Current Rock of Residence:
Montserrat
Island Girl Since:
2016
Originally Hails From:
Canada
Amanda travels most of the year for her job with her husband on cruise ships, the other half is generally spent on a tiny island in the West Indies. They built a life for themselves in New Zealand after leaving ships behind a decade ago, but the lure of the waves was too much and in 2016, they traded the Canterbury plains for the Caribbean sea. The move has been a roller-coaster and has opened them up to a world of possibilities. They moved with only two suitcases, their two miniature dachshunds (Hazel and Basil), and their Abyssinian cat (Ariel) to the lush (volcanic) island of Montserrat. Visit their blog, A Hopkins Life, to discover how they’re trying to make it work on their little rock.
Explore posts by this writer:
When the Ocean Calls
Hafa Adai! I’m an American girl from Small Town USA who, honestly, is just not that fond of living in the land of the free. When I happened upon the odd, little rock of Saipan, I fell in love. It’s small, it’s weird, it’s unconventional, it doesn’t make sense a lot of...
Missing Friends and Family
You know, I get terribly maudlin when I drink champagne. Not that I'm going to stop drinking the stuff, obviously. That would be ridiculous. No, I just recognize that if I drink champagne and I match that to exactly the wrong time of the month, I'm in for a rough...
The Starts and Stops of Island Living
My husband and I are 25 months into our adventure in island living. The first year in Anguilla, we found it challenging to stay in touch with friends and family given their busy lives. Then COVID hit and “stay at home” orders provided a great opportunity for Zoom...
Side Parts and Skinny Jeans
As someone who was born in 1985, grew up in the 90’s, lived through the invention of the internet, had to obtain CD’s with AOL minutes to be able to get on the internet while taking up the phone line and waiting minutes to connect and then for pages to load - I have...
How Moving to An Island Has Changed Me
We are fast approaching the 7 year anniversary of the day we packed up our lives (including two little furry friends), threw caution to the wind, and embarked on what was supposed to be a 2 year journey in the Cayman Islands. With the intent of "trying out" a 2-year...
Better Here Than There
Better Here Than There(But we knew that already.) Before I was aware of the pandemic, I had planned a trip to the States to renew my U.S. passport and check on my medical situation. Then air and seaports closed, and the only way out was to swim. When I called the U.S....
