SCENIC CRUISING

This was our second sea-day, between Croatia and Sardinia, where we are due to to arrive tomorrow morning. As an added attraction, today was billed as ‘Scenic Cruising’, which started with us passing through the Messina Strait, a narrow channel of water that separates the Southern tip of Italy from the island of Sicily.

Our passage was early, picking up the pilot at around 7am, and meaning we were able to enjoy some lovely views to the mainland as we ate breakfast.

The second item of interest was Stromboli, part of the Aeolian group of eight islands, that features one of the four active volcanoes in Italy. In fact, viewed from the sea, the whole island is basically volcano-shaped.

Our encounter with Stromboli happened near the end of my first class, which today was on Line and Wash. Not that it was too disruptive; we were able to finish the session in plenty of time for folks to get outside and enjoy the view of of the island as we sailed past it several times.

I must say, when we’ve sailed past Stromboli on past cruises, it’s always been in the evening, when the glow from the mouth of the volcano can be seen clearly against the dark sky. Having said that, several folks reported having seen a few puffs of dark smoke rising from the top of the hill, so it didn’t disappoint.

It’s been sunny all day, but quite windy (at least, from lunchtime onwards). In fact, it’s been so windy that the pair of errant undies that have been floating around outside our balcony for the whole of the trip has finally been blown away.

After this afternoon’s class, we took ourselves down to the Lounge on deck 5 for a chocolate chip cookie (two, actually… and they’re not small…) and a glass of beer, while listening to the classical trip playing in the corner. We know how to live.