Frank flew down to Sardinia last week and I followed at the weekend, just in time to see the closing ceremony for the Jeux des Iles which had taken place in Sicily. Jersey achieved eighth place, an amazing result considering the size of the teams entered by islands that are closer, geographically, to this one. I think half of the population of Sardinia had entered, together with most Corsicans so Jersey’s comparatively small number put on a fantastic competition.
On Sunday morning we were ready to head off into the bright blue yonder; as usual, we intended to get under way at about 9am but by the time we had pottered around and refuelled, it was nearer to midday before we were finally out at sea, but that really didn’t matter in the slightest as conditions were excellent for our crossing to the Aeolian Islands. The first three hours or so were pretty boring, with just the occasional fish jumping from the water to entertain us until we saw the outline of the first island, Alicuda, appearing out of the mist. When we got close, we saw it was little more than a large rock with a few homes scattered about; a pretty inhospitable place to live and no sign of any roads so those whose houses are high up the hillside must be very fit! With a light wind springing up and increasing cloud cover, we turned to the east and skirted the south coast of Filicuda, which had little more to recommend it than its smaller neighbour, and then decided to pass between the islands of Salina and Lipara in search of some shelter. So far we weren’t overly impressed with the Aeolians – the volcanic sand makes the beaches look less than welcoming, and we hadn’t seen anywhere that looked particularly attractive. Fortunately things were about to change! Lipari Town promised the best shelter and as we approached the coast, we could tell that we had hit gold! In fact, the only thing we didn’t really enjoy during our two night stay was the mooring – on a pontoon which was constantly rocked by wake from the many ferries and hydrofoils heading in and out of port, whenever possible at breakneck speed!
Lipari is sensational! We instantly fell in love with the place, and seeing it before the season was properly under way was just perfect; it was buzzing, but not overcrowded. The town is a maze of narrow streets, coloured by gift shops, cafes and food stalls. Perched high in the centre, dividing the stretch of seafront, is a castle and church, whilst the harbour area (commercial and fishing craft only, so on the opposite side to our mooring) is an idyllic postcard scene come to life. The weather also played its part, the encroaching clouds of our arrival having dispersed and been replaced with a wide arc of blue sky and it would have been hard to improve upon our brief stay.
Yesterday we meandered north, to Panarea, from where we could see Stromboli gently puffing in the background, and found one of those perfect anchorages in which to drop the hook. What can I say? The Mediterranean is already warm the sea is clear, ripe melon and parma ham compliment one another beautifully, rose wine slips down so very easily when the sun is shining…all the ingredients for a memorable afternoon. Sadly the various weather forecasts we checked all suggested that the conditions would not be favourable for a night at anchor, so late in the afternoon we started making our way back to mainland Sicily, passing close to the island of Volcanoe en route – as the name suggests, another volcanic outcrop, also with wisps of smoke constantly rising from its caldera.
We thought that Portarosa was going to be something special, but it’s not! It has turned out to be a pretty soulless marina and worse still, the wind that was forecast never materialised, so last night would have been just perfect at anchor.
Still, you can’t win them all, and life is pretty good!
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