Today is Thursday, September 7, 2023. It was a day at sea as we journeyed toward Naples, Italy.
As a day at sea, there were no scheduled off-shore excursions, obviously, and, in fact, there was no schedule anyone had to meet at all. Nevertheless, there were several optional informational sessions on future cruising, Las Ramblas, in Barcelona, and Q and A with the ship’s captain. We attended all of those. Three o’clock brought afternoon tea in the Dining Room. We met two other passengers and shared this session with them. John and I tried lunch at the Lido Dive Grill, enjoying a hot dog, hamburger, and cheese fries. But beginning at around 2:00 P.M., the highlight of the day commenced: Circumnavigation of Stromboli, Italy, sailing through the Straits of Messina, and an opportunity to view a memorable sunset as we departed Stromboli.
The cruise director narrated the passage through the Straits of Messina. People could hear the narration via the in-room TVs, on their verandas, and on several decks. There was not much to see because the Strait is a narrow passageway between Reggio Calabria at the toe of Italy on one side of the ship and Sicily on the other.
As we emerged on the other side of the Straits of Messina, we approached a large mountain that is called Strombolio, an active volcano in the region. Nearby, also jutting out of the water but much, much smaller than Strombolio, was a volcanic plug. A plug is the lava core that dwells within a volcano and that solidifies after an eruption. However, it is a plug because the volcanic mountain around the lava core has eroded away over many, many years. So, basically hard solidified lava minus the mountain that it once was in. That plug is inactive.
We circumvented a smoking Stromboli, with its caldera increasing in size the closer we came to the mountain and depending which side we were viewing at the time. There seems to be an observation/monitoring/research facility at the top of the caldera. On two sides of the mountain, not very high from shore, there appear to be densely populated communities living there. A third facet of the mountain had several houses a short way up. In fact, a hydrofoil boat appeared to have dropped someone off at the shoreline. Some aboard ship, watching with binoculars, said that they saw the person walking, zig-zag, up the mountain to his destination.
The mountain was dominant in the area. We feared that the drizzling that had begun while riding through the Straits would spoil this opportunity to view such a monumental site. However, the drizzling stopped very soon afterwards, and only some clouds remained over the volcano. By this time, passengers had gathered on outdoor decks in search of unobstructed views and photo ops. Waiters and waitresses served Stromboli pastries and sandwiches, as well as “lava” juice (alcoholic for those who wanted it). Stromboli puffed out white smoke throughout our experience.
The captain had promised us all a memorable sunset behind Stromboli as we pulled away from Stromboli. By this time, six P.M. through 7:20P.M., passengers remained on deck at the back of the ship. The sun came out, and the sunset tonight was INCREDIBLY STUNNING! The sunset was outstanding just before, during, and for about an hour after the sun slipped below the horizon. What a beautiful experience all of this was for us today, thanks in large part to the captain’s commitment to providing us with this most memorable event!
Tomorrow morning, we dock in Naples, Italy! Our gnocchi class is scheduled for aboutv10 A.M. we are doing Naples on our own, so it shall be exciting!
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