Montserrat's promotional claim that it's 'the way the Caribbean used to be' was supposed to mean a relaxed and unhurried lifestyle, a quiet mountainous interior, a few historic sites and the odd black-sand beach. Harking back to the Mesozoic Era's volcanic days was not what the tourist brochures had in mind. However, in mid-1995, Montserrat's Soufrière Hills volcano ended four centuries of virtual dormancy by exploding into life, forcing the virtual evacuation of the island's south.

The capital, Plymouth, which had an appealing West Indian flavor, became a ghost town, and then in mid-1997, a Pompeii-style ash heap. Most of Montserrat's 11,000 residents have fled to Britain, Canada or the West Indies. Those remaining in towns and emergency shelters in Montserrat's north are hoping that Soufrière Hills stops its spluttering, but the unpredictability of the volcano has all on alert. Plan to do your beach-basking elsewhere.