AoeIian ( Lipari ) Islands 22 – 30 Sept

This was the last island group we were going to for this season. The last clear water and the last interesting parks.  This was also one of the most spectacular island groups for the volcanic activity just everywhere- above and below water. It had some really good points and some really bad – a real mixture. The good anchorages are few and many of the anchoring areas shelve very quickly into very deep water. The towns are all varieties from the good to bad, homely to touristy and cute to awful. 

Stromboli

We anchored on the west side near the town just on dark . Black volcanic rock and really cute square white houses. As darkness fell we could see all the small tourist boats going out and just hanging outside the town waiting for dark. Then as it got darker they all headed to the north side of the island where you can see the best displays for the eruptions from the crater and the large red hot rocks falling down the scree slope into the ocean. You can hear the rocks in the night before you see them. We decided that it was too hard to anchor after dark so left it to the morning and went round and watched just before  sun rise. The only  problem was the sun came up too quickly and I did not have a large lens needed for the distance. the eruptions are intermittent so the best was as we were driving around and there did not seem enough to get the photos I wanted. Would definitely go back and perhaps climb the mountain next time or spend the whole night off the coast on that side. 

                   

 

Liscia di Bianca, Bottaro, Dattilo

We motored on after sunrise to the three small islands before Panarea and found a great anchoring spot and stayed the night. The island itself had several small caves and some gas bubbling out of the ground.

Between Bottaro and Liscuia Bianca there is a real hot spot with sulphur vents  which is fun to swim through and the fish seemed to like it as well as there were hundreds of small fish. 

  

   

     

As we left the next morning we also went past Le Guglie, on Dattilo and tried to find a wreck that was listed but couldn’t see it.

  

We also saw our first reall group of dolphins in our 5 months cruising here – twice before we have seen 2 or 3 but this time there were 10 or more.

Panarea

 

We anchored outside the town of Panarea – very cute some really expensive shops, small alleys, but hard to get any groceries as many of the items were sold out and the ship did not come in for a couple of days. The butcher was also a pizzeria so managed to get some steak kebab for one nights dinner. The taxis were all electric golf carts. Several electric scooters around.   The locals also warned us about the wind coming so we headed to the south end of the island and anchored in Cala Junca. There were three other boat there as well and the largest tied itself to the cliff for the night. The bay is also supposed to have a wreck in it at a shallow depth but I couldn’t find it and there is a necropolis on top of the point but we did not find out about that until in the museum in Lipari!! It was a very windy night but no incidents and since the wind was forecast to increase we left for Lipari in the morning. 

  

Lipari

We went to Lipari marina as the weather was due to deteriorate and there are few really safe anchorages. We decided to stay  two nights but ended up staying for three. The staff were the best we had anywhere. They were so helpful in every aspect; replying quickly to an email query, being very welcoming, helping to get on the dock, rearranging the dock lines as they were not right, revisiting us before a really windy night to add another bow line!! They couldn’t be faulted.

They squeezed all the yachts in for the nights that were bad and checked all lines and all the commercial operators who were 3 and 4 deep against the outside wall opposite us. To top it all they gave us a really good price since it was the end of the season. The power was good and the water and the refuse was just up the dock as were the showers and toilets. The bus went into town or you could walk from the marina – we cycled. They also helped us for directions on chandleries, and translated for a mechanic we needed to get in for the engine. No problem at all .  The marina although small was a really pleasant surprise. 

Of course being in a marina we meet and talked to several of the yachties – all sitting out the storm. One an american was sailing single handed at seventy and is going to write a book. Should be interesting as he is a good writer . 

We spent some time in town and really liked it. It was a small town but not overrun by tourists – even though there were many there. Really good large supermarket( best since Malta) that had everything and would deliver within and hour. A delivery time unheard of in Italy on all our travels. They also had chandlers , hardware shops etc. Everything you need in a normal town as well as the tourist shops. It was a really nice change.  

The fort on the top of the hill and all the buildings inside have been turned into museums with some great exhibitions. Also a very good explanation of the volcanology of the area. Everything was in Italian and English – except for the volcanology exhibition which was only in Italian and it was a great pity as it had a world wide explanation and very interesting. The only issue I would have is that the area had a dead feeling – there was not even a cafe in the area so if you wanted a rest and drink or something to eat you had to go back down to the town, then come up again to resume your tour. Also with no living businesses it made the area feel cold and unfriendly.

    

               

The Norman abbey was built on top of a Greek temple and the columns were reused. Interestingly every column had a different cap stone carving.

