9/30/2025-Santa Marinella, Italy

Up with the sun for an 0800 departure under clear skies, calm wind and quiet seas. Lifting the anchor turned out not to be difficult, I could see the boulder it had latched on to, and the anchor came up easily. We motored NW in no wind and calm seas dodging many commercial fishing boats towing their large nets. It was an uneventful trip until we rounded Port Ecole and came upon a pirate ship. As we passed them they opened fire and made a shot across our bow. We powered past them and thankfully saved our ship. We tucked into Cale Grande to hide out with one other boat at anchor.

The typical commercial fishing boat dragging his net

The pirate ship that shot at us!

The weather has cooled to a very comfortable 75 degrees so the need to jump in the water has diminished. We set about some chores before relaxing for the night in the calm waters.

10/1/2025-Cale Grande, Italy

Up with the sun, we timed our departure to make the most of the predicted wind and arrive at the Marina di Scarlino around 1500. We had a beautiful sail for the first hour with 10 knots of breeze and flat seas. The wind died so we motored for an hour until the wind returned. The wind came up quickly and we unfurled the sails in 15 knots of breeze for a perfect broad reach. The wind continued to build to over 20 so we reefed the main and jib and continued our broad reach. As we neared Punta Ala the wind moderated, and we furled the sails. Rounding the point, we had the wind on our nose as we motored into the familiar Marina Scarlino.

We spent a winter here 2 years ago and it was a great place. The marineros were ready for us and we tucked deep into a corner with the wind on our nose making the docking pretty easy. It is always reassuring returning to a familiar place. We checked in and found that the same woman was still working the front desk. At the chandlery the same woman was working there, and she was all hugs and kisses to welcome us back. Next stop was the beautiful gourmet shop where Suzette had a lengthy conversation with the shop keeper about her meal she was planning for our Italian guests.

Fall is here

Our view for the next few days

Back on the boat Suzette made our favorite pasta dish with grilled vegis on top. We are getting low on the parmesan cheese that we brought from home, but we are in the right place to replenish. After a vigilant day of sailing I was wiped out and ready for a good night’s sleep.

10/2/2025-Marina di Scarlino, Italy

Up with the sun the cabin thermometer read 59 degrees! It is all of a sudden fall! Today was dedicated to boat cleaning. This was the first real scrub down and detail clean of the exterior since we left Greece. The wind did come up as predicted but we were well protected and well secured. Suzette engaged the cleaning person on the neighbors beautiful Contest 62. She learned that his secret was vinegar to final clean the stainless and the Lexan hatches and windows.

We wrapped up about 1500 and deployed the bikes for a ride into town. It is a beautiful 7 km ride through pine forests, past farm fields and a huge donkey farm where they get milk for the babies in the hospital (per our taxi driver on our previous visit). We managed to stop at 5 or 6 stores looking for the best ingredients for our dinner party planned for Saturday. We were looking for a variety of mushrooms and lamb chops. Evidently, we were late for mushroom season and the butchers had already closed for the day. I underestimated the temperature and at 1730 declared that I was freezing and we needed to return to the boat. The glimpses of sunshine and the brisk ride home warmed me up.

Back on the boat I had to get creative with my power cords and cord caps in order to plug into shore power. There was no room to plug into the pedestal behind us, I needed to break out my 15m extension cord. The problem was that it required a 32A receptacle and all that was available was 16A and 64A. I stole the 16A cord cap from my reverse polarity pig tail and put it on the extension cord, viola! Fortunately, the cord caps are pretty easy to change, perhaps because every place is different.

I the meantime Suzette had whipped up dinner and I was just in time for a sundowner. Another quiet night in the marina.

10/3/2025-Marina Di Scarlino

Suzette wasted no time deploying the space heater now that we had shore power. The sun was up, and the wind was down. Unfortunately, our Italian friends reached out and indicated that they would not be able to come for dinner this weekend but the next weekend would work for them. We had to decline as we needed to head to Genoa. Well that freed up our schedule…on to boat projects!

