Tuesday 8 July 2014 - Riva di Traiano

We have decided to stay here and get the furling gear for the genoa fixed.  Richard has read up the instruction manual and it suggests two possible problems.  The first was that the halyard was too tight.  So he made that loose and the sail unfurled and came down.  But that is not the real problem.

The second suggestion is that the backstays are too loose.  Since we took the backstays off when the boat came out of the water, we are certain this is the problem.  Last year when we undid the rigging, we painted lines on the stays with nail varnish to show up to what point they had to be tightened.  But those lines have now disappeared and we had no more nail varnish to mark them again when we were lifted out.  Richard tried to tighten them as much as he could, but we are pretty certain this is the problem.

So Richard goes to the chandlers who organise someone to come.  We are told they will come in the morning.  So despite the weather being pleasant, we just sit on the boat and wait for the repairer to come.  Of course, no one comes.  So we have a light lunch and ask again; this time they say he will come at 3:00pm.

In the meantime as we are here for another night we decide to have a blow out meal at the two Michelin rosette restaurant in the area.  We will have to take a taxi.  The driver who brought us back last night gave us his number.  So we organise reservations to eat at Il Pelicano and to be taken and delivered by Gianluca (the taxi driver’s name).  I am really looking forward to this.

The mechanic comes on time and also agrees that the problem is loose backstays.  It takes him about 45 minutes to give each side 15 more turns and hey presto, the furling gear works.  We ask if he can connect our navigation light, but he doesn’t have time until tomorrow.  We hope to leave by then.

So off we go to our posh dinner.  The restaurant is in an hotel listed in Leading Hotels and is very beautiful.  It is typical Tuscan buildings all painted brick red and tiered down the hillside to the sea.  The restaurant is set up on the terrace.  We really can’t decide what to eat, so take the easy way out and have the tasting menu.  It is six courses (all small portions) plus we have 5 little tastes with our aperitif, an amuse bouche of a stuffed mussel to start and then a pre-desert.  Then of course there are petit fours with our coffee.  But there is also an extra treat.  I have seen sweet trolleys and cheese trolleys in restaurants, but this one has a chocolate trolley!  They come around with four huge slabs of chocolate, milk, white, dark 65%, and dark 70%.  What a delight! I have the menu and will scan and put it here on the blog when we get back home.

Back with Gianluca to the boat.  He is known everywhere.  The hotel know him, as does the marina.  He is also very reasonable.

We are a little later than we want.  We need to leave very early in the morning.  Very high winds are forecast for the next few days, starting tomorrow afternoon.  We have a 30+ mile journey to the next port, so a 7:00am start is needed.

The alarm is set for 6:00am and we get up and make ready to leave.  The weather is fine.  It is sunny and there is little wind.  We set off at 7:00 as planned and can’t sail because of the lack of wind.  In fact we begin to doubt the forecast, because for the first 4 hours there is no wind and the sea is like glass, though there is a slight swell.  But again it takes us by surprise when within 2 minutes the wind builds from 2 knots to 17 knots.  We put up the genoa and motor sail to keep up our speed, because all of a sudden the wind is getting stronger and the sea has become very lumpy and confused.  So we are really anxious to get in to port as soon as possible. 

We have these poor conditions for about the last hour of the trip.  The wind is touching 20-22 knots.  The sea is getting worse and worse.  Richard calls up the marina on the radio when it comes in to sight and thankfully they can find a berth for us.  The entrance to the marina is a bit tricky with the swell coming in, but the sea does flatten as we approach it and we get in and moored safely, with no problem.

This is another one of these large newish marina developments in the middle of nowhere.  There are a lot of empty shops and no food store.  I have more or less run out of fresh food on board.  I do have one duck breast which will do for dinner tonight, but nothing for lunches and only pasta thereafter.  So we wind up having a cheap and unexciting lunch in the marina and then go to try the supermarket we are told is about a half mile away.  The problem is not the distance.  The only way to get to the supermarket is by walking along the highway which has no pavement.  I am not keen, but needs must.  However, I do not want to walk back, especially with shopping.  So when we get there we ask if they can get us a taxi to take us back.  Instead they offer to drive us back.  The man who took us said he was coming in this direction anyway.  The Italians are charming!

