22. A night on Anchor and Isola di Volcano

We sailed around to the South of the Island to a little bay which was well protected from the North West, North, and North East winds.

The water was a magnificent colour so a swim was a must but also I like to check the anchor is well bedded in. It was, but a jellyfish was too close to me for comfort so I made a fast exit.

We had a lovely day of R and R and then in the evening realised the wind had backed from the NW to the West so it became a bit bumpy but OK.

We were alone in the bay as all the other boats had gone and it was a little eery. At one end of the bay we had the two statue rocks guarding the bay and at the other end where we were had the dark cliff face. During the night I got up a few times and checked everything was OK.The dark rock of the cliff seemed very close. 

Looking at the two sentinel rocks I suddenly saw a comforting sight, a large schooner anchored with all its lights blazing. 

In the early morning a fisherman arrived and anchored up against the dark cliff face.

You can see how close the cliff face was to our anchoring. At night it always looks closer.

In the morning we decided to head over to Isola di Volcano. 

Before we did I saw the large schooner heading off between the two sentinel rocks and it was the yacht we had moored close to on the Italian mainland at Vibo Valentia.

                       The volcano was belching a bit as we saw smoke coming out. 

There was a comfortable anchorage just under the volcano and it was well protected from the West wind. We decided to head over to the Island to put the anchor down and have breakfast. As we got closer there was the acrid smell of Hydrogen Sulphide. Yes the volcano had been belching! 

This put us off breakfast so we decided to sail over to the mainland of Sicily and find a quiet anchorage as there was a westerly strong wind due to come. 

What was interesting as we past the southerly part of the Isola di Volcano it was very fertile and there were some well cultivated plots of land with Vines and Olive trees.

Back to the mainland before the westerly blow arrives.