From Viareggio we made a single stop-over for two days in Marina de Medici - of which we have no recollection - and arrived at a very lovely anchorage, Bay of Ortano, on Elba.
Elba, 14 - 17 July 2025
, actually also part of Italy
Elba, where Napoleon was exiled to after his 1812 defeat in Russia. He was actually appointed sovereign ruler of the island and was reforming the administration during his time there. However, he was bored and stayed for only nine months before he made his coupe and regained power - leading to his Waterloo, eventually.
Napoleon is, unfortunately, not the only one to experience problems on Elba.
Anchor trouble...
Anchoring is, under the right conditions, a fantastic experience and the bay we had spotted was really nice. But... the windlass (the anchor winch) had during the latest anchorages gradually lost power, even though supported with the engine running medium speed. I concluded that it had to be the separate anchor battery that was failing. My plan was to replace it with the starting battery and then use the consumption battery for engine starts until we could get a replacement
But, Alla convinced me first to seek assistance from shore instead. Luckily, there was a marine service provider in the nearby Rio Marina. And they responded in English and promised to help us within 30 minutes. I advised them to bring a new battery and so the did. Very professional assistance. The battery was replaced and then everything was working perfectly again :-)
So, being 300 € poorer, we could now safely continue. We sailed around the island destined at Marciana Marina, which is the closest harbour to Corsica, awaiting a good time to cross over. Two lovely days were spent there...
Marciana Marina