I took advantage of the time and installed a Victron battery monitor. I have been carrying it around since we were in Crete. It connected nicely; I just wanted to see that it was functioning properly before drilling a 2” hole on my cabinet for the gage. After lunch I moved on to polishing and waxing the top sides. I brought my battery powered orbital buffer from home. You would be amazed at what goes in my suitcase, I am sure that TSA is! I managed to finish the starboard side, the worst side in terms of being dull. It must have been the sunny salty side in Lefkada last summer. The shine is restored.

10/4/2025- Marina di Scarlino, Italy

A perfect sunny calm day for working on the boat. The battery monitor works like a champ so I drilled the 2” hole and finished the install. I finished polishing and waxing the port top sides. This was a much easier job as the port side was still shiny. Always something to fix as you detail the boat, a broken zip tie on the running light, a scuffed plastic fitting on the side ladder, a loose screw in the engine hatch cover…

After lunch there was more polishing of windows and ports while Suzette cleaned the cockpit cushions and cleaned the teak decks. This effort was worth a few pictures as the boat still looks new. As always when detailing you find the blemishes that will not easily come out, but I found very few. At the end of the day, I realized that I had never left the boat today.

These guys were trolling all day for food

My last chore was to batten down the hatches for the predicted high winds tomorrow. I secure the solar panels, doubled up the stern lines, stowed the flag and removed the sunshade. The weatherman said 45 knot winds mid-day on our port beam.

The sun sets and everything turns to gold

After dinner we did our first movie night on this trip, binge watching a series on Netflix, Lioness. The wind was picking up, and we knew that we would be up early with the wind.

10/5/2025-Marina di Scarlino, Italy

The wind picked up at about 0300 and I was up to retrieve some rags we had left drying in the cockpit. The wind settled and alowed us to slip back to dream land. In the morning the wind was up to 30 knots, but everything looked good. The sun was shining, and it was a warmer start to the day, 68 degrees. Checking the weather the prediction for the wind had increased to 72 knots! We added a line to the port midship cleat and tightened the stern spring line. Further reducing windage we removed the passerelle and stashed a few more lines. By 0900 the anemometer was reading 30-35 knots, half of what was predicted by noon.

Being boat bound for the day we decided to wash a load or two of laundry. I debated whether I was happier being on the boat for this event or simply reading about it from home with the boat unoccupied. The highest wind that the boat has seen is 65 knots in Gibraltar and in Montenegro, I was not present on either occasion. Fortunately, the wind peaked at 40 and then subsided.

A rough sea

Our friends Phillipo and Dilleta reached out to say that they were in the marina checking on their boat due to the high winds. We caught up with them and enjoyed a great reunion but they had to keep moving as they had another appointment. It was great seeing them and their beautiful boat. They left us with a bag of freshly cut wild mushrooms which became dinner.

It was a beautiful day as the wind subsided, we decided to have a light lunch at one of the marina restaurants and enjoy the view of the marina and the quieting sea. Champagne, octopus, tuna tartare and a vegetable flan made for a perfect light lunch. This led to a lazy afternoon reading in the cockpit and soaking up the sun. Suzette served our mushrooms over pasta, delicious!

In the evening, I prepped the boat for departure in the morning, mainly removing all the redundant lines.

10/6/2025-Marina di Scarlino, Italy

The sun was out, and the wind and sea were calm. We finished readying the boat and turned in our keys to the marina office. We departed about 0900 and headed to the fuel dock. For shipping the boat, they want the tanks as empty as practical. I took 100 ltrs knowing I would probably need more but keeping to the minimum.

We did not have a destination so we looked for a comfortable anchorage on Navily that would allow us to make progress. The wind was light so we motored out to Isla Cerboli, a speck of an island and a national park but the anchorage did not look accommodating, so we moved on. We continued west to the east coast of Elba and found a nice spot just north of Rio Marina. On land we were surrounded by remnants of the mining industry that thrived here in the 1800’s.  There were a number of crumbling structures and the old loading pier only partially visible above the water. The scars in the earth were most covered in green foliage now.

Remnants of the pier where the ships were loaded

Left overs from mining days

View north to Pambino, a steel manufacturing city

A lazy afternoon in the sun gave way to a lazy evening here in this quiet anchorage. The moon rose over the Italian coast, huge and full!