of the Soufrière Hills Volcano. It was a vibrant Caribbean city with a heathy economy consisting of fishing, agriculture and mostly tourism. It was home to many businesses including Barclay’s Bank, shops and hotels. That all began to change in July 1995 when Soufrière Hills unexpectedly woke up after hundreds of years of dormancy.

Vents opened up at the summit of the volcano, spewing foul-smalling gas and steam. Several small earthquakes rattled the island, triggering initial evacuations. Then came mudflows and sulphur dioxide emissions, prompting more evacuations – there were 3 major evacuations in total. In December 1995, the first pyroclastic flow descended from Soufrière Hills. By April 1996, the capital city of Plymouth and surrounding villages were completely evacuated.

What is a pyroclastic flow vs a lava flow?  I’ll let AI explain it: Pyroclastic flows (all Caribbean volcanos) are fast-moving (up to 700 km/h), extremely hot (500–1000°C) avalanches of gas, ash, and rock, usually occurring during explosive eruptions and causing instant destruction. Lava flows (like in Hawaii) are slower, viscous streams of molten rock that generally move at a few miles per hour, destroying property through incineration and burial. 

June 25, 1997, is known as Black Wednesday in Monserrat. At 12:59 pm, the 300 foot lava dome blew in a violent explosion that lasted for 20 minutes, unleashing massive pyroclastic flows that buried Plymouth and nine villages. While most of the population had already been evacuated to other Caribbean islands or the UK, tragically 19 people lost their lives.

On Christmas Day 1997, more earthquakes shook the island and at 3am on the 26^th of December, approximately 55 million cubic metres of dome material flowed at speeds of nearly 300 km per hour, and in less than a minute devastated a 7 km wide arc of city and landscape.

Soufrière Hills’ last major eruption took place in February 2010. Today, two-thirds of Montserrat remain an exclusion zone, requiring special licenses and permission to enter it. According to the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, the volcanic hazard level remains at 1. which means volcanic activity at the Soufriere Hills Volcano is low.  The volcano is monitored 24/7 by volcanologists.

So why would we go to Montserrat if most of it is closed to the public? Because the north end of the island, in stark contrast to the south of the island, was protected by the Center Hills Mountain range. It is stunningly beautiful, lush and tropical.  The roadways are impossibly steep as they wind up and down the mountains and through rain forest. There are freshwater springs tricking down mountain sides where people line up to fill water bottles. You are surrounded by green jungle foliage, colorful flowers, stunning sand beaches and the residents are friendly and welcoming.

Perhaps the main reason we sailed to Montserrat is because we were able to hire a driver licensed to take us into the Exclusion Zone. Joe is in his late 70’s and lived in the Plymouth area until 1995.

As we approached the Exclusion Zone boundary, Joe pulled over to speak with a guard, showed his credentials, then called-in the time and number of passengers. On the way out, he repeated the process. He told us that if he did not check-out before dark, search teams would have been sent to look for us.

Joe gave us a four-hour tour, showed us “before” photos on his iPad as we parked in front of what used to be a men’s clothing store, a bakery, a church, a home. He brought us to the waterfront, an area that expanded as the mud, ash and rock flowed into the sea and solidified. We saw bollards (the short, strong posts on a pier used to secure ships) that used to be out on the pier, but are now well in-land. As we stood by the “new’ seashore, the volcano appeared peaceful against the white clouds and new vegetation growth, but the constant sulfuric smell of cooking eggs confirmed this giant is just having a snooze.

We only had two days on this island of stark contrasts, but I want to see more of Montserrat…. perhaps next year we will go back, unless, of course, Soufrière Hills decides nap-time is over.