From end of PART I: […] the wind raised up bringing creepy noises from the dark forest… suddenly sleeping among the ferns lost its appeal: time to look for a shelter!

Mobile phone batteries and flashlights discharged in a couple of hours. We then waited for the end of the long night in the cold darkness. Then dawn, at last!

The familiar panorama came back to life. Towards East were Stromboli and Panarea, still no lights on the islands. We were now looking for sunlight like plants for photosynthesis …

A couple of early boats towards East, 1000 meters down. And here it is, from behind a wall of clouds on the sea, here it comes, the night-long awaited Mithras, Ra, Helios: his Majesty the Sun!

Time to say goodbye to our night-shelter. No light, no fire, no bed, but so happy we found four walls and a cold floor in the darkness. The 1000 meter-long descent can start!

1000 meters down on steps: Nature talks, birds sing … hikers crawl down in silence through stairs and ferns.

Then first signs of human presence appeared along the path, fences and vineyards welcomed us back to civilization.

Step by step, the “1000 meters up, 1000 meters down” was ended. An event to celebrate … with some rusty and warm but still amazingly refreshing water 🙂

Pictures shot with Nikon D800 (0.9 Kg) plus Nikkor 50 mm f/1.4G (0.3 Kg) or 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR-II (1.5 Kg) or 16-35 mm f/4 (0.7 Kg) with Manfrotto 055XProB tripod (2.9 Kg) all packed into a Lowepro Flipside 400 AW (1.6 Kg) – Click each picture of PART I and this last PART II to enlarge.