We walked Lindsay and Carol to the Ripsoto train station. They departed at 10:16. Great to have Carol on for a few days, good company and very handy in the galley! Linds, as always, is great company and we enjoyed the couple of nights he spent on the boat. Jude and I returned to Westralia after organising some supplies and prepared to depart. Strong winds of plus 20 knots NW resulted in us tacking up the Messina straits to Taormina.

16:00    We anchored off Giardini, ran the genset to do some washing, then made our way to shore where we caught a taxi up to Taormina. Very nice town, elevated above the Messina Straits. We had dinner with Tom and Emma in Taormina. Noted Etna had come alive in the night sky.

"Yesterday evening, Wednesday 3 July, the Civil Protection department ordered the transition of the alert for the Etna volcano from green to yellow level, inviting the territorial civil protection structures to adopt the appropriate local operational phases and risk mitigation measures, especially in relation to the possible presence of hikers at high altitude. This decision - explains the Department in a note - was adopted in light of the assessments that emerged during the meeting with the Competence Centers and the Civil Protection Department of the Sicilian Region, a meeting called yesterday evening following the volcano's activities which recorded an increase in tremor and frequent Strombolian activity at the summit craters, accompanied by small lava emissions in the crater area, with a possible rapid evolution of the phenomena towards a more energetic activity."

We left the Etna craters around 3pm on the 3rd!

Chrissy, who assisted us to berth at the private jetty

Taormina, nice town, quite ritzy and expensive!

Jude, Tom and Emma

Midnight, view of Etna from our anchorage. The activity started evening of the 3^rd. We left the crater area a few hours earlier.