The forecasted winds didn't materialise so we ended up motorsailing most of the way from Porto Vecchio to the Tuscan island of Elba only managing to sail for the last four hours. We expected an uneventful night passage but ended up playing dodgems with ferries. One clearly didn't see us and we saw his red and green navigation lights heading straight for us until he was about a mile away when thankfully he made a drastic alteration of course.
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| Laconella bay |
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Marina di Campo
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| Marina di Campo |
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| Portoferraio |
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| Portoferraio |
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| Portoferraio |
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| Marina di Campo |
We dropped anchor in a small bay on the southern corner of Golfo de Stella. For the next week we bay hopped west along the south coast of Elba enjoying some really hot weather with little wind and calm seas. It's a lovely green island with beautiful beaches and clear blue water. We finally arrived in Marina di Campo and anchored off the busy beach. Not sure what it is with the Italians with their regimented and colour coded sun umbrellas occupying every square inch of beach. Most of the bays are buoyed off with swimming and watersports areas and we've already been told off for anchoring within 300 mts of the shoreline. Marina di Campo is a pretty holiday town with a small fishing harbour. It proved a useful base with banks, post office and a good supermarket at hand. We took a bus across the island to Portoferraio and wandered into the picturesque historic centre. Napoleon was exiled here in 1814. We made our way up some steep steps to Villa dei Mulini, perched on the bastions between the defensive forts, his home for only nine months. Museum wise it was a bit disappointing but it was a nice house with a lovely garden affording wonderful views across the bay.
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| Villa dei Mulini |
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| View from Villa dei Mulini |
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| Portoferraio harbour |
Beautiful photos, as ever!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a lovely place to stay
ReplyDelete