Yesterday we woke up to mostly blue skies with some scattered clouds. We had checked the weather the night before and knew yesterday was the only good day to leave Lipari. We wish we could have stayed one more day. Not everything was 100% dry and there were still a couple more loads of laundry to do. But another storm was coming, and if we didn’t leave yesterday, we would have been stuck in Lipari for several more days before another weather window opened.
We went through our normal get ready to go routine, which took longer than usual because we still had so much stuff out, and we wanted to check the boat systems out more carefully. We reluctantly put the damp things away, praying they wouldn’t mold before we got to Rome and could take them back out again. Eric hesitantly switched on the main alternator to see if maybe it would magically start working. And, much to our delight, it did work! We can’t believe it. This means that we sustained zero systems failures from that crazy flood. Unbelievable! We are still counting our blessings. It could have been so bad, and by some miracle of God our total losses are a few beverages, a few books and reams of paper, one rope and the mat in the cockpit. Not bad at all.
We pulled out at 1530. We decided to go a little off course to go close to Cursed Island (AKA Stromboli) to see the volcano. From Lipari, we could see Stromboli smoking away in the distance. Being as there were few clouds and no moon, the show should be good. The wind was light and the seas reasonably calm on the way to Stromboli.
We approached the island at dusk. At first we saw only billowing clouds of white smoke and an occasional puff of gray smoke. Oh, and lots of camera flashes from the tourists on the crater. As it got to be almost completely dark, the clouds took on the slightest orange tint and we saw a lava explosion. It was like a single orange firework going off. After about 10 minutes or so, the orange tint in the clouds was even more obvious and there was a big lava spray. It lasted probably almost a full minute. It was like one of the long spraying fireworks you get at the finale of a fireworks show. It was followed about two minutes later by another small one. After another 10 minutes, the clouds were super orange. The color was so vibrant it could have easily been mistaken for a fire. It was actually hard to believe it was only clouds reflecting the color of the lava below them. There was another big explosion followed by another small one. At this point, it was pitch black out. We could see on radar that 8 boats were approaching us, probably mostly tourist boats. One of them had no lights on at all — we are guessing that one was a sailboat. Given our luck on this island, we decided it would be prudent to move out of the way of all this oncoming traffic. We didn’t need a repeat of the other day. We turned and left, seeing another three smaller lava spouts as the island slowly disappeared behind us. We did hear a few small, faint rumbles in the distance. While it was cool to see, it wasn’t like Tanna. Tanna was so amazing it was almost life changing.
As the night wore on, the wind and seas picked up. It is more of the same short, steep waves at rapid intervals, but it still wasn’t a bad ride and we made excellent time. It rained a little, just enough to wash the salt off the boat.
By dawn, the wind died and the steep waves smoothed out to rolly swells at rapid intervals. An even better ride! By lunch time, we had to slow down because we were going so fast that it looked like we would be arriving before sunrise. Around 1500, there was a radio announcement from a USA navy war ship warning they were going to be conducting small arms firing practice. They warned all to stay clear. We were about 7 miles away. By 1600, the wind was almost completely dead and the seas had smoothed out. The water was by no means glassy, but the swells were small, long, and gentle, making the ride most pleasant. The sunset was fiery red and absolutely magnificent, especially with the red light being reflected on the water. It had been completely overcast and cool all day, but not cold.
As the night wore on, the seas continued to flatten out ever so slowly. We were in heaven. It is pitch black with no moon, though, and visibility is poor. We can’t imagine what people do without radar on nights like this. Anyway, at about 2200 we were getting close to the Italian mainland and we saw three little targets on the radar. They had tiny flashing lights. We tracked them and saw they weren’t moving. As we started to proceed between them, the radar screen lit up with a bunch of tiny red dots in front of us. Oh, no. It was a fishing net. We slowed down dramatically and seriously altered course. We were careful to stay away from any other radar targets after that, yet somehow managed to get too close to a net a second time. Thank goodness we didn’t get tangled.