Our next stop on this cruise was Civitavecchia, the port for Rome. Rome is a bit far from the post, up to 90 minutes with traffic. Kevin, Shannon and Elias went into Rome and took the hop on hop off bus tour. Because Brian and Fiona were quarantined, Kevin and Shannon offered to take Liam in with them. But Liam was tired and opted to stay on the ship. The next day he too, was quarantined. Suzi and I had already decided to skip Rome and just visit the port. When it came time to get off the ship, we decided to skip that as well. There was a red alert for health related heat problems so we spent a relaxing day on the ship, reading and, in my case, swimming.
When folks got back to the ship the wisdom of our decision was justified. Elias asked Kevin, “Papa, how do people live here?” It was just too hot for him. I talked with others, not only was it hot, but the crowds made them claustrophobic. One woman dropped out of the Vatican tour, too many people, another said that she was miserable, being pushed along, no time to take pictures and it was hot. One man said he dropped his plan to walk, even short distances, because of the heat. I’m sure some people had fun in Rome but I didn’t hear much good about it. Kevin says that at least when Elias sees pictures of the Colosseum or St. Peter’s he will be able to say, “I was there.” He also liked the gelato although Kevin said they would have to have another meal in Italy to redeem the lunch they had in Rome. The moral, don’t eat in a crowded tourist place near the Vatican.
The highlight of the day came that night, as we sailed south toward the Straits of Messina. A tremendous lightning storm broke in front of us and then to the starboard, our side of the ship, and ran for more than four hours. Suzi, Kevin and I watched from a balcony on deck 9 and then we all watched from our balconies. Quarantine does not mean that you can’t be out on the balcony, and we had opened the partitions between the balconies so we could share it with Liam, Fiona and Brian. The storm was far enough away that we seldom heard thunder and the seas remained calm. You can see lightning for up to 100 miles if it is a high storm but only hear Thunder for about 15.
The next day we passed within a nautical mile of the Stromboli volcano. It is called the lighthouse of the Med because it has been erupting almost continuously for more than 2000 years. Stromboli is on an island. We approached on the starboard side so that we got good views from our balcony before we turned to pass the island portside. Those in our family in quarantine got a good view for at least a little while. Kevin and I headed to the portside and topside to watch the rest of the sail by. The erupting island has two inhabited villages on its slopes. I am not so sure about this about the wisdom of this but the towns have been there since neolithic times and are still there. The mountain is a hundred feet shorter than our Mt. Edgecumbe. Both have a similar appearance, but Mt. Edgecumbe has snow and Stromboli has smoke. We saw brief flashes of red lava but no fountaining. Elias loves the idea of volcanoes and gets to see one smoking.
Following Stromboli, we passed through the narrow Straits of Messina between the toe of the Italian boot and Sicily. I had hoped we would see Mt. Etna actually spitting fire in the distance. It is around 50 miles from where we were and more than 11,000 feet tall. Its height varies because it keeps blowing its top and then rebuilding it.  The mountain is known in mythology as the home of Vulcan’s forge and also the home of Morgan le Fay in the King Arthur legends. This was enough to make me interested. A Celtic connection in Sicily.  Unfortunately, the cloud cover was enough that we could not see it from the south end of the Staits. This was a sea day to remember.
