Some Montserrat volcano pics

During our recent holiday in Antigua, we were lucky enough to be able to take a helicopter trip to neighbouring Montserrat.

Much of the island has been evacuated since the start of modern volcanic activity in 1995 and following the devastating eruption of 1996. The helicopter trip took us over what is now an 'exclusion zone' centred on the old capital, Plymouth.

For more info, go to the excellent website of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory at:

[www.mvo.ms]

Some of the pictyres featured on the website are those of our Canadian helicopter pilot, Greg Scott of Caribbean Helicopters.

But these are all MINE....

The main pyroclastic flow out of the Soufriere Hills volcano, Montserrat

Where the flow coming down Tar River Valley meets the sea on the west side of the island.

Between the two areas of greenery (centre-right), the end of the runway of the ash-engulfed W.H. Bramble Airport can just about be distinguished.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/2008 06:01PM by Lloyd Llewellyn.

Great photo Lloyd, we set it as background on our PC, it's one of those photo's that forces you to look up.

I'd also like to thankyou for your support.

Kindest regards.
Craig.

The old airport terminal building and control tower, with a service building in the foreground.

The remains of Plymouth lying under millions of tons of rock and ash.

Some vegetation already making a come-back on some cultivation terraces.

More geological processes: heavy tropical rain having, after a period of only 11 years, eroded deep ravines in the covering pyroclastics.

So, after that spectacular, but also somewhat sombre and sobering experience , it was time to get back to the white sand, palm trees and rum

As the last pic almost got me back in the mood, Craig...

No worries, be happy!!

Ahhh Lloyd...
Looks like a great holiday. You may recall that about the time you were sipping rum in Antigua, I was heading off to drink pinacoladas in Hawaii. Killauea put on a fine show for us. Attached is a photo of the lava entering the sea about 50km south of Hilo on the big island. As a geologist this is something I'd always wanted to see and it truly is awesome! The difference between your photos and mine however is Hawaii's relative gentleness. The photo's of Plymouth are indeed sobering..

Good to hear you had a good time, Malcolm. Looks as awesome as you say and gentle it may be, but I wouldn't want my house to be standing in it's way.

Our holiday was a bit mixed really, for reasons I won't go into here.

However, your boy should have been with us - they kept a 'never empty' bottle of rum (serve yourself) next the slush machine (choice of coconut or mango, serve yourself). Needless to say, I showed great self-restraint by sticking to beer until at least midday (most days!)

We couldn't believe that the local rum in Hawaii - industrial grade - came in at $8 a bottle. We certainly appreciated the gesture - adequate compensation for the petty drinking age rules!

Hope all iis well mate
Mal

The thought of $8 a bottle "industrial-grade" rum kind-of makes my stomach quiver. I usually stick to the local Mehana Pale Ale while on the Big Island.

Quite a difference between subduction-zone and mid-oceanic hot spot vulcanism. The latter can be a "spectator sport" while the former definitely is not.

Cheers,
Jesse

Jesse,
The rum wasn't my idea of fun either, but good enough for the kids...

The Mehana Pale is good stuff, but as I'm sure Lloyd will agree, none of this holds a candle to those real ales of northern England - one of the few things I miss living in Australia.

Oh to be young (and have an iron gut) again. Yes, I am looking forward to a pint or two of Black Sheep or Landlord in the near future. I've never had the opportunity to sample any Aussie products on their home turf, but with the notable exception of Coopers, what comes this way generally seems no better than the bland American mega-brews I grew up with. My wife's been to NZ (sadly, without me) and reports that the Kiwis have a few good ones. More places to visit...

Hope you enjoyed Kilauea, it seems to be putting on a good show right now.

Cheers,
Jesse

So Lloyd, did you have a chance to snafu any of the nice sulfur crystals that the locals fish out of the vents on Montserrat? They can be quite spectacular..
And Malcolm, I am so envious, since one of the biggies on my Bucket list, is to see lava flowing from a live volcano...
Just curious, though, with all the flights that come to Aussie regularly from old England, how come none of those fine REAL ALES make it down to the 'locals' in Aussie for a chap to sip once in a while...I mean, I can easily get chinese beers, that are quite passable and Jamaican Red Stripe , also a nice beer, here and I guess if I wanted to, get some nice English ones too, so I assumed that you would be able to, too...

No chance of any collecting, Ray, as we didn't even land. As I say, most of the area around the active volcano is (supposed to be) an 'exclusion zone', though maybe that's only for 'habitation' purposes.

With regard to Malcolm's real ale problem, you seem to forget that the unbottled, unpasteurized, traditional product is a living entity which cannot be lightly mistreated.
Many of the good brews are notoriously bad travellers (Ian Jones' Brains SA being one of them) which are best consumed within a few miles of the brewery. Others (for example Bass) are infamously difficult to keep in good condition once at the point of sale. (The Bass in what used to be my local pub in Durham used to turn cloudy and undrinkable during thundery weather or after the merest hint of a bump of the barrel by the barmaid's hip!).
Small wonder, then, that few of the best of British ales make the 24hr journey to Aus., rattling around the hold of a 747.
That's no excuse for not brewing their own 'proper' beer, of course!

Lloyd

Norfolk, England

Guys - Its not only the quality of the beer that's a problem here, but they insist on chilling it to a level that would eliminate flavour from a beef vindaloo, and then just for good measure they super-saturate it with gas as well. (I actually believe that this ridiculous offering of "super-cooled" Guiness in London these days was originally pandering to the palletes of Ozzie expats!). I guess in fairness though, the climate here is not really conducive to real ale. At least my collection of single malts travelled well!

Ray, if you're able to make the hop across from BC to Hawaii at the moment you'd be well-rewarded. Have a look at the updates on the USGS website - Kilauea is very active at the moment and, believe me, it would be worth the trip.

Thanks Malcolm, but am still recovering financially from overindulgences at Tucson...

I fear that this trend to colder and fizzier beers may have filtered over to Aussie from Canada and the U.S.where it is the norm, and may even have affected trends in London too. We make great comedians here in Canada, but our beers just aren't the same as the originals over 'ome'

Please, could you send some more vulcano pictures for us, we use them for homeschooling. Why we use your pictures is because they look so real, thanks.

Sorry (hate that word) for not putting my name wright, our son likes pictures from the source, thanks again, Johanna.

argh sorry again, names.