42:54.50N 10:23.97E

17 July 2011

Again off in the morning but not early.  This was a good stop off on the way to Elba of Napoleon fame.  There were two anchorages I wanted to try and with the winds I selected Porto Azzuro as the place.  It is only open to the east but can get some swells from the south per the pilot guide.  On the way the winds were not the best.  We poked into a few small islands on the way to see if anything was worth spending the night.  Not with all the day visiting boat that filled the anchorages that were favorable for the winds.

As we proceeded the winds were too much to our stern and the seas grew in size. So we continued to motor with the mainsail out.  But after a while with the choppy seas we brought the main in since it was just slapping back and forth.

Porto Azzuro was nice to enter as the winds dropped and the seas really diminished.  We selected a place to anchor close to shore on the south side after looking around some.  This spot was nice in that it was protected from the southerly winds, in fact we swung on anchor like the winds were from the north as a result of the backwind.  A bit later in the day some other boats anchored nearby, no big deal but it seemed we were getting closer.  So we weighed anchor only to find our anchor was fouled with a fishing net float that sunk and took all the digging power away from the anchor.  Once cleared we reset the anchor in 17 meters with 45 meters chain rode out.  Good sand/mud bottom here to get a good bite.

After a day we decided to head north to the main harbor at Porto Ferraio.  Tried our best to sail north but the winds just kept shifting around and had no strength so motored to the northern cape.  Once there the seas grew substantially from the NW.  Looking at the new port I decided that it would just be a rough place as a result and the constant huge ferry traffic would not make anchoring nice being tucked up in the northwest corner.  So a trip to nowhere while we headed back to Porto Azzuro and re-anchored in the same spot.

So some more days here.  On the night of the 19/20^th the winds became very strong from the west.  I let out all the rode so we now had 70 meters of chain out with constant 35-38knot winds.  Some chop but not bad.  Of course at night all the shorelines come closer in your mind so I spent most of the night “sleeping” in the cockpit to watch things.  By 07:00 the winds dropped and things were fine.  Life being at anchor.

The town at Porto Azzuro is very pretty and of course oriented to tourist and the many rental units around.  As a result the food shopping is very good with a large COOP Supermarket and many local specialty shops.

The next day we re-anchored three times as a result of a local tug converted to a tour boat kept dragging its anchors.  No issue with the equipment just the owners were not the best.  They only let out enough rode to touch bottom it seems.  It was like a lurking menace looking for a boat to hit all the time.

The main port of Azzuro. There is a small marina tucked inside the breakwater but it does not provide that much protection, just easier to get off the boat.   The ferries are now moved to a port further north so the harbor is free to anchor almost everywhere.  The charts and pilot guides do not reflect this change yet so the boats tend to anchor along the shorelines.

When the Spainish occupied the island they built this fort in the early 1600’s.  Good commanding position and also made a great prison later.

The town is well kept with many mineral shops.  The mining of minerals was a big item on Elba.  Vast array of different stones.  As with all well utilized tourist towns things are funded enough to maintain the place.  Nothing really different from other places, just nice.  People of course were all friendly even if the language barrier was there.

The tug of destruction.  Just laying around waiting to drag its anchors toward anyone not paying attention.  We lifted out anchor and moved when it was apparent this vessels was not well set and heading toward us.  Once we reset and call the onshore marina to tell them about it the owners came out and re-anchored by using a small power boat to move this tug in 20 knot winds.  Of course they had little control and forced us again to lift our anchor to get away from its wild swings.  Once they set anchor we anchored upwind.  The next day it dragged again toward a small sailboat.  It apparently does not have an operational engine so it must be dragged around by small boats.