Slowing Down in Elba

We had a beautiful close haul reach to Elba in ideal conditions.  With 12-15 knots of breeze and no waves, we happily cruised East to the Southwestern point of Elba.

What a beautiful island!  We have finally slowed down now and are enjoying multiple days in a row at a single anchorage.  Our first stop was in Fetovia, a small, isolated bay with a great sandy beach.  We are starting to see more boats now that chartering season has officially begun and the low season is coming to an end. This has not been an issue yet, but I can only imagine what these anchorages might look like in July and August. In Italy, you are not allowed to anchor within 200 m of the beach so this has established a great swim distance for me to snorkel and swim while the boys paddleboard to the beach. 

There are actually fish in the Tyrrhenian Sea!  Such a contrast to snorkelling and diving in the Ionian, Adriatic and Aegean where we only saw lionfish while diving in Turkey.  The water is crystal clear and has warmed up substantially.  The skies are consistently blue, the sun is shining and our solar panels continue to float our batteries enough through the day that we are down to only running the generator in the morning.  YAY!  I have to admit, I cannot wait to upgrade our batteries to Lithium in July.  If for no other reason than to not have to run the generator daily.

The boys have been doing lots of schoolwork, beach time and ball play.  Jay and I were even able to go to the nearby point for a quick afternoon dive while the boys stayed aboard the boat.  This is a huge step for us.  To have kids that are reliable enough and old enough to leave them on the boat for 45 minutes to go for a quick dive is such a novel concept and opens up new opportunities for us.  The dive was quite nice with schools of fish, live coral and starfish.  It was a good test for us to confirm our navigation and safety skills in planning a dive.

Jay also found a nearby dive shop with reasonable rates that was happy to do his final two dives to obtain his Advanced PADI certification.  We awoke at 5 am to sail over to Marina di Campo and anchor in time to get him on the morning dive.  He successfully completed his deep and navigation dive and now we have more flexibility in our dive sites.  Admittedly though, when it is just Jay and I, we are going to continue to play it very conservatively.

Marina del Campo is a beautiful open bay with a big sandy beach, crystal clear water again and a lovely group of liveaboard cruisers anchored nearby.  Bonus point for Evan, is the fact that there is a small airport right behind the beach and we are anchored directly under the flight path for take offs and landings.  Even better still, there is a small sailing club on the beach that rents Opti’s.  The boys have been able to play around in the bay in decent breeze in the afternoons and work on tacking, sail trim and steering while Jay coaches from the dinghy and I play steering target on the paddleboard.  It’s been fantastic watching them get to independently sail their own dinghy, learn from Jay, and return with huge smiles on their faces.

This month is going to be lots of fun as we have two sets of close friends that are coming to visit us along with their kids.  We are eager to show the first family around Elba for a week and the next family will join us in Southern France. 

Today, I offered the boys a ‘treat’.  I told them that while they have friends on board the boat for the week we are in Southern France, they could have a ‘school-free’ week.  For reference, we do about 2 hours of school every day all year round.  I fully anticipated that the kids would cheer and jump with excitement at this offer.  I was shocked and actually quite pleased that their response was that they didn’t agree with this plan.  Instead, they want to continue to do French, Science, History, and reading every day. 

We are currently covering Medieval Europe (castles, knights, feudal system etc.).  They are loving it!  We are reading King Arthur and they have had the chance to watch Robin Hood and A Knight’s Tale (Thank you Anna Hunter!).  Our science just wrapped up Amphibians, Reptiles and Fish and we are now proceeding with Mammals.  I love how keen the boys are to continue learning and exploring the world around them.

• Next Stop: Still Elba 😉 However, Jay is going to have to make a trip to Rome to get the Sailrite package that finally showed up.  Debating throwing him on the ferry and train vs sail to the mainland (really motor sail with no wind).

• Distance travelled this season: 1184

• Time under sail this week: 97%

• Boat projects completed: In water hull scraping, Solas reflective stickers applied, Dinghy spark plugs replaced, Marina confirmation in Cannes, Deposit for lithium batteries

• WTF moment:  Jay forgetting his regulator for his first dive