I dived in Montserrat in October 2005. The diving had to be arranged way ahead of time with a private boat owner. It was very unique diving there in face of the volcano eruption of 1995 that killed 23 people and buried the capital city of Plymouth, the old airport and the only hospital in the island. Underwater visibility was around 15 meters and water temperature was 29°C. Diving there is still not very safe, as after several months of quiet, a major collapse of the lava dome of Soufrière Hills took place on 28 July 2008; part of the lava dome collapsed generating pyroclastic flows that reached Plymouth and the sea, with the height of the ash column estimated at 12 km above sea level.

         The rocky island of Redonda in the distance                                            Volcanic lava buried hundreds of houses in 1995    



The city of Plymouth, with the old airport and the only hospital in the island, all now lies under several meters of volcanic ash






The Soufrière Hills volcano is still active (on the right), which delayed for hours the landing of the airplane for my 14-minute flight back to Antigua