Day 3 – Helicopter trip around volcanic Montserrat I must confess that flying does not scare me at all. I 100% believe the statistics about it being the safest form of transport. I tell you what though, there is no better way to test your conviction than getting strapped into a helicopter that is due to fly straight at a volcano spewing steam and ash. So we turned up at Caribbean Helicopters and had our safety briefing. I particularly enjoyed the part where they said that the helicopter we would fly in is statistically the safest aircraft in the world. I must admit I felt slightly strange with a yellow lifejacket on as we were to fly to one of the hottest and driest places around. They promised to look into my recommendation of asbestos underpants instead!

We took off from the Fort James heliport in gorgeous weather. (see the take-off video on YouTube at Helicopter Tour Montserrat & Antigua) We dive-bombed the cruise ships moored in the harbour and spent 20 minutes over the brilliant blue waters between Antigua and Montserrat. We could actually see the volcano as soon as we took off...it’s hard to miss something belching smoke and ash thousands of feet into the air!

When we arrived at the volcano we spent 15 minutes weaving in and out of the mountains and craning our necks to take in the sheer size of it and the smoke above. The whole time we had that distinctive sulphur smell filling our noses. I loved the scale of the volcano and its column of smoke. It was also fascinating to see the contrast of the light brown volcano against the bright green hills and valleys. Volcano ash is one of the greatest fertilisers in the world. You just have to put those asbestos underpants on to collect it!

The other interesting aspect of the trip was flying over the old capital city of Plymouth that had been destroyed by an eruption in the late 1990’s. We could see cars, houses, and even a petrol station perfectly preserved in the mud/lava mix. The pilot then decided to turn back to make sure that helicopters and tourists weren’t the next people to be preserved in the mud.

***Charles Duncombe, is an Antigua holidays director at UK travel company www.holidaysplease.co.uk  He recently visited Antigua and soon found how much more the island has to offer than just great beaches. This is part three of a 6-part series about his many excursions on the island. See you next time as Charles swims with the sting rays at Sting Ray City!