Jul 04 2010
Sailing Off Into History
Ive been back for over a month now and have been trying to figure out the best way to put into words, our Italian adventure. One post was quickly ruled out. I think I’ve settled into three… but we’ll see.
In this first installment I am going to just summarize the sailing experience. To try and give you an itinerary to follow would be crazy. These islands didn’t get named after the god of wind for nothing. It blows here. Or not. Depending on the time of year, it can come from just about any direction. There are so many potential types of weather it very nearly boggles the mind. Our sailing time consisted of several days of ferocious Force 7+ with days of little to none in between. Even so, we did have three very good sailing days.
It’s hard to imagine the Aeolians being overrun with thousands of tourists. It happens every July and especially August, but in May 2010 there were very few sailors and no mega yachts. We were told time and again that very few Americans found their way here. In fact very few Brits come this way as well. It’s nearly an Italian secret. As such, you wont hear much English except from occasional encounters with the few curious locals who want to practice speaking it. That type of special encounter touched every one of us on the trip. It is what makes travel so remarkably addicting.
In calm conditions, there are many places to stop for lunch and exploring throughout the island chain. Most of the islands are fairly close to each other, so it is possible to return to the few safe harbors there are for at night. If you are planning to dock at night be prepared for extreme sticker shock. In May, very few of the seasonal “pontoons” were set up at island harbors. Pontoons are temporary floating docks. Also in May, many anchorages that might have moorings are not yet in place either. There are very few “marinas” as such; Lipari and Salina. Vulcano does have a town quay. We spent a night at the Filcudi ferry pier when we found no moorings in place. You will be anchoring otherwise.
Fumarola of the Vulcano Crater with Lipari and Salina in the background – Photo by John Mckinney
The closest island from mainland Sicily is Vulcano. There are two nice anchorages here, depending on which way the wind is blowing. Many in our group made the trek up to the volcano crater, complete with steaming fumarola and far reaching views. Nobody could bring themselves to jump into the sulphur mud pools. We all chickened out.
View of Lipari town from the castle wall
We sailed to Lipari and took a stern-to berth at a pontoon close to the downtown core. It was an easy walk to shopping and the restaurant possibilities were endless. For those who didnt want to walk an old farmer in a 3-wheeler pickup showed up at the streetside of the pontoon selling fresh veggies in the morning. Espresso and Gelato bars everywhere! The grocery store here is very good for cruisers. We spent 4 or 5 hours exploring the ruins and museums tucked into the old village walls on a hill above the present day town. Its hard to wrap your head around 14th century BC! They close off the main street in the evening and the cafes put out tables and everyone comes out to promenade, eat pizza and antipasto and people watch.
Our next island was Salina and we chose to head into the marina for the night to check on a weather system we had heard of. The marina at Santa Marina is the only true “marina” out here on the out islands. To the East 10 miles is Panarea and 10 miles further East is Stromboli. To the West 10 miles is Filicudi and 10 miles further is Alicudi. We got on the internet after docking and sure enough a giant blob of low pressure was approaching from the Northwest. It would be on us in 24 hours. So we sat tight…for four days, while it blew consistently in the 30′s for the entire time with several peak periods of high 40′s and a few 50′s. The ferry system that connects the islands shut down completely for two days. I wrote a song entitled, “Pinned Down in Salina”. We made the best of it which was not hard to do. Salina is one of the most charming places someone could ever hope to be stranded on. It included a micro historically rich village with one of everything that moved to the rhythm of the day and night. We dined like kings. We found the most incredible Granita on the planet. One day was spent with a guide who took us all around the island; tiny medieval villages, Malvasia grapes, breathtaking vistas.
Finally, we sailed in a fine wind to Panarea where we stopped at the main settlement to have lunch and contemplate our next move. We had a weather window and wanted to take advantage of it! While having lunch at anchor our buddy boat, Zumma, a Dufour 52.5, called over the radio that they were considering taking advantage of the wind and forgoing a shore excursion for a sail. Moments later they reported that something didnt seem right with their steering. This then became an afternoon of diagnosis, phone calls to the charter base and a MacGyver like fix which provided for makeshift steering enough for us to hightail it back to Lipari where a mechanic would meet us. He did. And so we got to have too much fun in Lipari again and remarkably, the mechanic had a Super MacGyver fix that seemed good enough to last the trip by 9am the next morning.
View of Filicudi from the ruins
We motor sailed on to Filicudi in a perfectly still, warm day and tied to the backside of the ferry pier because there was no other safe place to be for another expected blow. It turned out we were the first visiting yachts of the year! The island was not quite open for business and there was yet another weather system due to pass that night. The two hotels and 2 of the 3 restaurants were basically closed, and since crewmate Jim had purchased a large salmon in Lipari, we asked if they would cook it for us. Which they did in fine style. Like several of the restaurants we ate at on this trip, this was family style type dining where bowls and platters of food were brought out as we wended our way through the four courses without ever actually ordering anything. They charged us $20eu to prepare the salmon as part of the whole deal! We explored the 5000 year old ruins at the top of a promontory overlooking all points of the compass above our little harbor. The visit was a highlight of our Aeolian experience.
View of the Céfalu beach from the medieval “fishermens portal”
The next day we had run out of time and had to cross 40 miles back to the mainland at Cefalu. It was a hellacious day with winds that were supposed to drop by mid-day that never did, so we slogged along for hours at 5 knots motorsailing head to wind. I highly recommend Cefalu for a visit. It is like a medieval disneyland. Picture perfect. Our sailing adventure had come to an end after many changes in plans, weather and more challenges that I will save for another post. If you are looking to get away from it all and experience a timeless Mediterranean lifestyle steeped in history this is very hard to beat. It exceeded our expectations as a vacation sailing destination. I highly recommend that you or someone in your party be fairly fluent at understanding the Italian language and have basic ability to communicate though. You are not going to run into a lot of English out there on Ìsuli Eoli.
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