Back at the marina I stop at a café to use their wifi while Richard goes back to the boat with the shopping to put away.  He is supposed to meet me at the café, but after 30-40 minutes he has still not arrived.  I am worried and go back to the boat.  It is chaos.  The wind is now blowing a force 6 here in the marina.  The wind itself is not the problem but outside the marina it has caused a 2 – 3 metre swell, some of which is coming into the harbour.  The boat is swaying all over the place, and the plank we use to get on and off keeps falling off the dock!  Richard is madly putting on more ropes to see if he can make it better.  It is a slight improvement, but we are not moving nearly as much as some of the other boats, so we doubt we can do much more.  Getting on and off is a real risk as the plank keeps moving all over the place!  Maybe we should get ourselves a real passarelle.

So we are on the boat for the evening.  We have had dinner and are both very tired after an early day.   It appears from the forecast we will be stuck here for at least the next three days and these winds are predicted to last until Thursday!  At least we now have some food. 

Sunday 6 July 2014 - Cala Galera, near Porto Ercole

We had a much more comfortable night than anticipated.  Richard was up in the night and directed me to go look at the night sky.  It was very good, and I could make out the usual three constellations I know and the Milky Way.  Very fine.

In the morning we ate breakfast in the cockpit and it was pleasant.  It then started to get very hot.  So we had a swim, which was very nice.  However sometime in the morning the wind changed direction and started to blow directly into the anchorage. Then boat after boat started to arrive to anchor for the afternoon and the sea became very choppy.  Eventually I started to feel sea sick, which is really silly when anchored, but there your are.  I took a pill, but it didn’t help much. So at midday we decided to leave and go to the harbour.

The first thing we noticed was a virtual flotilla of boats coming out of the harbours.  There were dozens and dozens of them all going in the same direction at the same time.  Richard said it looked like a lock had just emptied, except there are no locks here!  So dodging all the traffic we enter Porto Ercole harbour.  We know that it is a small harbour with a very limited number of visitor berths, but, having come so early in the day, we are a bit surprised when the marina staff tell us there is no room and we have to go to the big marina outside the town.

There we have no problem getting a berth.  In fact they read our name off the back of the boat as we came in and called us up on the radio to arrange a berth!

We have a light lunch on the boat and then decide to go to the local beach.  It is literally the other side of the harbour, but we can’t find any direct path to get to it and wind up walking for about 40 minutes to get to the beach.  By this time we are boiling, so we go straight into the water.  It is very shallow and warm, but eventually we get out far enough to get cooler water and enough depth to swim.  I notice a whole family of father and three sons paddle boarding.  The father is on a board with a very little boy, maybe 4-5 years old.  When they reach shallow water the little one starts to paddle on his own.  Great they start children on water sports so young.

After our swim we manage to find a better way back straight to the marina.  We shall remember that if we stay here for another day or two.  We then book in.  This place is expensive.  We expected that as we are now in high season.  But it does have all facilities and we hope to be able to get a mechanic to fix our furling system on the genoa tomorrow.  Anyway, everywhere else will be about the same cost given the time of year.

This evening we walked into town.  It is supposed to be only half a mile away, but it was much further.  We finally made it in to town and found a super place on the sea front to have a cocktail.  For the price of your drink you also got the chance to chose your own nibbles from a buffet, which was quite fun.

We are in two minds about what to do for dinner.  The restaurants are very boring, but I can’t face cooking so we decide to stop and have something to eat.  They even call us a taxi to take us back (I didn’t fancy the walk in the dark!).  The taxi is quite reasonable and we get his number in case we manage to get a table at the two Michelin rosettes restaurant locally and need a lift.

Saturday 5 July - near Porto Ercole, Italian mainland

We got up early with a view to leaving to go to another Tuscan island called Isolo Del Giglio.  All went well initially.  We went into town and bought our bread and vongole clams and set off is bright sun.  The wind turned out to be from behind so we put up the genoa to do motor sailing.  There was not enough wind to sail and get us to our destination in good time, as we have to go just over 30 miles.

The pilot book said that there was a nice town on the island called Giglio with a small harbour where we hoped to stay for at least one night and perhaps more as we have so much time before we need to get to Rome. 

I made a bit of a booboo organising food.  I forgot we would be sailing through lunch and didn’t buy anything suitable to eat under way.  Also the sea is very lumpy because of the high winds yesterday, so it is not suitable just to slow down and do a knife and fork meal in the cockpit.  So we rush to get to port to have a late lunch.

As we approach the port we are very confused.  There is what looks like a huge building site just outside, with cranes all over the place.  When we look closer it looks like all the equipment is around a boat that has sunk.  When we try to go in to the harbour we are told to leave immediately and that there is no chance of getting into the harbour before 5:30pm!  All of a sudden the penny drops.  This is the place where that Italian cruise liner the Costa Concordia went down in 2012.  They are still salvaging it and it has obviously affected the port.  It looked as if the place had been quite attractive but was now spoiled by the wreck and related cranes and so on.  So plan A will not work.

