Our life in Montserrat - Part 1

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Why Montserrat?

It was in the fall of 1986 that we decided to fire our jobs and move to ?….. that was the question. Since both Bill and I are compulsive planners, we made two lists: one of what we were looking for in our ideal place, another for what we didn’t want.

I will save you the months of list making and research and get to the basics: what was on our “ideal place” list, how did Montserrat fit in 1986 and how (in my opinion) does it fit now.

What did we want?

Ease of access to North-East USA and Canada – in 1986 (and for quite a while after) there was a non-stop flight from Baltimore (where we lived) and Antigua. There were (and still are) non-stop flights from Toronto to Antigua on both BWIA (http://www.bwee.com/) and Air Canada (http://www.aircanada.com/ ) . BWIA is not well known to most travelers – check out their routes because their fares are extremely competitive, and you are in the Caribbean as soon as you step aboard. Also check out their first class fares; we have found that at times they cost less than the unrestricted economy fares – quite amazing.

If you can find a quick and easy way to get from your home town to Antigua, St.Martin, Guadeloupe, or St.Kitts and then use a charter flight (see my earlier BLOG entry), your whole trip will be totally painless and you will be on vacation from the minute you check in at your home airport.

Getting here the easy way was and remains for us a major attraction.

Great tele-communication – In 1986 that meant easy long distance calls. Montserrat was wonderful: although there was no direct dialing, the operator offered to place calls for us, retry if the line was busy, all with great friendliness. We tried the same thing in Nevis and found a lot of hassle – and the long-distance operator in St.Kitts decided to use our credit card for her own calls.

Today, tele-communication has a whole different meaning. We have direct-dial (but no USA 800 numbers) and we have Internet (dial-up and broadband – some much-needed improvements are in the works). The main problems are with the limited number of circuits (“all circuits are busy, please place your call again”) that can affect both incoming and outgoing calls, and the relatively frequent “downs” of the Internet server located in Antigua. The major difficulty is the regional nature of the tele-communication service and the monopoly established by Cable & Wireless. A little competition would do Montserrat a whole lot of good.

Affordability – We were on fixed income, we wanted to build a home and be able to go back North to see family and do our medicals. This automatically meant that we couldn’t go to any of the well-known resort islands. As an architect, I was also looking at everything that would affect our cost of construction. We ended up comparing Montserrat to Nevis.

In Montserrat, although limited to buying property in the specified development areas, these are very large areas, subdivided into lots of 1/3 acre, with a good infrastructure of roads, electricity and fresh spring water piped to the lot. The cost of the lot depends on its location. In Nevis we could buy anywhere …if we found someone willing to sell. The one property we found had no view, no infrastructure at all, and the lack of water would have required adding a cistern to the house. This would have added about 25% to the construction cost.

The cost of construction has gone up – most materials are imported from the USA or Puerto Rico and the increase in mainland prices is multiplied by the time we buy them locally. Duty is charged on the total of the original cost of the item plus the cost of shipping. There are also port fees, etc. However, the cost of labor has not increased significantly – a lot depends on how you would choose to contract out the construction of a house. Actually, I would suggest that a newcomer to Montserrat does not build until they have become familiar with the active contractors (I think that is a safe recommendation for anywhere in the world.)

The price of everything else has also gone up in keeping with general increases and the cost of shipping. For people on fixed income it makes living here more difficult. Although the Montserrat currency (Eastern Caribbean dollar) is tied to the US$ (1 US$ = 2.7 EC$) affordability goes out the window when your income stays stable but the costs increase. For retirees who come from a strong currency country (such as Canada in recent years), Montserrat can be an economic gift.

Adequate medical services – Bill wanted to make sure that in an emergency we could access medical services. Although Montserrat didn’t have the most modern facilities, it had a stable and well-trained group of physicians. A new, modern hospital had just been completed in Plymouth when the volcano came back to life.

Today, our hospital is in the North, in what used to be a secondary school. There are emergency services and surgery, and a hospital ward. Physicians come and go, mostly on short term contracts (1-2 years). Most Montserratians choose to go abroad if they have any serious medical problems.

Economic and political stability – We wanted a stable island. After all, we were investing what was for us a significant amount, and we needed to know that our property would be secure. We didn’t count on Mother’s Nature’s wicked sense of humor.

To all intents and purposes, Montserrat is a colony of England with an appointed Governor. It is called a British Overseas Territory….same thing. This leads to a stability that cannot be easily disrupted. For example, in the late 1980’s when we had a bank crisis (a large number of off-shore pseudo-banks were registered in Montserrat), the Scotland Yard was sent in to clean up.

This stability is reflected in the economy. Because of the volcano, about two-thirds of the population has chosen to leave Montserrat and live in England. At the same time, partly because of the way Montserrat’s volcano was covered in the international press (“volcano erupts on tropical island, all residents are evacuated”) the tourism industry took a beating and real-estate prices dropped. Although the volcano is still in the background, and the population is at 5,000 people, the economy is improving and the tourism industry is being regenerated. Real-estate prices (particularly in the non-Montserratian development areas) have significantly increased although nowhere near to the pre-volcano levels or to the value of similar properties on comparable islands (such as Anguilla or the Caymans).

Low crime -- We saw many islands where drug trafficking has taken over or where there was such abject poverty that personal safety was a real issue. We were attracted to Montserrat because although there was a level of poverty, everyone had enough to eat. There were breadfruit trees, mango trees, bananas and kitchen gardens.

This has not changed too much. Old people have the hardest time; in a culture where traditionally people looked after each other, many of the old people did not go with their children to other countries. Now, nearly ten years later, many are incapacitated yet unwilling to move into Montserrat’s senior facilities.

The crime is still relatively low. It is certainly not necessary to put steel bars on doors and windows or to sleep with everything closed shut. I don’t think there is a single alarm system on island. All in all, we feel very safe.

Personal reaction – The previous six items were fairly easy to assess. Personal reaction is a whole other thing. When we first came to Montserrat, I simply fell in love with the island. The place is beautiful, the people were friendly and I felt comfortable walking around town on my own. Yes, that was a consideration. Again, comparing to Nevis, when I walked about by myself, a young man intentionally walked into me and pushed me off the sidewalk – in 1986. Nothing like would ever happen in Montserrat – not then, not now.

Montserrat is still a beautiful island, lush and mountainous, with empty black sand beaches and a lot of adventure-type activities. Our home is at the foot of a rain forest, adjacent to the National Park that runs along Runaway Ghaut and up into the mountains. We are not very activity oriented, quietly satisfied with the life of retired “scholars:” reading and writing, gardening and as we did once upon a time, growing hydroponic tomatoes and other vegetables.

There is much to do for people who choose to be more social, or more spiritual, or more active. But that’s for another blog entry.