David's Diary: Wednesday, July 10, 2002

Stromboli, Italy and A Teenager

We spent two days at Capo Palinuro, enjoying the warm water, relative seclusion, and the peacefulness at night after all of the day boats had left. Yesterday was time to move on so we were up early to make the ten hour passage from Capo Palinuro to Stromboli in the Aeolian Islands. The Aeolian islands are a small chain located north of Sicily, Italy that has been known for centuries. Even the ancient Greeks considered Stromboli to be a lighthouse in the sky.

Charlie and Jocelyn

Stromboli may be small, but it does have an active volcano. For the last two thousand years or more the volcano has given off small amounts of lava and rock every day. At night Stromboli looks even more impressive as the small eruptions are visible for a long distance.

We have met up with our friends Tony, Maggie, and Charlie Watts on their sailboat Ganymede. We first met them in Palma in April and have kept in touch over the summer. Jocelyn turns 13 tomorrow and Charlie, Jocelyn, and I have agreed to climb to the top of Stromboli in celebration of Jocelyn's birthday. We meet in the small town at 6:30 and with lots of daylight left we start walking along the base of the mountain.

Stromboli

We have a few rest stops, but before long we are starting to climb up the side of the mountain. The path becomes rocky and towards the top we have to scramble up rock faces. It reminds us of the Grouse Grind in Vancouver, a strenuous 1000m climb, which seems easy compared to our final approach to the volcano in the dark.

Evening Eruption (photo Charlie Watts)

After three hours climbing, we finally make it to the top just as daylight is fading. We spend an hour huddled in groups among the rock circles that have been erected for visitors. As the sky turns dark we are rewarded with two or three small eruptions. You can hear rocks falling on the slopes and when the smoke clears you can see red flames spouting from the mountain.

It seems a short time before we are asked to start making our way down the mountain. With our flashlights leading the way, we follow a narrow path down the back side of the mountain. The way down is steep, but a deep river of black volcanic sand breaks our stride, even if it also fills our running shoes with black dust. We follow a narrow trail carved out of the side of the mountain and then work our way downwards through overgrown trees. Before we know it, we are back in the village of Stromboli. As we arrive, the clock strikes midnight and Jocelyn celebrates becoming a teenager.

We walk through the darkened streets back to the black sand beach. When we arrive where Ganymede and Dragonsinger should be anchored, we see a huge freighter instead. We walk up and down the beach until a bright light from the harbour gets our attention. The two boats had to move in the dark, as the freighter was bringing water to the island and we had been anchored just off the unloading point. With three of us gone it had been a struggle for the others to move the boats, but Charlie, Jocelyn, and I were just thankful that we had found our homes once more.