When I was in the USN, I recall going through the Strait of Messina at night on the JFK, and the underside of the cloud cover was glowing red reflecting the crater of Mount Etna.
IIRC, that passage was also notable because we had a guy jump overboard as we were transiting...the Strait of Messina is not conducive to Man Overboard maneuvers.
We always assumed the guy who jumped was trying to swim to shore and go AWOL.
They never found the guy...I guess that was just someone who needed to get ashore in a serious way.
“When I was in the USN...”
When I was in the USN...I LIVED ON MT ETNA! (mid-70s at NAF Sigonella)
LOL, actually, the lower slopes of the volcano...nowhere near the top. Still, hugely interesting.