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Off topic...but have you seen anything lately on what happening in Monserat, I think is it..That's the Caribbean island that was buried by the volcano and the pyroclastic flow some years back.

It's still got low-level activity, and the population, down about 3/4 from before the eruptions started, all essentially lives at the northern end of the island now. I actually have a friend that bought a villa there, and he invited me to visit. It'd be a lot of fun but not currently a good fit for my schedule or budget.

The volcano still has a growing dome (like St. Helens), and thus there's a threat of pyroclastic flows. But the threat to the population is pretty low, because just about everybody has moved away from it - what used to be the main city, Plymouth, is completely abandoned. However, it could still roast a foolhardy tourist (so I shouldn't go there on vacation!)

I just checked the archives of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory (the Web site is working better now than on past visits in previous years), and there were some minor pyroclastic flows in April. So it's still active.

I also found a link to a cool map that shows where it's safe to be (and not be). For people living there, I don't know where the airplanes land, or if it's all traffic by boat now.

Montserrat pyroclastic flow map

Many thanks for the info, and cool links...years ago, I spent two weeks on St. Lucia, which has some volcanic activity, including a "dive-through" volcano to a mud bath, sauna, and a golf course on one end of the island that abuts an area of ociasional volcanic seepage..literally, "out-of-bounds" there is a lava pit..