Aeolian Islands (Part 2) – Salina and Panarea

On Saturday 14 June we moved on from Isola Filicudi. Navigation was easy because the next 2 islands in the chain, Salina and Lipari, are just over 10 miles east of Filicudi and were already standing out clearly from our anchorage. We passed to the north of Salina, the closer island, aiming to get to Panarea another 15 miles further on.

Salina is a much larger island than the ones we had seen so far with flat, fertile plains around and between the 2 extinct volcano cones. It is therefore more heavily populated than either Alicudi or Filicudi, with the economy based on tourism and the production of capers and malvasia wine.

Salina’s 2 volcano cones standing out clearly from the north-east    

Following the guidance in the pilot book, we had planned to anchor off San Pietro, the main town on Panarea, and so sailed up eastern side of the island.

Even from a distance we could see a number of large motor yachts in the area in which we hoped to anchor but that didn’t mean that there would be no space for us, so we contiued along the coast, admiring the scenery as we went.

One of our guidebooks describes the island as a spot for the idle rich and the number of large, attractive villas littering the coastline rather backs it up.

Unlike the other islands, the coasts of which descend almost sheer into a many hundred metre deep abyss, Panarea is surrounded by quite a large platform only a 100m or so deep. Consequently, there are a number of offlying rocks around the island which, in the settled conditions, made interesting anchorages for some yachts.

There is no harbour as such on Panarea, just a quay off San Pietro for ferries and hydrofoils. The area around it was filled with moorings and other yachts at anchor so we elected not to stay there. Having had a good look at the town from the sea we retraced our steps to a bay with a sandy beach which, if the pilot book is to be believed, is a no anchoring area. However, there were plenty of other yachts and 2 or 3 tripper boats anchored in the bay, so we joined them. It’s certainly a good place to anchor with excellent protection from south through west to the north and a sandy bottom providing secure holding. The water was lovely and clear too, so we swam but were a little disappointed to see far fewer fish than off similar beaches Sardinia and the Balearics. However, it was warm so we also took the opportunity to give BV’s bottom a bit of a clean and then relaxed in the sun.

In the morning Nicky was very energetic and swam up and down between the headlands [Ed: it felt nearly as warm as a swimming pool though I could have done with some lines on the bottom to keep me going straight!] whilst I worked my way through a large pot of coffee. The island of Stromboli, with its active volcano, was visible just 12 miles to the north and, over breakfast, we hatched a plan to move up there for a closer look-see.