After a short 24 hours in Belfast, we are back in the sky.  Last night we took a stroll around downtown Belfast and had a lovely dinner (including a Guinness, of course).

We met our crew in the lobby of the Hilton this morning and boarded a bus to make our way back to the general aviation area of the Belfast airport where we had parked our trusty C-40 for the night.  The crew jumped off of the bus, unlocked, pre-flighted the plane and got us all back on board.

Our crew getting it ready to fly

We took off in a light Irish rain and headed south for Italy.  It was a short and pleasant three hour ride to Catania, Sicily where we landed at Naval Base Sigonella.  Jean and I have been here so many times it felt as though we were coming home as we circled Mount Etna on our final downwind leg.  She was still smoking after her most recent eruption only a week ago.  We were privileged to see her power a couple of years ago when we were here.  We watched as she spewed smoke and gas and molten lava ran down her chin.  It was magnificent!  It is humbling to see the power mother nature can produce and makes us realize how transient our lives our.  She has been erupting and sleeping for millions of years and we are just here for a microsecond of time to catch a piece of the action.

Our plan is to rest for a couple of days, do the laundry and head for Greece. There is supposed to be a flight from here to Chania, Crete on Sunday.  We shall see.  There is always plan B, or C, or D, etc………we’ll keep you posted.