12th-13th July - Isola Capraia to Le Grazie to Porto Venere (the Italian Riviera)
Bali Hai
Neal Stow
Mon 13 Jul 2009 22:18
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We left Isola Capraia and headed the 60 miles north
to the Italian mainland. The forecast was for good winds and initially we were
sailing but unfortunately the winds soon died and most of the trip was under
motor.
Arriving at the Gulf of Spezia there were
hundreds of boats and it felt much like the Solent on a sunny weekend in
summer. It was rather worrying that we would find the Italian Riviera very
crowded and it did take us some time to find a suitable spot to anchor in the
bay outside the village of Le Grazie. However, it turned out to be just
weekend sailors who disappeared in the evening and the rest of the week would be
surprisingly quiet, considering we were in mid July.
That evening we ate on the boat (Stacy cooking
another lovely meal) and in the morning we motored around the headland to Porto
Venere - one of the most picturesque towns on the Italian Riviera - apparently
what Portofino used to be like.
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