{"id":2335,"date":"2019-09-21T16:00:55","date_gmt":"2019-09-21T21:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.new.lifefourpointzero.com\/?p=2335"},"modified":"2020-01-12T10:30:28","modified_gmt":"2020-01-12T15:30:28","slug":"geologic-activity-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifefourpointzero.com\/?p=2335","title":{"rendered":"Geologic Activity Tour, Ep. 107"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This blog episode welcomes our first guests of the 2019\nsummer Mediterranean sailing season on board Sea Rose. Longtime friends, Mary\nand Dave join us from Madison, Wisconsin. They actually \u2018booked\u2019 their date\nover a year in advance as they planned other travel to Europe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary and Tom worked together in Oakland California almost 30\nyears ago at the shipping company, \u2018American President Lines\u2019. I was doing some\nIT consulting at APL at that time, and I met both Tom and then Mary through a\ncorporate ski-team \u2026 yes, snow skiing, if I had a dollar for every skier I met\nwho also sails or every sailor who skies in the off season, we\u2019d be flying high!\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom and Mary developed a fast friendship with once-a-week yoga evenings and plans for outings with mutual friends. They even bought a canoe together! Who knew their boating relationship would last so long? By the time I met Mary, Dave was already a well-established figure in her life \u2013 in fact, they were married!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

We stayed in touch over the years as we each moved away from California. We even took turns being stewards of the jointly owned canoe! When we sailed the American Great Lakes two summers ago, we had Mary and Dave on board our previous boat while in the Door Peninsula region of Lake Michigan. We were thrilled to continue our sailing adventures with them, this time along the south-western coast of Italy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since we were less than a week into our summer sailing time\nwhen Mary and Dave were to arrive, we picked Sorrento (west coast of Italy just\nbelow Naples) as a meet-up location since we were familiar the harbor and it\nwas a short distance from Gaeta \u2013 where Sea Rose spent the winter (see previous\nblog detailing our launch). Sorrento is a wonderful town \u2013 full of life and\nexcitement \u2026 built on a high bluff overlooking the Mediterranean with the islands\nof Ischia and Procida as backdrops and with Mt. Vesuvius in clear view as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We reserved a spot on the dock in the tiny town center harbor\nto allow for wash-down of the boat, provisioning and to have a comfortable\nplace to sleep for Mary and Dave\u2019s first night on board. Since this was\nmid-May, the weather was unpredictable and the evenings were on the chilly\nside. Being on a dock offered an element of protection that we wanted as we\nwelcomed our first guests of the year on board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sea Rose on the dock in Sorrento<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We had just finished our work \u2013 several provisioning runs\nand a good cleaning of our girl (in and out) \u2013 when we heard familiar voices\napproaching. Great timing to share some wine and cheese as we caught up with\none another. We took advantage of being in Sorrento to dine in town before we\nheaded out in the morning for ports less traveled. From this point forward, we\nwould be in waters we hadn\u2019t yet explored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Beautiful Sorrento with Mary and Dave!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I came out for breakfast with my favorite, warm sweater on. Mary noticed that what I was wearing was a garment from St. James \u2013 a French company located in Brittany in the NW of France. Turns out she knows the owner \u2026 Mary knows everyone, BTW! She then donned her \u2018St. James\u2019 and we posed proudly (these are pretty terrific sweaters that I stumbled upon as Tom and I were tourists in the company\u2019s main hood!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sportin’ our St. James attire!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After our time with Mary and Dave, Tom and I will need to put it in high gear to make it down under the boot of Italy, around the heel and up to the southern portion of Croatia by early June \u2026 almost 3 weeks and lots of miles we would need to travel in that time! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our intended route for the next 3 weeks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As we looked at the best area to tour along the way, we decided to explore the Aeolian Islands while Mary and Dave were with us. The Aeolian Islands are a collection of Italian islands north of Sicily and off-shore from the southwestern coast of Italy\u2019s mainland; Stromboli is the most famous island of the group due to its active volcano and significant altitude. Apparently, Stromboli has mini eruptions every 30 minutes or so. Is it crazy that we are making it a point to visit this place??