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with Jonathan to Elba
July 1999
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Carlo Maccioni and
Franco Falconi
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ma se ghe pensu  click
for music
The cruise
Our initial thoughts were to sail to Sicily and
the Aeolian islands, but a few days before leaving,instead, we decided
to sail along the eastern coasts of Sardinia and Corsica and then continue
to Elba Island.
This solution allowed us to sail only by day
and to spend the nights in port. It also gave us a window, depending on
weather forecasts, of how to program the day..
After a close call adventure that occurred in
1997, we wanted a safe restart, and indeed the cruise went on quite safely
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We did run into some storms along the Corsican
coast, but the velocity of the winds never exceeded 25 knots. Even the
crossing of the Channel of Bonifacio (between Sardinia and Corsica) presented
no difficultiy, in spite of the "mistral" winds.
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We left from Cagliari on July 5th
at 4:00 AM, under light winds, and entered the port of Arbatax at 6:00
PM, having made the run mostly on engine power
On 6th we found shelter in the port of La Caletta,
on 7th at Punta Marana, where we spent two nights. Weather forecasts on
the 8th indicated strong West winds inside the Channel of Bonifacio, so
we decided to delay the crossing until we had more favorable weather conditions.The
delay gave us an opportunity to enjoy a sailing trip along the Costa Smeralda.
On July 9th we crossed the Channel and arrived in Portovecchio at 5:00
PM under a violent storm.
On the 10th we sailed along Corsica, to Campoloro,
where we spent the night, and in the afternoon of the 11th we sighted the
Island of Elba. It was our intention to moor at Marciana, but we were unable
to find a slip free, which necessitated sailing on to Portoferraio. The
moorings we found there were situated in the old port, in the center of
town, a pretty good location.
We spent a day (the 12th) in Portoferraio, and
continued our cruise on the 13th, sailing along the western coast of Elba
Island to Portoazzurro, where we spent the night. On
the 14th we sailed along the Southern coast
to Marina di Campo and, from there, on to Corsica.
On our cruise home we sailed again along the
coasts of Corsica and Sardinia calling at the same ports that we entered
on our outward voyage.
We arrived in Cagliari on July 19th, at 6:00
PM, pushed by a fresh SE wind. |
The eastern coast of Sardinia
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The cliff of Ogliastra and Santa Maria Navarrese
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The cliff looks as if it was covered with snow.
Indeed it's covered with
guano that has been deposited by seagulls
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Sailing off Tavolara island
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There is a big
NATO radiogoniometric Station on the island.
The photo reflects the station aerials
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Jonathan inside the port of Punta Marana
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Punta Marana is in the gulf of Marinella, near Porto Rotondo and the
Costa Smeralda,
a paradise for affluent people.
Of course, the fee for one night
costs twice as much as in other ports
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The island of Molara and the Southern
tip of Tavolara
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The cliff on the tip of Tavolara is named
"The Pope",
as it looks like a man wearing a mantle
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At anchor in Cala Sisine
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Cala Sisine is one of the most beautiful
places in the Tyrrhenian Sea
The water is clear like the crystal
and under the sunlight displays a light
turquoise colour
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The Eastern coast of Corsica
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Portovecchio
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Portovecchio is a tourist resort of Corsica and is very crowded during
the Summer season.
The old city is a citadel
surrounded by mighty stone walls
erected by Genoans in the 15th Century.
The walls can be seen in the photo
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The Gulf of Portovecchio
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Portovecchio is locatad at the end
of a narrow, quite long water passage,
completely surrounded
by cottages and tourist villages
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Campoloro
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The marina of Campoloro is located
at 20 NM from Bastia
We stayed there on the night of July 14th ,
the French National Day.
There were thousands of people dancing on the quays. Needless to say,it
was difficult to sleep, so
we watched the fireworks display
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The Isle of Elba
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Monte Capanne
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Elba can so be seen by a ship coming from Corsica.
Monte Capanne is the highest mountain
on the island
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Portoferraio by night
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The photo was shot from the boat
while moored in the old port
Portoferraio is the capital city of the island and was, also, the capital
city of a kingdom when Napoleon stayed there in 1814
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Portoferraio by day
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This photo reflects the same view , but
it was shot from the quay.
The old port is the hub of
tourist activities. On Summer, thousands of tourists go there for shopping
and dining in
cafés and restaurants
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Off Rio Marina
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Along Elba's Eastern coast many old
iron mines can be seen.
At one time, iron ore
was the primary resource of the island
but the mines were exhausted more
than 20 years ago
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Portoazzurro
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Portoazzurro used to be the village
where the families of the warders of the
famous prison lived
By now, it is pretty much a nice tourist resort
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Jonathan's page
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