More Volcanos
Off to Cetrano… a 42 mile trip so of course no wind so we had to motor… Cetrano was a lovely marina with a free washing machine and we also had a free night …..There was also a Lidl a short cycle ride away…..
The Aeolian Islands next….. We decided not to go straight to Stromboli in case the weather prevented us from anchoring and we would have had to continue so we stopped off at Tropea, which we were glad we did…. A pretty little town perched on the top of a hill which was worth the walk up to it… beautiful views and a surprising lively little town.
Next day off to Stromboli another windless motor….. Leighton was disappointed as the volcano wasn’t spewing lava as it frequently does… Al was relieved ….we went around the island and were amazed at the close proximity of the houses to a very active volcano.
The lava cliff face was very dramatic… as it was a very calm night we were able to anchor and although Al checked a few times in the night there was no eruptions… a very peaceful night….
Next stop another motor to Isola Panerera where we picked up a buoy and were ferried into the town…. A pretty little village and as there were no cars the novelty of seeing people collected in golf buggies was quite sweet.
We anchored off Salina where Leighton had a nasty jellyfish sting which kept getting worse until the antihistamines kicked in….. The welts lasted over a week…
Next stop Volcano where we anchored just below “the Volcano“ Al thought I was joking when I said we were walking up to the top tomorrow!!!
We left the boat at 9am, quite a hot walk but very impressive to be up amongst the sulphur plumes.
Next day we tried the sulphur baths… luckily we wore our old cossies!! The mud felt like slime but lovely and when we washed in the sea we were delighted it was just as hot as the bath… we stunk of sulphur for weeks and Al’s white gold wedding ring turned orangey and took weeks to return to normal.
Next a long trip to Sicily where we anchored just off Milazzo, didn’t venture into the town.
A long motor into Messina (60 miles ) passing spectacular swordfish boats who have priority and change direction on a whim… dodgems came to mind. We timed the passage right as it is the only tidal gate in the med and can be quite treacherous we did see some small whirlpools and overfalls. Messina was a very busy port….
Next day off to Touramina, where we anchored just below the hillside town. A thunderstorm skirted along beside us on the way to Acitrezza, en route did a mini refuel in Riposta and a quick walk around the town but didn’t like it so carried on to Acitrezza
which we later discovered was the original epicentre for Mount Etna!!!!!! We were entertained over dinner by a school of paddle boarders…….
