A day at sea passing Messina and a Volcano!

Today is a day at sea.  We passed through the area between Italy mainland and Sicily.  When we started through I noticed that Messina was the town we would pass and immediately thought of “Much Ado About Nothing”.  Wow, Italy!

Because of our problem in Kotor we have a bit of extra time before we are to arrive in Naples.  The captain came on and said that we would detour a little to pass the Volcanic island of Stromboli.  Guess what they are famous for?!  Anyway, we will pass around the island in hopes of seeing lava.  Cool!  The island is pretty unmistakable as it rises 3000 feet out of the sea.

In “Journey to the Center of the Earth” (1864) by Jules Verne, at the conclusion of the novel they are ejected from Stromboli.  In some of the movie versions, it was usually Vesuvius as it is a more famous volcano.  Another case of screen writers thinking they know better than the original authors.

The island is only 5 square miles in size but almost all of that is uninhabited.  Only the land right at the shore is used.  The population is around 500 people.  These people live in the constant knowledge that the volcano could kill them at any moment.  The volcano has been constantly erupting for thousands of years but major events are rare.

The island if visible both day and night and is distinctive in shape so it has been called the Lighthouse of the Mediterranean.  When ancient sailors saw this island in the distance they knew where they were and where to go.

If you look at some of the pictures you can see where the last flow occurred in 2019.  If this had been down a different flank of the volcano it would have covered the town.

I tried to get lava but all we got was some smoke and ash plumes.

The view was pretty amazing.  We could not see any lava but there was plenty of smoke and ash.  Our problem was just at the time we arrived at the volcano we were at the Mixology Class. The “classes” include 4 drinks and WOW are they heavy pours. ​

Tonight is Dressy so Suit and Tie for me and nice dresses for the ladies.  Later we will be entertained by the music group Cantare and their show tonight is called Timeless.  Again, Wow! They are great.  It is the one show that Betty will stay up late to see.
Off to bed.