After 6 days of sailing from Iraklion, Crete, we finally had covered enough distance that we felt we had earned a stop at an anchorage for a well-needed rest, and some playtime. Our goal has been to meet up with the French family, the Pannethiers, in Corsica, whom we first met in 2005 on a dock in Ile de Porqueroles, France. They joined us for skiing weekends in Courchevel, and we spent a number of lovely days in their home with wonderful hospitality. They typically spend their summer vacations sailing in Corsica, and it is our opportunity to catch up with them after two years.

We came up through the Messina Straights with greater than 30 knots of wind in the wee hours of the night. We finally popped out the other end above Sicily after timing our passage through the current. The tidal streams in the Straight are caused by the different times of high and low water between the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas. With this passage behind us, we decided to stop at the Island of Stromboli, unique with its own active volcano. We settled our anchor at 7PM on the 9th, and had a fantastic BBQ.

The following morning, it was time to get a bit of exercise and we swam onto shore. The island was beautifully quaint, and reminded us of Catalina Island??"twisting narrow, white washed streets speckled with people walking, electric cars, and mopeds. We had heard there were evening hikes up to the volcano, and we strolled up the lanes searching for our options to embark on this unique experience. We finally found Stromboli Adventures, and signed up. The tour would leave at 5:30pm. The hike started up the southwest side, and three hours later, one arrived to the summit to watch the never-ending vibrant explosions of the volcano. It is amazing how this small island comfortably supports a year round population and a booming load of tourists, with an active volcano just up the hill. The volcano explodes day and night releasing pressure twenty-fours a day, thereby preventing excessive pressure to develop and eliminates the potential of a major explosion like on the island of Montserrat.


Late afternoon we arrived to our rendezvous spot, less one Gone Native member, Dave. Early on in our sailing adventure, we decided that the Gone Native should not be left unattended at an anchorage if there was any doubt of weather instability, or concern of theft. In this case, our concern was possible weather change. So myself, Ryan and Wesley were the designated adventurers.

There were about 20 of us in the group. Interestingly, the second language to Italian on this island is French (NOT English). I now realize how far my French has come, considering I arranged the trip with the guide and understood more of the French description than the Italian. It was a solid three hours climbing uphill. As we looked down the shaft of the volcano you could see pieces of rock that had erupted from the volcano. We also saw a number of other climbing groups trekking up the switchbacks, and realized how long the hike uphill actually was. A few meters before the summit, the weather most definitely changed. We fortunately had brought our jackets, which helped counter the piercing wind. As we climbed up further, the brutal wind gave me a hint of what Mount Everest might be like, and I wasn't sure that would be a trip I would sign up for, at least anytime in the near future.

When we arrived to the top, our eyes focused below on an amazing spectacle of several spewing volcano cones. The explosive rumbling before the eruptions was thunderous, followed by spitting and glowing-like fireworks reaching 300 meters high into the night. We were mesmerized for forty-five minutes, watching the continual eruptions of these enormous conical rocks. No wonder there is not a massive explosion??"they are blasting day and night.

We then hiked down the opposite side of the volcano, a steep gradient of volcanic ash. By the time we ventured down that section, we all had to empty our very full tennis shoes of sand and ash. By 10:30 pm we were back at our starting point. I radioed Dave and asked him to pick us up via the dinghy. He was very excited to hear all about our adventure. We came up with a plan for him to get a visual opportunity on the exploding volcano. While on the summit, we incidentally noted a number of flashing cameras from sea, boats that were obtaining a different perspective of the active volcano. Our next stop to the island of Ischia was approximately 32 hours. We would leave at 9pm the following night, motor to the opposite side of the island, and Dave would get his chance to see the exploding display of Mount Stromboli. That night Dave's camera was flashing away, and he was smiling from ear to ear in awe of the dazzling sight.