              

The interior of the San Bartolomeo Cathedral was beautiful especially the stained glass and the ceiling frescoes.

      

Hew had to get a new passport before we left Italy as he did not have a 6 month left before expiry and we would be  going through the US. We had been taking photos in several places as his first photo was rejected. Finally we decided that we would use a professional photographer to get the digital photo, but none of the photographers believed we needed a digital copy and they all said they could not do it. Finally on the last day in Lipari we decided that those we had taken would be accepted as they all had textured backgrounds, slight shadows or reflections on his glasses or eyes. When he found the last photo had been rejected we decided to stay a third night and do the photos in the morning . Went into town and found a guy who took the photo  put it on the smart drive for us. We went back to the yacht and set of f for Volcano.

Volcano is an island of contrasts – good and bad

We arrived into Porto Levente which is a pleasant looking port with a nice hotel and bar on the beach to the west end and a small pontoon that you can tie to and that the sightseeing ferries drop off at. The local fisherman who had sold us fish two days before turned up and sold us another couple of Dorado for dinner which were great. 

Unfortunately we had not checked  the digital photo and when we did we found that a 2M photo had turned into less than 250K – why or how I don’t know. But it did so we needed to get another – so back to Lipari and the fastest way was the hydrofoil. GRRRR……

We got off the yacht and walked into the main port area for Hew to catch the hydrofoil back to Lipari – easiest way 15min trip.  The port area is absolutely horrible – full of tourists waiting for ferries, run down, dirty, full of junk shops and junk stalls. Never want to go back. Additionally the famous mudpool /baths is just a natural pool surrounded by wooden stakes beside the road. Maybe that is natural but I would not go near it. It would seem like a very run down version of sitting in a mud pool in Rotorua that you found on the side of a road. With all the tourists walking past and peering over the fence at you. Hard to describe. I don’t know why people swim in it. It is very sulphurous and apparently slightly radioactive!!! 

   

What was cute were all the open Citroen Mehari cars – would love one for the beach. Seems that they cost a lot to acquire now though – obviously collectors items.

 

I left Hew at the Ferry and walked back to the boat. He appeared a few hours later having been to Lipari to get a higher resolution copy of the photo . We sent it in that night. 

In the morning we had another email and it had been refused so we sent the fifth photo in which was one I had taken with his glasses off but he had reflections on his irises so we hadn’t used it. Guess what the next day it came back approved. Thank goodness, otherwise Hew was going to become a resident of Italy!!!

Having sorted the passport issues we left the yacht to climb Volcano. The walk from the dock to the top took an hour and I was glad we did it in the morning early as after that there were loads of tourists. The track to the top is good although very eroded in places. The rim is very sulphurous and as you go higher you can get above it, but for the last 800m you got a good smell of the fumes. It is a great view from the top and you can see all the old craters around the island. Looking back into the residential area it looks really pretty – not the same island you see from the ground around the port. Sone keen people had also been to the bottom of the crater and laid their initials with rocks . A worthwhile trip.

  

         Later we decided to go north to the last islands Salina( which can be seen in the photo above north of Lipari)  and Filicudi ( which is further west). Unfortunately we had left a bit late and as we were sailing up the west coast of Lipari the wind was getting up and all on the nose and the forecast was not great. We got up to Salina  and looked at the options of anchorages and decided it was not good so sailed back – downwind this time –  to the southern end of Volcano. We did try to anchor at Gelso but one yacht had the prime spot and both other spots we just dragged over the rock and into deep water. It we had anchored closer to him it was too close for the wind change predicted overnight and we thought we better take the safe bet and go back to the north side. 

We arrived at Porto di Ponente just on dusk and got a good anchorage close to the permanent moorings. 

There were eight other yachts in there but we had plenty of room and we could have also had a mooring if we wanted but decided that we didn’t need to pay the extra. The mooring man was very friendly and said to call him if any problems.

Guess what?? 3am we hear a great crash – leap out of bed and a yacht who had anchored in the dark near us had dragged right across our anchor line – missing the bows by about  meter. They were all up and then got their motor on and tried to pull their anchor up but of course it was caught in our chain. The wind was blowing about 15kts and we were swing around as well. For us to let out chain we need to  pull up  to let the bridle off and that would only take us closer to them. About 45 min later they finally got their anchor free but they had to haul it in by hand with three of them on the bow – I am guessing that they burnt out their windlass. 

Back to bed and about 5 am which meant we didn’t then wake till about 0800 so a later start than planned. We were leaving the Lipari Islands for Sicily.