The Aeolian Islands
We stayed a while in Vulcano where Steph and Nigel came to join us
The bay below the volcano on the left.
The large lump of multi coloured volcanic rock, seen on the right of the picture above, from where a seagull kept a constant watch. Nigel named him Seymour - very appropriate!
From Vulcano we sailed north to the island of Lipari. Here we hired two cars and the six of us went to explore the island.
The view from the north of Lipari across to the island of Salina.
Over on the west of the island we, eventually, came to the thermal baths we had seen on the map. Above are the Roman baths - nice warm water but not a very enticing colour - rather like the diving pool at the Olympics this year!
Below are the even older Greek baths.
A very relaxed crew heading up to the island of Panarea.
Having been told you can often see "fireworks" on the north of Stomboli if you go at night we decided it just had to be done. Here we are sailing towards Stomboli and you can see plumes of smoke on top.
Dramatic pictures of the sun going down behind Stromboli.
We didn't actually see the fireworks but we had a very impressive view of the volcano on the north side where recent lava flows covered the sides. As we were leaving and looking back we could see orange glows above the crater as each puff of smoke pothered out.
Then disaster struck!.....
On our way back to the anchorage on Panerea at about midnight, with no wind and so having to motor, Serenity's engine suddenly went into overdrive and clouds of black smoke poured out of the exhaust. Not good! We managed to stop the engine but with no wind to sail we were drifting at about half a knot. We radioed Skylark and they towed us back to the anchorage and, in the pitch dark, managed to drop us off at a very suitable place to anchor and then found a spot for themselves - not easy in a fairly busy bay.
It was clear this wasn't something Dave could repair himself so the next morning we contacted Volvo emergency in Belgium. They were brilliant and found us an engineer on Lipari.
So....... the next morning, again no wind, Skylark kindly towed us to a bay on Lipari to meet the engineer.
Serenity being towed by Skylark.
This tiny broken spring (the penny is there to show the size) was the cause of the problem. Massimo contacted Messina and a replacement was put on a boat and delivered and fitted the next day - wonderful!!
Sunset in Port Levante
Enjoying an iced coffee before catching the ferry back to Palermo where they had another day sightseeing. It was great to see them - we were just sorry that the breakdown meant we didn't sail with them back to Sicily.
