Montserrat
Our Posts about Montserrat
Strenuous. Grueling. Unique. Spectacular.
This time last year, Dave Keener and I were getting prepped for our trip down to Montserrat where Dave would be representing Uncommon Caribbean in the 2nd Annual Volcano Half Marathon… And those four words kept coming up.
Bush rum, black sand beaches, brutal hills and a towering inferno? It can only mean one thing!
Registration is now open for the Montserrat Volcano Half-Marathon!
Now’s your chance to valiantly walk run in the footsteps of arguably our most adventurous trip ever! Last year’s race featured an overall altitude change of over 6,000 feet that roughly 40 adventurous runners (minus myself, unfortunately) tackled with an enthusiasm that could only have been fueled by the promise of alcoholic beverages at the finish line. Our own Dave Keener represented Uncommon Caribbean admirably in my stead. If you missed it, you should really check out his video recap of the whole run for a first-hand perspective.
From the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, the view of the Soufriere Hills is spectacular. To say this volcano is smoking is an understatement. Chain-smoking is more like it. As a result, a vast area surrounding the volcano bears the scifi-worthy name, “The Exclusion Zone.” Looking over the landscape, I noticed two little white houses with roofs of brick red. It seemed like a strange spot, directly between the peaceful blue water and the smoking crater with the pipeline to Hell.
Those little white buildings are all that remain of Air Studios Montserrat. Beatles producer George Martin fell in love with Montserrat and founded Air Studios in 1979.
It was still dark outside when, at 5am, the alarm on my phone sharply shoved me awake. Actually, “awake” may be too generous a term for the state I found myself in. My brain sloshed about in my head. The walls of my room seemed to carelessly slouch against one another. And my stomach, usually a strong ally on long nights, was cowering in my darkest recesses, shell-shocked by the punishment I’d put it through from the early hours of the previous evening all the way up to just an hour or two ago.
Montserratian bush rum. We’d been such good partners in crime the night before.
The view from the half-way point along the hike to Rendezvous Beach on Montserrat is one of my favorite visuals from one of our more adventurous trips of the past year. Sure there were excellent views of Soufrierre Hills Volcano, deep black sand beaches, and the lovely ladies of Olveston House… But somehow this view is the one I keep going back to. It’s near sunset and we’re climbing back to the car when I have an urge to look back one more time. The green valley, untouched except for the small house at its center, spreads out in the most tantalyzing way as though to say why not forget about going home?
continue…
Montserrat, like many islands in the Lesser Antilles, is volcanic by origin. The interesting thing about this fact is that it was not the world famous Soufriere Hills volcano that initially created the island—that honor goes to a long dormant volcano on the north end of the island. Either way, the island’s features are those typical of a volcanic island: steep hills, rich soil, and something many Americans have never experienced, black sand beaches.
I myself had actually never seen (or at least remember seeing) a black sand beach until just six years ago, so they’re still fairly new to me.
As any of our readers following along at home know, weeks of intense training/preparation including rum, roti, beer, and a little running culminated last week with team Uncommon Caribbean running the 2nd Annual Montserrat Volcano Half-Marathon.
Unfortunately, my dreams of volcano gold ended several weeks ago with a torn meniscus in my right knee, but my teammate Dave Keener wouldn’t be deterred. Not by the active volcano on the south side of the island. And certainly not by the promise of an epically mountainous hilly course that would take him a total of 3,120 ft up and a total of another 3,415 ft down!
Take home the experience
St. Croix Food & Wine Experience Cookbook
Naparima Girls’ Highschool Cookbook
Original Uncommon Caribbean Logo T-Shirt
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