80 miles and motoring all the way with glassy sea (belle mare) to the first of the Aeolian chain ‘Stromboli’ An active volcano. Unlike the other dormant volcano’s in the area Stromboli regularly lets off its pressure so we are hoping it will give us a show. A couple of miles before finally the fishing reel let out a scream. Woohoo, fish for dinner ! We slowed to real in a fantastic White Tuna. By the time we dropped the anchor Jen and Leoni had it gutted and cleaned ready for dinner.
We anchored on dusk to the East of the island and planned to sail past the NW in the early hours to try catch the volcano erupting. As we sailed past at 4am there was nothing, we were watching thinking, OK it’s a dud when BANGGGGGG a huge eruption spitting molten lave hundreds of meters into the air. WOW ! As we continued she continued to belch molten lava every 5 0r 10 minutes. Amazing fireworks show and a perfect sunrise.
We dropped anchor a couple of hours later off the next Island, Panaria for a couple of hours nap to catch up on sleep, then sailed another 2 or 3 to the island of Volcano and dropped anchor in the Eastern bay. Pretty tight anchorage and smelled of rotten egg gas from the active volcano above the anchorage. Leoni had a good visit ashore and soaked in the mud baths with the natives. Next day we left at dawn (5am) to time the tides right for the Straights of Messina. Another milestone, like the Gibraltar Straights is a narrow passage between mainland Italy and Sicily. 1 1/2 miles wide at the Northern end and requires careful planning to navigate safely. I remembered my six P’s (proper preparation prevents piss poor performance) and planned the passage carefully. Tides, rocks, strange eddies,whirlpools, waves, stands and winds have laid claim to hundreds of ships over the centuries, also the amount of shipping traffic navigating the straight makes it interesting ! We timed things well and entered with a 2 knot current pushing us South. Not too much wind or traffic, although a swordfishing boat cut us off pretty radically as he was chasing an unsuspecting swordfish. These boats are amazing, they have a huge bowsprit and a huge tower on top. A few guys stand in the tower looking for fish on near the surface. When they see one they race toward it, a guy with a harpoon runs out on the bowsprit and somehow they coordinate to be in the right place at the right time and the guy throws the harpoon into the swordfish. He speared it and it went crazy as another guy pulled in the line attached to the harpoon end. Amazing to see this archaic form of fishing from 50 meters away!
We made our way up the straights, went through some whirlpools that pulled us 30 degrees off course and backwards at times but generally a great run through the straights to our destination on mainland Italy at Reggio Calabria.
We were met by Saverio, the local go to guy who supplies everything from, cheese, wine and beer, to taxi service to for groceries. We bought a case of wine and some cheese and had a nice night with Leoni and or neighbours, Craig and Carol. Unfortunately our last night with Leoni on board with us, but her and Jen made a good effort in disposing of the wine and ended up sleeping on the net !
The next day we prepared for our journey toward Croatia along the Southern Italian coast and went shopping with Saverio, quite an experience as he drove one handed while he talked on his phone between waving to his friends and honking his horn at any other drivers as he careened up the middle of the roads. Hopefully we will see Leoni on board Sephina again sometime, if not Jen and I will be making the trip to South Africa for some more good times together …
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