We left the French island of Corsica for the site of Napoleon's first exile, the Italian island of Elba. We are predisposed to love Italy since Christy spent three years of high school in Rome and a year of university in Florence. Plus - and this is a big one - they have the best ice cream that we have ever tasted. We had an easy overnight passage from Porto Vecchio in the south of Corsica. Our plan was to motor through a calm evening northwards up the east coast of Corsica until the northerlies kicked in sometime after midnight.

Right on schedule we turned east and rode the northerlies all the way from the middle of Corsica to Elba. We arrived on a sunny morning to the well protected anchorage of Porto Azzura and anchored in 30 feet of water.

It was in this bay that our faithful cell phone took a dive to the bottom during a bumpy dinghy ride. Luckily, there was a local dealer and we picked up a new phone and a cheap internet plan that allowed us up to 500 megabytes of data for 20 euros. Hooking the phone up to the laptop as a modem was a challenge as usual, but with Christy's Italian we finally got it done.

Porto Azzuro, Elba

Since Napoleon's home was on the other side of the island in Porto Ferraio, we had a quick pizza and a gelato and made our way around to the northern side.

Porto Ferraio, Elba

Porto Ferraio is situated on a rocky promontory with a large, well protected bay just perfect for anchoring. The bay is a few miles across and there is a strictly enforced 5-knot speed limit. We witnessed a few unlucky boaters get nabbed by the local carabineri for speeding.

Of course we toured Napoleon's digs and even though it was exile, he lived pretty well. It was nice to stand looking over the sea seeing pretty much the same thing that he would have seen. The museum offers free entrance to anyone from the European Union but others have to pay a modest fee. Children were free so we couldn't really complain. The museum was interesting but it was lacking in actual artifacts, since larger museums on the mainland had muscled away most of the good stuff.

View from Napoleon's Garden in Elba

In an effort to find some beach activity, we decided spend a few days exploring the island of Giglio. We anchored on the west side of the island in the town of Campese. There was a lively beach community, just gearing up for the summer season. Every day a refrigerated truck hauling the morning's catch would drive down the hill into town announcing over the loudspeaker "E arrivato il pesce fresco!" "The fresh fish has arrived!" It reminded me a little of Block Island with Aldo and his morning call of "Andiamo, andiamo, andiamo!" as he toured the anchorage peddling his fresh cinnamon buns.

Giglio

The fifteen-minute bus ride up to the town of Castello was one of the highlights of our stay. Perched on the highest peak of the island, it offered a 360-degree view of the surrounding seas as you walked around the old walled city. A maze of staircases and alleys, with little restaurants tucked into the most unlikely spots, it was hardly touristy at all.

Zia anchored in Giglio

After a few days we moved over to Porto Santo Stefano on the mainland of Italy. It turns out that they were hosting an international classic boat regatta while we were there. The waterfront was home to a floating history of well turned out classic yachts. We watched as Dennis Conner dropped his sails near our anchorage and waved a friendly hello from his classic yacht.

Dennis Conner

It was in Porto Santo Stefano that we were joined by our Annapolis cruising buddies Johnny and Po Martin and their two girls, Jamie and Skyler. They would spend the next ten days island-hopping with us. After we got them on board, we departed to the south for an overnighter to the island of Palmarola. It was a joy to have a night passage with two extra well qualified watchstanders on board. We all got plenty of sleep.