So we finally leave Bastia.
It seems to be a lovely day.
The sun is shinning and the wind has dropped away. We finally pay up. For the first time since we have
arrived, there is proper manning of this marina. There are three ladies in the office to take payment, and
three men in matching tee shirts wandering around and in the rib. The only problem is that we would have
liked to fill up with fuel and despite there being a fuel pontoon, they tell us
that it is not working!
We leave fairly early and set out for Elba. The sea has settled a lot, but it is still a bit
choppy. We set out in 5-6 knots of
wind to put us on a reach. So we
put up the mainsail. But after
half an hour the wind turns and would you believe it, it is on the nose - and it
is up to 9-10 knots. There is
nothing for it but to motor straight into the wind and bash against the
waves. It is not too bad, but I am
glad that I took a pill. At least
it is not rolly. The corkscrew
motion is the worst for making you seasick.
Just before we get into port Richard decides we should change our
courtesy flag from French to Italian.
Last time Richard changed flags he managed to put up a Dutch flag
instead of the French (look them up they are the same but one is vertical and
the other horizontal). So this
time he says to me “I don’t want to get it wrong”, but when I look at the flag
he is going to put up, I see that it is the Irish one, not the Italian (last
stripe orange, not red). So we
nearly did it again, but eventually got it right. Perhaps it has something to do with the Napoleonic palindrome "able was I ere...".
The journey is 5 1/2 hours long and rather boring, especially on
motor. But we make it to Elba by
3:30pm, which is good. We have decided to go into a proper marina. So we go to Marciana Marina. It is a lovely spot. The pilot book is well out of
date. There are new modern
pontoons and good facilities. It
is also the second most expensive place we have been! But then we are now in July and high season, so that could
explain it. But we are content.
We have a nice long walk around the village. It is cute - a typical seaside town. We find a nice shop selling local goods
and the sales lady is from Edinburgh!
So we buy a half bottle of local red dessert wine. Heaven knows when we will drink it as
we rarely have dessert on board.
We still have most of a bottle of sweet white in the fridge!
Back to the boat where we give it a rinse, to get all the salt off from
the lumpy sea, and then off to a very nice dinner. We will move off tomorrow, but it is tempting to stay here.
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