Sailing to Byzantium - 12

Three amigos; Conor, Steve and Ian on the slopes of Mount Etna

We are coming to the end of our stay in Palermo and a small amount of tinkering and tuning remains to be completed on the new engine. The crew has assembled on board and we expect to carry out sea trials running the engine on Friday afternoon and hopefully we will depart on Friday evening making our way towards Messina.

A view of the peak from the 2900 meters level looking north

In the last ten days Summer has arrived and the midday temperatures are now soaring into the 30s. With little or now wind this sweltering heat has become uncomfortable at times and has caused us to seek some shade or alternatively the cooler airs at altitude. The extra days in Palermo presented us with the opportunity to do a day trip to Mount Etna.and to try and ascend the mountain and reach the rim. At approximately 3350 metres it dominates the City of Catania which is situated on a volcanic plain just to the south of the volcano on the eastern coast of Sicily.

We left early on Wednesday morning and arrived at the cable car station at Rifugio Sapienza at around 10 a.m.. This station is positioned at 1900 metres and the road that winds its way up the mountain was not old as it was built upon the lava flows from the 2001 - 2003 eruptions. Great expances of volcanic debris and matter have cloaked the mountainside covering and destroying everything in its path. This formidable black flow is slowly breaking down and flowers and shrubs are emerging from this bleak, unearthly but fertile wasteland.

A view of the peak from above 3000 meters looking north east

After purchasing a handful of tickets we ascended to 2500 metres by cable car. Leaving the small capsule of the cable car you felt a distinct drop in the air temperature. During the Winter the slope of the nearby lava flow is used for skiing, but at this time of year there was not much snow left and what was there was blackened with volcanic sand and red dust from the Sahara carried by the winds.

The next stage is taken by bus, which shares more characteristics with an open cast mining dump truck than a commuter vehicle. This wound its way on a volcanic ash and sand path surrounded by snow on either side up to 2900 metres passing the recently created cones of Centenari, Simone and Escriva. Upon exiting the bus the air temperature was close to freezing and as we ascended to the 2900 metre level rain had gradually turned to hail and then to snow. We were clearly not dressed for the occasion and kept warm by marching around the steep sided rim of a cone from a recently created volcanic vent. The air temperature rose and fell as we were walking clearly being influenced by the heat of the rocks we were walking upon. Every few seconds plumes of steam billowed up from the black granular rocky surface and carried away by a gentle breeze.

At 2900 meters the gently sloping lava fields around the peak were largely covered in snow. In some places the snow was over 2 metres deep but in others the snow had melted away being heated by the warmth of the porous rocky ground below. After a dull start to the morning the weather cleared and the sulphurous rim of the volcano was clearly visible crowned with clouds of steam below a blue sky. I ascended to just 50 metres below the rim and peered around trying to take in the panoramic views surrounding the west side of the volcano, but at just over 3000 metres there was very little detail of the surrounding countryside visible, and the mountainside appeared to drift away into a hazy abyss. The weather was changing rapidly and clouds of steam continued to bubble above the rim and I decended the mountainside meeting Ian and Steve at the 1900 meter level. Before long the peak was recaptured by the cloudcover and as we drove away towards Palermo an electric storm was clattering away around the darkened peak.

A solitary butterfly on the upper slopes of Etna

It is difficult to see how lfe can survive in this firey world withsulphur, ice and snow but small spiders made their way through the volcanic rubble and butterflies stood still on the snow attempting to absorb all the available solar heat. The human hold on the mountain is tenuous and temporary; houses and volcanic shelters litter the slopes as destroyed empty shells or buried up to roof level in volcanic matter.

Grib weather chart for the Mediterranean Saturday 1200 hours

The weather situation for the moment remains stable but the wind is decreasing all across the Ionian sea to the east of our postion. If we do not leave soon we will become completely dependent on the engine to get to the Greek mainland. We can expect headwinds in the Aegean and thereafter but the works must be concluded as soon as possible.