On our way to Giglio we had passed inside a slightly submerged rock and were surprised that there was no marker to warn of its presence.  It was reasonably well away from the shore in water that was otherwise well over 20 metres deep.  It was clearly marked on the chart but it is unusual in Northern Europe to come across a rock like this without a warning buoy or marker.

The next idea was to go to a bay just south of the town and anchor there for the night.  We get to the bay and it is solid with boats.  I count nearly 40 and there were more that I could not see.  Also the anchorage is very deep and to get to the shallower part means getting close to the rocks, where we could come to grief like the Costa Concordia. So we just stay for a late lunch and decide to press on to the Italian mainland.

All day the sea has been very lumpy and it is getting worse.  We are being rocked all over the place.  One problem is that there is still swell from the high winds yesterday.  The second problem is that the swell is coming for a different direction to the wind, so there are waves coming across us in two directions.  I need my seasick pills, but after taking them am fine.

Richard has put the main up and as the wind builds in the afternoon decides we could have a nice sail in a force 4-5.  So he tries to pull out the genoa and it is stuck.  We don’t know why, but we can’t pull it out, so we can’t properly sail.  Again we are motor sailing.  It has been a very frustrating day.  We shall have to have the sail sorted out in the next port.  It may mean sending someone up the mast!  That won’t be me, by the way.

We decide that after such an annoying day we need a treat.  So we have one of our good bottles of white Burgundy (Chassagne Montrachet) to go with my pasta vongole, which turns out very nice.  We shall go into port sometime tomorrow.

Friday 4 July 2014 - Porto Azzurro

We have been on holiday today.  Because of the threat of high winds, and the fact that we have been rushing along, we have decided to stay here in Porto Azzurro for another night.  So we had the whole day at leisure with no real domestic chores to do, save for washing the boat down.

We did an exhaustive search of all the restaurants yesterday and have decided to have both lunch and dinner out.  Richard has found a restaurant that serves Moray eel and we go there for lunch.  It is a real find.  We have three different starters to share between us and a glass of white wine each.  It is just enough and very tasty.  The eel is cooked in a rather rich strong tasting sauce of oil, garlic, and vinegar with a touch of chilli.  But it is very nice.  We also have sardines stuffed with tuna and then battered and fried and finally a super dish of bread, peppers, onions tomatoes and capers.  I would have liked a recipe for that one!

We have also found a little beach just on the other side of the marina wall.  It is small, crowded, and has fine stones, not sand.  But it is a short walk and a good place just to go and have a dip when we are hot.  So we have a swim before lunch and in the afternoon.  We needed the latter because after lunch we went for a walk along the coast which involved quite a steep climb in the hot sun.  We got up to the citadel, but find that this is not one that can be visited because it is a high security prison!  We wondered why there was a prison police boat in the harbour.

For dinner we chose a restaurant not in the Michelin guide.  We looked at the recommended one and it seemed dull.  This place, Tomata, had a very unusual and interesting menu and we had a lovely meal which was not too filling.  We hope to leave for another island tomorrow, but I will try to buy vongole clams before we go to make pasta vongole tomorrow!  Perhaps another recipe for the column.

Thursday 3 July 2014 - Porto Azzurro, Elba

We decide that we will not go into the harbour here.  Instead we will go to a harbour on the other side of the island.  We set out after 9:00am, but before we can go we have to get fuel.  We still have been motoring a lot.  We have to queue for the fuel pontoon, but we finally fill up (taking nearly 2/3 of a tank, so we really did need it). 

Off we go.  It is a real game of dodgems avoiding all the ferries.  They are coming from both directions crossing each other.  There is one, which is a monohull, but it cuts through water rather like a fast cat.  The problem is that is leaves the most horrendous wash.  It is wave after wave of about one metre in height, or perhaps a bit more.  It is impossible to avoid.  Richard thinks the wash could easily swamp a small boat.

We did put the sail up and for the first hour or so we did a bit of sailing.  But as we rounded the headland the wind turned directly on the nose, so we had to motor again.

It is forecast to be very warm today and it certainly is sunny.  So we are determined to stop for a swim.  We make it nearly to our destination and put the anchor down.  We then have our swim, which is lovely.  While in the water Richard decides that it would be a good time to tie on the new line we bought for the dinghy.  He does it just in time.  As I watch him working on the rope I ask why the old painter looks so much more shredded.  He then works out that as we were anchoring he went over the painter again and cut it again!

