About 6:45 am the ferries started to come again, and we decided we'd bug out as soon as possible for Stromboli -- the most active volcanic island in the area. After a quick grocery shop we headed out.
The anchorage at Stromboli says 'settled weather only' and boy they're not kidding. As we approached Stromboli I was stressed out … it was 300 meters deep about 300 meters off shore. When we got to 10 meters deep we were 10 meters off the beach -- completely insane. After a heated exchange (e.g., "Marina, this anchorage is B.S." and Marina pointing out she had checked the weather and it was indeed settled for the next few days), we made our way a little further down the beachtoward lighter coloured water and found a more suitable anchorage. I calmed down, the girls rowed to shore then came back an hour later and talked about a trek to see the active volcano -- the only such volcano in the world.
After re-checking the weather and seeing that it was zero knots …. we went ashore and decided to trek to the top of Stromboli (pronounced STROM - boli, not Strom-bow-lee like we had thought). It's quite a hike …. 1000 or so meters up, about half in loose sand, which made the mandatory rental of hiking boots make a lot of sense.
I was carrying a pack with extra sweaters, a hat, gloves, t-shirt etc., and we had packed food and lots of batteries for our cameras. We climbed, and climbed, and climbed -- like the Grouse Grind only longer.
Once at the top (3 hours later) we were treated to the regular as clock-work Stromboli eruptions. There are two active volcanic sites (left and right) and we stood at the edge of a higher elevation rise (so you can look down on the action...another rare thing for volcano watchers) in the very cold wind and watched.
After our guide Lorenzo decided it was time to leave, we headed nearly straight down the hill via a different path -- it was quite similar to walking downhill in deep snow. We made it down 600 or so meters in deep "sand" (ie: volcanic ash) until the vegetation started. We stopped to empty our boots of wayward ash and carried on.
It was dark, we were using flashlights and it was really great. It took about an hour and a half to get down. We walked through the town, returned our rented boots, and hoofed back to the dinghy (which thankfully was still there), then Ross rowed out to the boat with three passengers.
During the night the boat rolled and rolled and rolled. It turns out that many freighters pass by Stromboli and these were the waves that rolled us around. Again, before 7 am Marina and I decided it was time to get going, so we pulled up anchor and headed towards a marina called Stella del Sud -- which is run by and Italian/Canadian couple, and there was another family there with kids … a double score.
The anchorage at Stromboli says 'settled weather only' and boy they're not kidding. As we approached Stromboli I was stressed out … it was 300 meters deep about 300 meters off shore. When we got to 10 meters deep we were 10 meters off the beach -- completely insane. After a heated exchange (e.g., "Marina, this anchorage is B.S." and Marina pointing out she had checked the weather and it was indeed settled for the next few days), we made our way a little further down the beachtoward lighter coloured water and found a more suitable anchorage. I calmed down, the girls rowed to shore then came back an hour later and talked about a trek to see the active volcano -- the only such volcano in the world.
After re-checking the weather and seeing that it was zero knots …. we went ashore and decided to trek to the top of Stromboli (pronounced STROM - boli, not Strom-bow-lee like we had thought). It's quite a hike …. 1000 or so meters up, about half in loose sand, which made the mandatory rental of hiking boots make a lot of sense.
I was carrying a pack with extra sweaters, a hat, gloves, t-shirt etc., and we had packed food and lots of batteries for our cameras. We climbed, and climbed, and climbed -- like the Grouse Grind only longer.
Once at the top (3 hours later) we were treated to the regular as clock-work Stromboli eruptions. There are two active volcanic sites (left and right) and we stood at the edge of a higher elevation rise (so you can look down on the action...another rare thing for volcano watchers) in the very cold wind and watched.
We were treated to quite a show in the next 30 minutes -- though everybody was getting cold. A very nice man gave Jessie an extra jacket he had - she was quite the fashion statement.
Here are a couple of shots of the eruptions...they were loud, lots of steam and hot rocks and ash blew over 200 meters up in the air. We were about 150 meters higher than the active cones and they were constantly bubbling away with a blow about every 5 minutes.
During the night the boat rolled and rolled and rolled. It turns out that many freighters pass by Stromboli and these were the waves that rolled us around. Again, before 7 am Marina and I decided it was time to get going, so we pulled up anchor and headed towards a marina called Stella del Sud -- which is run by and Italian/Canadian couple, and there was another family there with kids … a double score.
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| Stromboli in the rear-view mirror |
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