Lipari to Riposto (via Stromboli)

Leaving Lipari.  We liked it a lot!

01.30

There’s something exciting about leaving a marina in the middle of the night.  It’s a little scary though.  All the instruments have to be covered up to stop the glare, which destroys your night vision.  You just take a quick peek now and again to make sure you’re on the right track.

Martin V was downstairs glued to the radar while I was up on the flybridge trying to pick up the lights of the fishing boats Martin identified as they made their way back to Lipari.  We both had radios so that we could talk to each other as we edged our way out past the huge black cliffs before turning north east, for the 2.5 hour trip to Stomboli.

Ah, Stromboli.  Now, I’m not saying we were disappointed, and after an hour we could pick out the shape of the volcano, but the more we stared the more we began to realise that not much was happening. 

We had a brilliant full moon behind us and after two and a half hours we were on the north side of the island.  And, er, through the smoke we could see a dull red glow - but that was it!  No fireworks, no sparks, no lava.  In fact, not a lot really.  I tried to take a photograph but there was nothing on it.  Probably should have fiddled about with apertures or shutters or ISO’s or something.  I dunno.

But here it is anyway – the photo of the trip!  (Well, I like it anyway.  Gonna call it ‘Elusive Volcano by Night’! )

Elusive Volcano by Night

Say goodbye to Stromboli!

Dawn was breaking as we rounded the island and headed south to Messina and on to Riposto, which is at the foot of Mount Etna.  So that’ll be two volcanoes in one day.  Bet you can’t beat that!

We were singing songs, such as ‘Hang Down Your Head Stromboli’, ‘Sulphur in the Air Tonight’ – and my favourite Beatles track, ‘And I Lava’  (there were more – about ‘Tasty Geysers’ and ‘Anything Vol canoo, I canoo better’ .Yes, I know, but you had to have been there!). But I’m sure you can think of more (Queen – ‘Under Fissure???).  So come on – a prize for the best one!

The Messina Straits are weird.  And scary!  Only a mile wide at the north end there are strong currents and whirlpools, which make the water appear to ‘boil’.  It’s because the Tyrrenian Sea and the Ionian Sea have different densities and they try to ‘equalise’ in the Straits.  This also results in a strong current that sweeps you along - towards all the huge ferries that are crossing backwards and forwards from Italy to Messina.  We spent a very interesting and very alert hour navigating the Straits!

Click & zoom

Click & zoom

Missed 'im!

As I said, we’d decided to miss out Messina and head on another 40 miles to Riposto. We arrived at 2.00pm and it’s quite a grimy old working town, and a bit scruffy - but nothing wrong with that!  You should see us!
It’s right at the foot of a smoking, very broody looking Mount Etna.  They say you can see the lava flows at night, if it’s clear, but I’m promising nothing and expecting nothing, and I’m sure that’s what we’ll get.  Even though we’re professional volcano watchers now….


No wif-fi here so God knows when you’ll see this but I would like to say thanks for all the comments.  I receive them as emails as well, so I can get them on my iPhone.  (So you can stop moaning now, Brom)  But, really, thanks everyone!