<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Aeolian Islands of Italy<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We planned to move a lot of miles in the first two days Mary and Dave were on-board so we could spend the bulk of their time on board in the Aeolian\u2019s. Our first stop was the small town of Acciaroli, about 40 miles southwest. This seemed like a big enough chunk for Day One and it looked like a cute town! It was, thankfully. See the shot below of the amazing moon over the harbor where we docked Sea Rose for the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Moonrise at Acciaroli<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Cute alleys of Acciaroli that we enjoyed early evening<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We needed to go 90 miles on our second day to reach\nStromboli. Therefore, we got up way too early \u2013 at 3:30 am \u2013 and, amidst rain\nshowers and overcast skies we tossed off our dock lines and headed out. Once we\nwere in deep waters, I headed off for more shut-eye. Luckily Tom is a morning\nperson \u2013 I am less so! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the sun rose and the winds picked up, we had great\nsailing wind all day. Here is the view we steered toward for many an hour . . .\nStromboli in the distance with the ash cloud always present off its active\ncenter!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stromboli’s ever-present ash cloud!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At 4:30 in the afternoon we made our first attempt at anchoring. Because this island is volcanic, it goes from shoreline to extremely deep water quickly, making anchoring a challenge. There is one bank or shelf off Stromboli that makes anchoring easier but the wind\/wave direction was making that area quite rough so we tried anchoring close in to shore with a stern anchor also along the shore. Well, this didn\u2019t work! As we tried to set our anchor, we pulled it into deep waters and had the entire anchor and many meters of chain hanging from our poor windlass \u2026 yikes. We would join the multitudes on the shallow bank and deal with the rolling of the boat as the rough seas pushed us around! By dusk, we were securely on our anchor but we had lost the opportunity to go to shore for this evening. At least we were at Stromboli and we had a full day of exploration ahead of us. Plus, we had the added benefit of having this cool near-shore island and lighthouse as one of our views!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tiny island called Strombolicchio, located just NE of Stromboli<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once we were settled, we observed the regularity of\nStromboli\u2019s mini eruptions ourselves. We would hear a loud sound like the\nlet-off of pressure from a tire pump and this was accompanied by a change in\nthe ash cloud. Sometimes it would appear almost black as more rock material was\nemitted, sometimes it would be white plumes of smoke. Each episode lasted no\nmore than 10 seconds but it was certainly a little nutty to be this close to\nregular volcanic eruptions! As night approached, we also had Mother Nature\u2019s\nadditional gift of an amazing sunset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stromboli Sunset<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After darkness had fully taken the day, we could see trails\nof tiny lights descending the mountain in switch-back patterns. We knew that many\nan adventure company offered guided hiking tours up Stromboli and that these\nexcursions leave the village around 5 pm with the goal of arriving at the\noverlook into the crater of Stromboli before dusk. This gives patrons the\nopportunity to see the fiery explosions in their red\/orange vibrant colors\nagainst a darkening sky!  After the \u2018show\u2019,\neach person is given a head-lamp for the steep hike back down to the village. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We wanted to hike Stromboli, but not at night. Given the\nactive nature of this geology, people can only ascend Stromboli with a\ncertified guide and hiring our own guide to take us up during daylight hours\nwas going to break the bank so we opted for exploration of the lower\nelevations! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we walked around the darling town the next day, we\ncouldn\u2019t help but notice these tsunami warning signs placed quite frequently\nalong paths and roadsides! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tsunami?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There were also a number of signs designating meeting places\nshould evacuation be necessary. Gosh \u2013 guess this really is an active volcano! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back on the boat, we began to notice a bunch of black sand-like material all over our deck and on our cushions and \u2026 EVERYWHERE. Yup \u2013 this was ash from the continual eruptions! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For our second night in Stromboli, we picked up our anchor\nbefore dusk and drove around to the side of the island where you could watch\nthe regular eruptions. As with the hike to overlook the crater, the darkening\nsky allowed for viewing the fiery explosions when they were more visible. Lots\nof tour boats bring eager passengers on this excursion both from Stromboli and\nfrom the neighboring islands. Also, any private boat in the area makes the\npilgrimage at least one evening while visiting! It was beautiful to watch these\nevents; however, it was difficult to capture the true wonder digitally. The\nbelow pre-dusk shot is the best we have to represent our experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Grainy image, but it does show the fiery explosion!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The next morning, we set off for another of the Aeolian\nislands, Panarea, about 12 miles to the southwest of Stromboli. There was\nreport of an excavated circular hut village dating back to 1500 BC that we\nwanted to see. Cala Junco seemed to be the best place to seek this out, so we\nanchored in this tiny yet stunning cove for a lunch and exploration stop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n