Cruise yachting in the Aeolian Islands

The story about yachting in the fieriest region of the Mediterranean

The Aeolian Islands is a small archipelago of volcanic islands, which is located north of the island of Sicily and is washed by the waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Our plane flew to Sicily at an airport near Catania. Catania is a pretty Italian town, the symbol of which, for some reason, is an elephant. It is famous for its theaters, cathedrals, palaces, and thousand-year-old architecture, full of secrets, ancient legends, and myths.

You can go to the fish market and the surrounding shopping malls without money, but always with a camera. And try to remember everything since no photographs or words about Italian markets will convey the whole atmosphere of this place. You need to participate in this and be there.

To visit Etna and get to the marina, the best solution was to rent a car. It turned out that renting an average European hatchback via the Internet in advance for the eight days of travel is comparable to the cost of a round-trip train ticket to Portorosa marina for two.

Etna is amazing. When you stay near the top (they don't let you go further) and see the craters of previous eruptions, huge ragged boulders of frozen lava, it is simply impossible to imagine the power of volcano eruption. Vast fields of ash seem to form a border beyond which neither vegetation nor living creatures, except tourists, of course, run the risk of stepping over.

The last strong eruption of Etna happened recently, in 2009. Emissions of black ash above its peak from time to time remind us that it is not sleeping. It is impossible to predict when a new eruption begins; Etna is very moody!

The yacht was waiting for us in the Portorosa marina. This is the most convenient marina for starting sailing in the Aeolian Islands. The forecast promised two days of windy and rainy weather, but we, of course, went out to sea.

Lipari Island is the largest and most populated, and the city of the same name is the capital of the archipelago. The town is cozy like a toy with colorful houses and narrow streets. And also, here there is the largest marina in the archipelago.

A few miles from Lipari is the island of Vulcano. They say that this island was named after the ancient Roman god (Hephaestus in Greece), who patronized the blacksmiths. Then all the volcanoes of the world began to be called Volcanoes because of this island. Vulcano is famous for its mud and sulfur baths. They are very useful, but the smell is terrible ... Fossa cone was destroyed by a powerful explosion during the eruption. Now its height is only 400 meters, so climbing the edge of the crater is simple and takes an hour and a half. The accessibility and calmness of Fossa are deceptive — the last time this volcano erupted a little more than a hundred years ago, and in the II century BC. it destroyed Roman settlement on a neighboring (!) island.

The whole peak is covered with sulfur springs, which is why the stones are yellow, and it isn't easy to breathe. But you can take great surreal photos — ghostly silhouettes of people in yellow fog.

Also, there is an excellent view of the entire archipelago and the surrounding landscapes.

The next island of the archipelago is Salina. There are two connected cones of extinct volcanoes.

In the town of Santa Maria Salina, there is a beautiful marina, a beach with black sand nearby, and an ideal promenade along the entire city. The main pedestrian street has numerous restaurants and excellent sea views.

Restaurants begin working at 8 in the evening, but you need to reserve a table in advance, ideally — immediately after mooring. Later, all the tables will be occupied by yachtsmen. We miraculously (even though the marina was not full) managed to find a place for the crew after sunset. The seafood is delicious, and there is a great choice! But the swordfish that is advertised everywhere in Sicily seemed a bit dry and tasteless. But Malvasia wine saved the situation — it is made from grapes grown on this island. Nevertheless, we recommend you to visit Salina for its excellent cuisine.

But the main purpose of our trip was Stromboli — a black volcano island, the farthest island of the archipelago. There is no marina, the anchorage on the eastern side of the island is open to all winds and waves, apart from the western. The anchorage, when there are waves from the south and wind from the east, was unpleasant.

Stromboli is a continually erupting volcano. It is a 924 meters high cone. And this is just above the water! There are several routes to the top of the volcano, but tourists without certified guides are not allowed to climb higher than 400 meters.

We started to climb the volcano at sunset to see eruptions from the northernmost observation point in the dark. At first, we heard the Stromboli: the booming, powerful, close sound of an explosion. And then we saw it. In the night sky, a bright red fountain of red-hot lava looks fantastic! And some hot stones roll down the slope into the sea. The view is majestic and unforgettable ...

Full of impressions, we were going down in complete darkness, illuminating our way with flashlights.

We decided not to stay at Stromboli for the night, but to see the eruptions from the water, sailing around the island from the north. Often the peak of Stromboli is shrouded in clouds, and it is impossible to see the eruption from the water. We were lucky. We enjoyed this fantastic natural phenomenon from two points.

Our trip was unforgettable. Even though the season here lasts from May to September, in October, we received a lot of great emotions. The warm sea, the bright sun, fresh seafood, and delicious wine accompanied us all the journey. Even though dolphins didn't want to communicate with us, this did not spoil the impression of Sicilian yachting.

All three volcanoes turned out to be very different: a huge majestic Etna, seemingly old and tired Fossa and energetic Stromboli.