“WOW!” is the best way I can describe Stromboli! I was excited to see this active volcano and that it erupts roughly every 10 minutes but what I saw blew all of my expectations out of the water ( or more literally, ‘into the air’)!
Climbing 900 metres up to the top of Stromboli was the highlight of a 4-day tour of Sicily’s Aeolian islands. This really is a beautiful paddling destination with incredible rock formations, warm clear water and easy access to great food. You can camp on the beach or at campsites, or you can stay in hotels. But for me the thing that really makes these islands special is the volcanic activity. As Francesco Petralia, the symposium organiser put it, “the islands are alive”! Stromboli is the only continually active volcano in Europe – reliably giving a loud, gassy eruption.
We started the tour in Vulcano, crossed 2km to Lipari and paddled
most of the way around Lipari, the main island in the group, stopping at the old pumice mines. The next day we crossed 10 miles to Panarea, where bubbles shoot up from a rift in the seafloor. The next day we paddled 14 miles to the port at Stromboli. The sea was mirror calm in the morning and a slight headwind developed later. After a 
brief rest and a bit of carbo-loading we headed 920metres up the volcano to get a view of the erruptions. We left about 4.30pm and arrived at the summit just as it was getting dark. The first indication we got of the eruptions was the noise. Every 10-15 minutes we heard the rumble of thunder and suddenly when we got near the top we could see what looked like the top of a gigantic red 
firework shooting up
from the crater below. We climbed to the top of the ridge and could look down on 2 red glowing areas which were fizzing and spurting, shooting out small amounts of red-hot lava. Francesco explained that the pressure of gas in the molten rock is continually building up and every quarter of an hour it builds up enough that it’s released in a gigantic explosion, like a champagne bottle popping it’s cork. When we saw the full explosion, it was incredible. Red fire must have shot up over 200 
metres into the air. I thoroughly recommend 
the hike up the hill to experience this. In fact, I recommend the Vulcano symposium and 4-day tour of the islands. It’s a lovely way to spend time in an amazing paddling destination. The symposium and tour will be happening again next October – see the website here.
Good luck to Roger and Sonja from “Coastal Spirit“, who were working at the symposium and are now planning to circumnavigate Sicily, starting next week. And if you want to learn to roll, or to develop new rolls, I can recommend doing a course with Cheri & Turner from KayakWays, who Barry and I enjoyed hanging out with again this week.
Today we had the privilege of helping Francesco’s family with their annual grape harvest. Paola, his mother, has a hectare of land full of grape vines, olive trees and apple trees. About 20 family and friends gathered to help pick the grapes, including Barry, Cheri, Turner, Roger & Sonja & me. The grapes were poured into a machine which separated the stalks, and the resulting juice and grapes were poured into 2 huge vats. They’ll sit there for 4 days, being stirred lovingly by Paola, then the liquid will be drained off and stored in stainless steel VATS. By January, the wine will be ready to drink. There are no additives in it and if it’s anything like this years wine, it will be delicious! In traditional style, once the work was done, we all sat down to a HUGE feast of delicious food, which Paola and others had been preparing for several days. oh, and some of this years wine, of course. It’s not hard to see why they have a siesta in Italy!
It was a fantastic end to a great stay in Sicily.
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