The Green Monkey Dive Shop on the Caribbean island of Montserrat has launched new scuba diving excursions to its closest island neighbour, the uninhabited Kingdom of Redonda. Green Monkey is the first and only dive shop to offer trips to these unexplored dive sites.
In addition, Green Monkey has teamed up with new charter airline Air Montserrat to offer day trips to Montserrat from nearby Nevis, St Kitts and Antigua.
Diving Redonda
Redonda is the rocky remnant of an extinct volcano, fifteen miles northwest of Montserrat. Its underwater world offers pristine diving with magnificent visibility at uncharted sites. Divers can swim amongst six-foot barrel sponges with giant southern stingrays, moray eels and sea turtles, whilst nurse sharks, spotted eagle rays and five-foot barracudas may also be seen. Explore underwater caves at The World’s End at the northernmost point of the island, or search for remnants of a sunken barge and its anchors, some of which measure more than 20 feet in length and lie encrusted in coral. An unbroken reef runs for approximately 275 metres along the Leeward (western) side of the island.
Redonda was originally claimed by Montserratian sea trader Matthew Dowdy Shiell in 1865, who declared himself King of the island before passing the title to his fifteen-year-old son in 1880. The young King, known as King Felipe, moved to England after completing his education, where the line of unbroken monarchs remains to the present day.
Dive Redonda trips from The Green Monkey Dive Shop include a two-tank dive, dive equipment, refreshments and the boat ride from Montserrat to Redonda, which takes approximately 45 minutes each way. The dive excursions costs US$115 per person (approx: £59) and are run for groups of four or more people.
Day trips to Montserrat
Charter airline Air Montserrat, which commenced operations in December 2006, has teamed up with The Green Monkey Dive Shop to create day trip packages for visitors from nearby St Kitts, Nevis or Antigua.
The package includes a roundtrip airfare from any of the islands; airport transfers; a taxi tour of Montserrat, stopping off at points of interest; a guided visit to the Montserrat Volcano Observatory and lunch in a local restaurant. Also included is a round-island boat trip with Green Monkey, which offers excellent views of the Soufrière Hills Volcano and the buried city of Plymouth, Montserrat’s capital. Since the southern portion of Montserrat is an exclusion zone which cannot be entered, the boat trip is currently the closest visitors can get to the ‘modern-day Pompeii’.
Antigua, St Kitts and Nevis are all less than 20 minutes flying time from Montserrat. Air Montserrat operates a twin engine Britten Norman Islander plane on the routes.
Prices for the Air Montserrat and Green Monkey day trip packages start from US$172 (approx: £88) per person from Antigua, based on the maximum capacity of nine passengers, or US$199 (approx: £102) per person from St Kitts or Nevis, based on nine passengers travelling.
The Green Monkey Dive Shop is a full-service dive operation, boat tour and watersport rental facility based in Little Bay, Montserrat. For more information, please see
www.divemontserrat.com.
Air Montserrat is a locally owned aircraft charter service operated and maintained by Trans Anguilla Airways (2000) Ltd. For more information, please see
www.airmontserrat.com.
For further information on Montserrat, please see
www.visitmontserrat.com or telephone 020 7928 1600.
