La Molara

La Molara sits in the channel between Ventotene and Santo Stefano, off the western tip of Santo Stefano, whose bulk lies to the east and wraps from the NE around to the SE (the islet's southern point is only about 430 m away on a ~140 deg bearing), so the NE-through-ESE sectors are heavily shielded and a SE sea still arrives badly clipped; from the SSE the site already looks past the point into open water. Ventotene stands directly across the channel to the west at 1.5-2.5 km, blocking the W-WNW window, with only partial energy skirting its northern tip into the NW sector. The genuinely open water is the channel mouth to the south and south-west — S, SSW, SW and WSW look straight down the open Tyrrhenian, and this Libeccio window is where the surface sea builds — plus the N-NNW opening toward the Maestrale fetch north of the islands. There is no true ocean groundswell here — sea state is wind-driven over local fetch — so the site is usually calm, but a sustained Libeccio (SW) or Maestrale (NW) blow will build the channel and can cancel the crossing.