sySpringDawn

We made an early start and left the anchorage at Cefalu (reluctantly, as it was such a great place) and made a cheeky dash into the nearby marina, before anyone was about, tied up onto a berth and topped up the water tanks. Twenty minutes later, splash and dash, and off we headed towards the Aeolian Islands.

The Aeolians are an archipelago of volcanic islands lying in an arc towards the north eastern tip of Sicily. The take their name form Aeolus, the God of the winds who gave Odysseus the contrary winds tied up in a bag but his sailors opened the bag believing it to contain treasure and yet again, Odysseus was blown away from his homeland.

The wind was indeed contrary today, straight on our nose and light, so of no use to us and therefore, we motored the 60 miles to Vulcano. When we were about 8 miles off and downwind of the island, a sulphurous pong was evident - very much like rotten eggs and as we came closer, we could see the constant venting of smoke from the crater of the still active volcano - how thrilling!

We anchored in Porto Ponente immediately at the foot of the volcano. The island of Vulcano is tiny, only a few miles long and is dominated by the cone of the volcano. The holding in the anchorage was a little bit suspect as the sand on the sea bed is a coarse, black and gritty. We were a tad concerned as, after having tried a couple of times and snorkelled down to the look at the anchor, it was only partially dug in and laying on its side. However, with no wind to speak of we crossed our fingers and hoped we wouldn't shift.

Vulcano last erupted in 1888 and the eruption lasted for the best part of two years and deposited about 5 metres of pyroclastic material on the summit. It felt quite weird to be so close to the volcano - quite a sinister presence.