We decided to make a slight detour and visit the volcanically active island of Stromboli. And we did actually manage to get the sails up for a while! As we approached we could see the occasional puff of black smoke. We anchored for the evening with plans to tour the island once the sun set and return to the anchorage. However, despite it being calm, we couldn’t get the anchor to set properly on the rocky and very steeply sloping sea bed. So once it was dark we motored round the island, experiencing every 2 mins or so the spectacular although difficult to photograph ‘fireworks’ with red hot rocks rolling down the volcano slopes and then set off for the Messina Straight some 50 miles to the south.
