Our Wakes: 2016
From Sardinia to Elba: (17-29 September 2016)
Before we reached Elba we sailed up north along the east side of Corsica. We were joined by
friends for this journey. First Philip and Christou and later Brian jumped on board. The first
interesting place of the trip was located south of Corsica close to Bonifacio. The Lavezzi islands
consist of numerous large blocs of granite that are clustered together. This place is a natural
park and totally protected but in the past several rich families managed to build some luxurious
houses there. Luckily, their construction did respect the landscape and the islands are still very
beautiful. On the 15 February 1855 a drama took place here. The Semillante a frigate sailing from
Toulon (France) carrying soldiers to Russia sank here.
On board 686 people perished as the ship was caught in one of the biggest sea storms ever in the
Mediterranean. No survivors were found and only the body of the captain and the priest could be
identified because of their uniforms. Today this is the biggest disaster that has ever occurred in
the Mediterranean. After sailing around the islands we moved to the city of Porto Vecchio. We
were forced to stay there for three days as there were strong winds outside the bay. We
repaired our windlass as the motor needed to be replace. Once repaired, the sea was calmer and
we headed north to visit Rondinara Bay. On the postcards it looked like a tropical bay with blue
sea and white sand but we were disappointed as we could not use photoshop to improve our view.
If you happen to pass there it is worth visiting but it is not like the postcards. We spent the night
close to Rondinara and the next morning we woke up early to sail to Elba island.
First we had little wind, but before lunch time the wind allowed us to reach Elba at good speed.
We anchored near Cape Morrocone. This was the worst mooring we ever had so far with Terus due
to the swell. It was thus without regret that we left our mooring to go in the port of Azzuro. This
place is nice with little houses that are typical of this part of Italy. The next day, we decided to
go around the island in an anti-clockwise direction to Portomarciana. We carefully avoided the
port of Portoferrairo as big ferries were constantly carrying visitors to and from there. Napoleon
arrived on the 4 of May 1814 in this city. He was given the island by the English and the authority
building roads, schools etc.
But Napoleon dreamed of greater territories and escaped from the island on the 26 of April 1815
to Corsica. Portomarciana is a nice little place that is very well preserved and you have the
impression the village is still as it was 100 years ago. The next morning, we left the marina to
complete our round trip around the island. On the west side of the island we could see the island
of Corsica 52km away. We anchored for the night in a lovely cove called Golfo di Campo. This cove
is all green and only two houses are visible. A truly magnificent place. The day after we had to
land our friends on the island as they had a plane to catch to Pisa. We continued towards the
continent at Punta Alla were Brian joined us. After a night on the continent, we decided to return
to Elba as we wanted to show Brian how beautiful this place is. We stopped at the same places as
we did with our friends before. But Brian had also a plane to catch on the 1 of October so we set
sail towards Rome on the 28 of September.
friends for this journey. First Philip and Christou and later Brian jumped on board. The first
interesting place of the trip was located south of Corsica close to Bonifacio. The Lavezzi islands
consist of numerous large blocs of granite that are clustered together. This place is a natural
park and totally protected but in the past several rich families managed to build some luxurious
houses there. Luckily, their construction did respect the landscape and the islands are still very
beautiful. On the 15 February 1855 a drama took place here. The Semillante a frigate sailing from
Toulon (France) carrying soldiers to Russia sank here.
On board 686 people perished as the ship was caught in one of the biggest sea storms ever in the
Mediterranean. No survivors were found and only the body of the captain and the priest could be
identified because of their uniforms. Today this is the biggest disaster that has ever occurred in
the Mediterranean. After sailing around the islands we moved to the city of Porto Vecchio. We
were forced to stay there for three days as there were strong winds outside the bay. We
repaired our windlass as the motor needed to be replace. Once repaired, the sea was calmer and
we headed north to visit Rondinara Bay. On the postcards it looked like a tropical bay with blue
sea and white sand but we were disappointed as we could not use photoshop to improve our view.
If you happen to pass there it is worth visiting but it is not like the postcards. We spent the night
close to Rondinara and the next morning we woke up early to sail to Elba island.
First we had little wind, but before lunch time the wind allowed us to reach Elba at good speed.
We anchored near Cape Morrocone. This was the worst mooring we ever had so far with Terus due
to the swell. It was thus without regret that we left our mooring to go in the port of Azzuro. This
place is nice with little houses that are typical of this part of Italy. The next day, we decided to
go around the island in an anti-clockwise direction to Portomarciana. We carefully avoided the
port of Portoferrairo as big ferries were constantly carrying visitors to and from there. Napoleon
arrived on the 4 of May 1814 in this city. He was given the island by the English and the authority
building roads, schools etc.
But Napoleon dreamed of greater territories and escaped from the island on the 26 of April 1815
to Corsica. Portomarciana is a nice little place that is very well preserved and you have the
impression the village is still as it was 100 years ago. The next morning, we left the marina to
complete our round trip around the island. On the west side of the island we could see the island
of Corsica 52km away. We anchored for the night in a lovely cove called Golfo di Campo. This cove
is all green and only two houses are visible. A truly magnificent place. The day after we had to
land our friends on the island as they had a plane to catch to Pisa. We continued towards the
continent at Punta Alla were Brian joined us. After a night on the continent, we decided to return
to Elba as we wanted to show Brian how beautiful this place is. We stopped at the same places as
we did with our friends before. But Brian had also a plane to catch on the 1 of October so we set
sail towards Rome on the 28 of September.
