S/Y Belisama: To Vulcano, 22 May 2023

Tuesday 23 May 2023

To Vulcano, 22 May 2023

With a week to explore the Aeolian Islands, we decided to leave early on Monday 22nd May to reach the island of Vulcano by the end of the day, 77 miles with very light winds. We left at 6.15am, heading east-north-east towards the island of Vulcano. With back light reach winds, on engine, we reached 5.8 knots for most of the day and arrived around the island of Vulcano at around 21:00, in time to see the amazing sunset over the islands of Alicudi and Filicudi.

First sight of a volcano shape in the island of Alicudi and Filicudi

The crossing was uneventful, apart from some of the crew getting seasick!

As we left Palermo, we were still in the wake of the sirocco winds that had been battering us for the past few days. But as predicted, the clouds quickly cleared and the rest of the day was sunny with light winds from all directions as the hours passed. We ended up spending most of the day on the engine anyway.

Departing from Palermo at sunrise, Monday 22, 6:15

Capo de Zafferano

First sighting of Aeolian Island of Alicudi

Other Aeolian Islands of Salina (left) and Lipari (right)

Sunset on Alicudi and Filicudi arriving in Vulcano

The sunset between the islands of Alicudi and Filicudi was amazing. The dust from the Shahara was still in the air, turning the horizon red.

Waking-up in Porto Ponante on Vulcano island

The anchorage at Porto Ponante in Vulcano was quite busy with about thirty boats around when we arrived and moored late in the evening, but when we awoke the next morning most of the boats had gone and we were quietly moored deep in the anchorage bay, well sheltered from all winds.

Immediate neighbour in Porto Ponante

The three of us spent the day teleworking, can you imagine? Kaja working on her painting assignment for her art course, Terezka writing reports on MRI images she received by post, and me on a teleconference with Geneva about new guidelines for cholera surveillance around the world. On the one hand, there is no better place to telework as it is a very quiet anchorage with good internet access, on the other hand, there is no worse place to telework as you feel you should be using your time here for other things than teleworking! Anyway, we were all done by mid-afternoon and enjoyed the milder temperatures at the end of the day to go ashore and explore the island and have a good seafood dinner...

Vulcano and Stromboli are the only two islands that still have active volcanoes. Vulcano is rather dormant these days, but has had several eruptions in recent decades, while Stromboli is constantly active, releasing lava all the time.