So after a nice stop we make our way in to Porto Azzurro.  The pilot book suggests that this is a very busy port and may not have room.  But there is no problem.  We get a berth right away.  The organisation of the port is a bit of a mystery.  There are the usual men with hand held radios, who you call up and assign you a berth and help take your lines.  They all wear official tee shirts for the port.  But there does not seem to be a harbour office where you check in and pay.  Eventually we see a sign at the town hall indicating an office that deals with the pontoons.  We find it and are told that they only deal with payments in the mornings!  We then speak to one of the staff who tells us where the toilets and showers are.  They are another municipal lot, where payment is expected, but as part of the cost we get a card to get in free!  There is also supposed to be free WIFI, but it does not seem to work.  I dread to think what this will cost us!

We have a walk around the town.  It is all closed down for siesta, but it looks very nice.  Another typical upmarket seaside place.  There is a beach in the harbour, but the signs on it say “it is forbidden to swim”.  However no one seems to be paying much attention to that!  Very Italian.

It is a diet day, so we can’t go out to eat or get a drink other than fizzy water.  The weather for tomorrow is forecast to be winds gusting up to force 8, so we will probably stay here and eat out then.  Richard is still trying to find a place that serves Moray eel, which he was recommended to eat by a visiting Rotarian from this part of the world who came to one of our meetings.  So far, no luck, but he thinks one bar sold some as tapas and will try to have it for lunch! 

We have our meagre dinner on board and then walk around the town.  It is much more lively now.  All the shops are open and there are loads of stalls selling handicrafts and the like.

Wednesday 2 July 2014 - Portoferraio, Elba

Tempting as our berth was, we did move on.  We left late as we are not going far.  The weather forecast is for a scorcher, so it would be nice to be somewhere we can swim.  We decide to go to Portoferraio, which is where Napoleon was exiled to.  However, we have decided not to go into the town marina, but instead to anchor in the harbour.  Richard says that the anchorage is only half a mile from the town and we can take the dinghy in to look around.

We set off in bright sunshine and little wind, but we put the mainsail up just in case.  Soon the wind picks up and for a change it seems to be in the right direction.  As we are only going a few miles, we are in no hurry, so we actually sail all the way.  As we pass the last headland, we lose the wind or it swirls around and goes on the nose, but Richard perseveres and as we come in to the anchorage it is blowing 14 knots on the beam and we are screaming along at 7 knots!  Richard leaves taking the sails down to the last minute which makes me rather nervous.  The problem with this port is that it has ferries coming in and out constantly and “they make way for no one”.  The port seems to have room for between 5 and 7 of them and they seem to come and go every quarter or an hour or so.

But without mishap, (and waiting for two ferries to cross) we anchor up and have lunch.  The really hot weather does not seem to have materialised and I am really not hot enough to swim.  In fact, of the dozen or so boats here and the two beaches we can see, none have any swimmers.  Instead we decide to take the dinghy into the town as suggested.

Well, that was an adventure.  Half a mile doesn’t sound much, but it is over a fairly open body of water which was quite choppy and goes right across the ferry dock with all their movements.  Headlines like “elderly English couple mowed down by ferry in Italy” started to come to mind!  But we did make it to the town safely.  We really couldn’t see anywhere to put the dinghy, but finally found the end of a pontoon with small boats, which seemed OK (and which the harbour officials later said was fine).

So we looked around the town.  It is very pretty with coloured houses going up from the harbour to a high citadel and other monumental buildings.  We climbed almost to the top and went to see the house where Napoleon lived during his exile.  We even got in for free on account of being so elderly!

After a good look around the town we get back to our dinghy and find it is fine and joined by another two!  The trip back is worse that than coming over.  It takes us over half an hour and we have to dodge one ferry.  It is also very splashy because of the chop on the sea.  This means we can’t go very fast.  I am really relieved when we get back to the boat safely.

We have a BBQ on board - lamb kebabs.  We are now settling in for the night.  It seems quite comfortable.  We had toyed with the idea of going to tie up in the town tomorrow.  We even made enquiries as the harbour office.  They could take us and it would cost 81 Euros!  However, we think we have done justice to the town, so we will move on to another port on the south of the island.  We need somewhere sheltered to stay because high winds are forecast for Friday.

Tuesday 1 July 2014 - Marciana Marina, Elba

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.