Dive Review of Green Monkey/Bunkum Beach Guest House in
Caribbean (General)/Montserrat

Other Caribbean (General) reports
Subscriber Content Preview
Active subscribers go here

Green Monkey/Bunkum Beach Guest House, Mar, 2008, by Timothy A. Kolakowski, PA, USA ( Contributor 12 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 4464.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Montserrat is one unique place. They don't have much tourism. Most of the visitors are US & Canadian ex - pats who live there in the winter, friends & relatives of those ex - pats, and scientists checking out the volcano. There's only one dive shop, the Green Monkey, and they wear many hats....fishing charters, travel agents, boat rental, island boat tours land tours, etc. The dive sites are along the shoreline, 1/4 to 1/2 mile out. If on shore waves kick up, you're done diving until it settles down again. Unfortunatley, that's what happened the week we were there. I was lucky enough to make the 15 mile trip out to an uninhabited island called Redonda, between Montserrat and St. Kitts. It's considered the best diving that Montserrat has to offer. It was a nice morning 2 tank dive. Better than average vis, good fish life (typical Caribbean). Thanks to a weather front that sent huge surf crashing on shore, it was the only diving I got to do. It left lots of time to explore the island. Driving around the island on the narrow roads is great fun with steep hills, hairpin turns and switchbacks. There are small grocery stores with a decent selection. The restaurants are tiny, charming and awesome. The lava flows the make more than half the island uninhabitable are surreal! You can actually drive across one big flow that covers a river valley, golf course and beach. At one edge is house buried up to its roof, and another buried up to the second floor. You can go inside it and see kitchen utensils, furniture, books, etc. that were left behind. We roamed around the deserted Vue Pointe Resort, kicking up lava dust as we walked around. The people are amazing. It's incredible to watch the locals live day to day as the smoking volcano looms just a few miles away - a gray - brown monster that has risen out of the lush, green hills. The ex pats seem thrilled to have visitors - we were treated like family. One morning we stopped a retired gent on his morning walk to ask directions, and he ended up getting into our car and spending two and a half hours showing us around! At a restaurant (actually a deck off the owner's house) we stopped to say hello to a couple we recognized from the airport. After a few minutes' visit a lady with them invited us to her house - she has a dance party one night a week where she teaches different kinds of dances! This led to an invite the next night to the monthly full moon party at the edge of a lava flow, getting us an invite the next day to a hike up a hill to the edge of the restricted zone, overlooking the buried capital city of Plymouth. Plymouth is a must - see. The Green Monkey will take you on a boat trip down the coast to see it. Buried up to 60 feet in lava, it looks like like an apoctolyptic science fiction movie. Buried buildings as far as you can see. leading up to the volcano's hillsides. Try Montserrat as someplace different for a dive trip. Here diving is a bonus along with the above ground wonders.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Florida Keys, Grand Bahama, all 3 Caymans, Saba, Curacao, Bonaire, Hawaii, St. Vincent, Provo, Grand Turk, Salt Cay
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy	Seas	surge
Water Temp	76-78°F / 24-26°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	75-100 Ft/ 23-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	Stay with divemaster
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Bucket on boat

Leave a comment (Subscribers only -- 200 words max)
Subscribers can comment here

Subscribers can post comments, ask the reviewer questions, as well as getting immediate and complete access to ALL 45 dive reviews of Caribbean (General) and all other dive destinations. Complete access to all issues and Chapbooks is also included.

All Caribbean (General) Dive Reviews and Reports
Diving Guide to Caribbean (General)
Diving Reviews for All Dive Destinations

Want to assemble your own collection of Caribbean (General) reports in one place?
Use the Mini Chapbook Facility to create your personalized collection.

Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

Undercurrent Home

Page computed and displayed in 0.11 seconds

Get more dive info like these and other important scuba updates sent monthly to your email. And a FREE Recent Issue of Undercurrent
Get a free monthly email and a sample issue!

Dive Review of Green Monkey/Bunkum Beach Guest House in Caribbean (General)/Montserrat

Green Monkey/Bunkum Beach Guest House, Mar, 2008,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Green Monkey/Bunkum Beach Guest House in
Caribbean (General)/Montserrat