I’m way behind in posting stuff from this trip, a situation which won’t be changing anytime soon, so bear with me.

But Montserrat. Man.

When I was in college, I first heard of Montserrat as the tropical haven where Beatles producer George Martin had set up a recording studio frequented by everyone from The Police to Elton John to Stevie Wonder to Lou Reed.

I read a little about it, and it sounded fantastic, a faraway and exotic place I never imagined I’d see.

Unfortunately, the island was largely wiped out by its long-dormant volcano in 1995. The capital of Plymouth was completely engulfed, the airport was destroyed, and about two-thirds of the residents left and never came back.

These days, most of the island is a closed-off Forbidden Zone (actually, they call it the "exclusion zone," but same thing). In the last few months, the volcano has even started to get all rumbly again.

Still the remaining locals are doing their best to make a go of it, hoping to market (a) the island’s lush beauty to adventurous tourists, and (b) large swaths of uninhabitable rock as building supplies to less unfortunate islands. I figured what the hell and flew over.

I was one of only three passengers on the flight in. This didn’t bode well for the whole tourism thing.

The island truly is gorgeous. In its day, it must have been one of the most beautiful places on earth. On the west coast north of the exclusion zone, there are still barely-touristed beaches you can spend some of the nicest days of your life on.

You can even spot occasional moments of marvelous dark humor.

But what the travel guides I read never mentioned — but common sense should have told me — is that most of the people you meet in Montserrat are still the same survivors who lost everything. Their lives have never been the same. And most of their families have moved away. There is an emptiness here.

And when the volcano is in sight and a resident raises their eyes, there’s often a haunted look on their face that soon tries to reproduce itself on yours.

And on an island this small, it’s impossible not to be reminded.

If you’re in the Caribbean, it’s worth a visit and a stay. You’ll see beautiful stuff every waking minute, your memories will ache with the beauty and sadness, and you’ll be helping nice people who could use a break.

Montserrat. Man.