Stromboli

[tudorsailor]

I am thinking of sailing to Stromboli to see the volcano at night. Can forumnites give advice about doing this?

Thanks

TudorSailor

 

[Plevier]

Did that about 3 years ago but Stromboli was being lazy, not much of a show, a few small bombs. Approached from Lipari and reached the island about midnight.
We stayed one night, visited the island then pushed on in the afternoon towards Vibo Valentia.
Anchoring was pretty crowded and holding not too good off the NE corner.
Took a long time to get rid of all the black dust that had settled on the boat.
Shouldn't be missed while in the area but for us it wasn't the highlight of the trip.

 

[BobnLesley]

It's 6 or 7 years since we did that, but for what it's worth, we went out to do exactly that and it was the highlight of that year's cruise:

We sailed/motored 30-40M over from the mainland (I can't remember the harbour's name, but the town's at the top of the cliffs) and checked-out the anchorage off the village at the NW corner whilst it was still daylight - not great, a bit rolly, but we found good holding in sand/7-8m. Early evening we then motored around to the west side and just 'floated' a mile or so offshore for perhaps 3 hours - the current drifted us slowly south at which point we'd motor back north for 15 minutes and stop the engine again. We eventually motored back to the anchorage for the rest of the night, then had a similar day-time float off the volcano the following day.

We were fortunate to have flat weather - the sea was like glass - I'm not sure I'd like to be out there for any length of time, or use the anchorage in any sort of weather. Oh. Lesley's just remeinded me: The trip back to the anchorage (3-4M) in the early-hours of the morning was a bit hairy as it was a pitch black night and there seemed to be loads of motorboats whizzing around (doing the same as us?) without any lights whatsoever.

 

[Caladh]

We were anchored in Vulcano and took a trip boat to Stromboli via other islands en-route and made a day of it. If you do the same make sure you take something warm for the return trip in the dark as it was cold. As indicated above Stromboli can be tempremental and on our visit didn't perform, so I was glad we hadn't made the 60 mile round trip in our own yacht. We were heading south to Messina and Malta anyway. I recall mooring bouys outside the little harbour which yachts could "wait" on - at a cost no doubt. Don't miss Vulcano though and do make the effort to walk up and see the crater - it's quite stunning.

 

[macd]

Don't miss Vulcano though and do make the effort to walk up and see the crater - it's quite stunning.

+1
...and if you get to the little hut low down on the climb before 0730 (if I remember correctly), the lady who takes your money won't have arrived. Best time of day for the climb, anyway.

 

[ITH]

To avoid anchorages, we opted for a night sail (or as it turned out a night's motoring/motorsail) round Stromboli in August 2011. We were on passage along the N coast of Sicily and moored up at Capo D'orlando; from there to Lipari is a short (22Nm) sail to the marina Bueno Fonda in Lipari. We cast off from there at 19.15 in still conditions with smooth seas - spectacular sunset - and circumnavigated Stromboli E to W, drifting at a leisurely pace, some 1/2 m offshore. The NW corner gave us the best show, with fireworks, smoke and short-lasting lava flows. We lost the moon at 04.00 but gained a bright Venus until sunrise at 06.00, when we picked up a couple of Dolphins for company: back to Milazzo marina where we docked at 08.50 - a round trip of 66 Nm, and thoroughly enjoyable. However, I guess it's the luck of the draw whether you see activity at Stromboli or not.

If you intend going on down the E coast of Sicily, don't miss out on a trip to Mount Etna. We visited it from Catania, where we stayed for a while in the Circolo Nautico Marina.

 

[PeterR]

I am thinking of sailing to Stromboli to see the volcano at night. Can forumnites give advice about doing this?

Thanks

TudorSailor

We did this during a charter with Sunsail from Palermo. The Aeolian islands are very expensive with few facilities. A crew on another boat described the trip as a week spent bleeding euros. However our night off Stroboli was one of the highlights of my entire sailing career. After reminding us that night sailing was not permitted as part of the charter the briefing then said if we must go the best plan was to anchor off San Vincenzo until dusk and then sail round to the north side of the island where the lip on the edge of the volcano is lower and you get the best views of the eruptions. He suggested the we just hove to about a mile and a half off had supper and just watched. He plan was excellent. As dusk falls you can really see the lava exploding out of the crater and most of the time you get a glow from the depths of the crater. Eruptions were about ever 10 to 15 minutes whilst we were there. We actually encroached a little on the mile and a half and were nearly hit by a lava bomb. it hissed into the sea alongside vapourised and covered the deck in pumice. Unfortunately we left the residue on deck to prove what had happened to our friends on another boat. The next day we were unable to wash the stains off despite vigorous scrubbing.

A word of warning if you are chartering. Most charter boats in the area seemed to be fitted with cheap danforth type anchors. Ours had a bent fluke and it was almost impossible to get it to dig in. When I got back to the marina I checked the other boats and at least half had serious bends in the flukes. Its essential to check the state of the ground tackle as you have to anchor a lot around the islands where there are few marinas.

 

[drawp]

We spent a couple of weeks in the Aeolian Islands in 2011 and sailed past Stromboli again last year. Eruptions both times were regular, every 8 - 10 minutes and they were the highlights of the whole trip. Drifting off the west coast at night watching the eruptions is amazing. You could actually see the glowing red boulders rolling 3000 ft down the ash slope and into the water. The anchorage on the NE corner is very open - good for settled weather only. There are mooring buoys which looked quite substantial but not cheap! One regret I did have was not trekking up to the crater from Stromboli town in the late afternoon. There are guided tours and proper trekking gear is required, boots, torches, etc. From the anchorage you can see the lights of the groups snaking down from the top in the dark.

The anchorages on island of Volcano are very sheltered and good holding. As Caladh said, the trek up and around the crater on Volcano is also not to be missed.