Elba

Home of Napoleon..for a while, Elba is where he was banished to at some stage for losing one too many battles. He stayed a year in exile till he snuck back into Paris at a time of turmoil in the Government and was reinstated till he met his waterloo and was finally banished to St Helena. We sailed into Portoferraio on the North coast of Elba into a very well protected anchorage just off the town. Perfect! Not too many yachts around. We went to town and had a wander and some dinner.

 

Next day we met some fellow Aussies anchored nearby and had some sundown drinks aboard with June and Paul after exploring the town a bit. Unfortunately Napoleon's residence was closed due to renovations, but we did see his bath!

The next two weeks were spent sailing and anchoring around Elba. Port Azzurro was another nice protected anchorage we spent a few days, and then further South to Gulfo De Lacona and Gulfo Campo. Lots of sunshine and swimming most days, although the water is a little cool.

 

 

 

From Elba we headed to Isla Giglio where the Concordia Cruise ship is currently laying on its side and being salvaged in one of the most complex salvage operations ever undertaken (just so it can be towed to Malta to be cut up for scrap) Unfortunate story of how it ran aground, and how the captain was one of the first to jump ship into the lifeboats (he claimed he tripped and fell in…)

We anchored in a nice bay South of the harbour and headed off to Isle Giannutri the next morning. A nice island but not the best anchorage as the water is quite deep. We anchored in about 14m which meant letting out 70m of chain. We would have stayed longer but the forecast doesn’t look good for getting into the canals at Rome after tomorrow, so we headed for Rome !