We had a fantastic couple of days in Palermo revisiting old haunts and catching up with Roberta and Alessandro who rode their motorbike across from Cosenza to have lunch and dinner with us. Very nice it was to catch up face to face.
Gabriele and Jurgen are now arriving and we are heading straight out to the Aeolian Islands. It is very hot – mainly due to zero wind – high humidity – so getting out of the city and onto the water is imperative.
Alicudi is the first of the Islands – about 50nm from Palermo so it takes us the best part of the day to get there. we have booked a “buoy”. There is no anchoring as it is way too deep. 2,000 meters deep just meters from the lands edge. The locals here have a canny way of securing their boats with a long cable that is fixed on land and a motor to haul the boat up out of the water onto the rocks. Donkeys here to take your luggage or whatever but people walk. It is 675m high and houses are up at the very top. It is tiny, unusual with the volcanic rock that looks molten.
We had never been to Alicudi and Filcudi even though they are quite close to the islands we have visited before. Mainly because in normal weather days you cannot necessarily know that you will get a buoy or that the weather will remain calm enough for you to stay. The Aeolian are notorious for storms springing up and at that point you have to find safe harbour. This weather though is perfect and it is possible to anchor in very close to the north sides os Salina and Panarea. Most unusual. Still no wind, my new sun awnings are coming into their own and swimming and being in the shade is about all you can do. Even contemplating going for a walk on land is too much at the moment. Filicudi also has black granite paths and walls and beaches and even at the start of summer the heat is huge. May and June would be much nicer times to be here. I can’t imagine how it is in August.
Now onto Panarea which is the most glamorous of all the islands. White, white, white and bougainvillea – it’s so pretty. It’s expensive and tries to be exclusive – we are on a buoy again and here the Marinello runs a 24/7 boat taxi service that comes with the buoy booking. It means you can get dressed up for dinner, wear proper shoes – rather than potentially getting a wet bottom in the dinghy and having to jump in the water at the beach. I prefer the water taxi.
Next stop – Salina. All these islands are very close – it’s easy to get from one to another by hydrofoil – they zoom around the waters continuously ensuring all the island people are able to move about.
Salina is my favourite island. It has two villages- Malfa and Santa Marina. It is a very green island and they grow lots of grapes here. There is Da Alfredo that has ‘the best’ granita – a treat that has to be had when you are here. Breakfast! They grow capers and sun-dried tomatoes too are a specialty. It’s quite sophisticated but also authentic and they are very proud of their place.
Gabriele and Jurgen are leaving us here – they are taking the hydrofoil back to Palermo which takes about 3 hours. We are heading north now to Ischia – a storm is coming and we have a window to get up there – it seems that this hot weather may be about to break. Storm warnings etc are being issued on all platforms. We will sail overnight. If we leave Salina at 10am we will be to Ischia by 6am – were can anchor under the castle. We know this place and feel confident enough to go.
It was a very pleasant sail with a spectacular sunset. And a bonus was that we are travelling parallel to the Italian coast so we can see the lights of Calabria, Basilicata, and up to Capri. Around 4am a great lightening show was flashing through the sky and there are quite a few clouds.
We did arrive no problems and anchored under the castle and got 3 hours sleep before we were hit by an immense front of wind and rain. We went from being too hot to being freezing and soaking – but we were fine. The boat was very clean which was a bonus. It took 2 hours to pass and by then we decided to head to Gaeta where we are meeting my cousin Christopher and heading to the mountains to Picinisco. This weather is going to get worse tomorrow with a 2m swell forecast. Not my favourite. Today there is good wind, the swell is probably 1m and we can sail up and anchor in the safe harbour under the old town Gaeta.
janeandrogersadventure 
Such pretty villages.
Impressed Bertie came on a motor bike.