Au revoir France, ciao Italy!

Our departure from Bastia was completely different from our arrival: we undid all the lines and drove out! No fuss, no bother, no wind! 😀 We set off for Elba in the sunshine with a little wind so set the sails but kept the motor on. Close to 2 hours later, we could see the mountains on Elba and Bob removed the French flag and raised the Italian courtesy flag. As we cruised along the north side of Elba, the wind switched and brought with it a spectacular lightning and thunder storm 🌩⛈. We anchored in a calm bay protected from the north wind...until it switched to west with stronger winds and waves! So, we lifted the anchors and decided to go around the corner to Portoferraio where we could either anchor or go into a marina, weather depending. It was pouring with rain, wind and waves, and lightning and thunder above us but as we got closer to Portoferraio, the sun appeared, the bay was calm, so we anchored amongst other sailboats. It stopped raining but there was still flashes of lightning all evening and into the night. We did 2, in the dark, "anchor dances" where we lift the anchor and reset it because it's dragging, and finally got a good hold. We had our GPS coordinates so checked that they hadn't changed over time. Bob was sleeping 😴 soundly as I did a final check and fell asleep to the gentle rocking and quiet.Read more