July 1st- July 20th Elba to Corsica HAPPY BIRTHDAY RUDY!! Today you reached a new decade as well!!! I treated Rudy to dinner at a restaurant in Porto Azzurro, Elba, that was in the shape of a boat. (We can't get away from boats!!) That night or rather early morning (2:30 am), I woke up to the sounds of a frantic French family. Their boat dragged its anchor; you guessed it, right toward us. The wind had picked up and his anchor didn't hold. His anchor was wrapped around ours and after a few minutes (it seemed like hours), it was freed. He tried for the next two hours trying to reset his anchor. Later that morning around 11:30, the wind picked up even more and we dragged our anchor along with several other boats. No one was in danger and no one hit anything, but it was a little tense for a while. We set two anchors this time and felt safer in the strong winds. The bottom had a thin crust of heavy weeds over rock and the anchor was not able to dig in very well. The next day a light fixture broke, a fan broke and the head got plugged up!!! Rudy fixed the light and the fan but would fix the head when we were near a place where he could get parts. I thought we would be good for a while because things usually happen in threes.... but I was wrong. Before we left the next morning, we had to untangle our anchors!!! The wind had switched a few times weaving our two anchors into a lovely braid. Rudy drove the boat in tight circles to untangle the anchors and we were off. About two hours out, we blew another hose, the water pump broke and the thermostat broke. At least it was three things again!! We turned off the engine and I tried to keep the boat into the waves with no power and no sails (no wind)!! Finally the wind picked up and we anchored in a cove with sail power….tricky but we had no choice!!! Rudy fixed the hose and the water pump temporarily, (still the problems from the Gerry Rigged heat exchanger from Brindisi), but didn't have a spare thermostat. It was very rolly that night and we left early the next morning for Portoferraio, Elba. A few hours after we arrived, two American sailboats anchored next to us. (Hakuna Matata and Moonraker) We had met them in Trinidad. We visited with them to talk of old times and exchange information of places we were going or had been to. Portoferrio is the largest port on Elba; therefore it has the most ferries. We were rolling all day, but thankfully at night it was quiet. On the 6th, Rudy fixed the water pump (small part had eroded) and the head (he didn't need to buy any parts either…My Mr. Fix-it!!! A real Mc Guiver!!!) It seems I threw some dishwater down the head and an unnoticed olive pit plugged up the works!!! (Won't do that again!!) While Rudy was busy, I decided to cook up a storm!!! I made about 6 plus meals!!! The next day we went to the wall in the town harbor and thought we would spend the night there. After hearing the price of 61 euros, we decided to only stay until 4 pm and use the water and electric for 10 euros. We washed the boat (still no rain since March), washed clothes (4 loads) and filled our two water tanks. At 4 pm, we went back to the anchorage almost in the same spot. Then we took our dinghy to town to visit Napoleon's Museum and the house he was exiled to. The gardens and the views were spectacular!!! Napoleon got a great deal. The next day we toured Elba using local buses. We went all around the island and stopped for lunch in Marina di Campo. The buses were a great idea. In fact, about one hour out of our daylong trip, Rudy and I were the only ones on the bus except for the driver!!! Today, July 9th is our 36th Anniversary!!! And to celebrate the event, we woke up at 5:30 A.M. to travel to Corsica. We anchored in Centuri, Corsica and it was a rolly night!! The next day we traveled to Sant Florent on the west coast. There is an anchorage just outside the Marina. But that night we finally celebrated our anniversary by treating ourselves to a marina (61Euros) and to a restaurant, which happened to be in a secluded area on the side of a hill overlooking the Mediterranean. A PERFECT NIGHT!!! The next day we rented a car and drove around the North end of the island for about 10 hours. Some of the towns were Bastia, (tried for 90 minutes to get the phone to work for internet service, no luck!!), Girolata, L'IIe-Rousse, Calvi, Capo Rosu, Porto, Les Calanche, Piana Cargese and Corte. The mountains in the Les Calanche region were magnificent…they were 1,000-foot beautiful, jagged and red granite cliffs plunging to the sea. We passed through volcanic mountains, acres and acres of fire damage, green rolly mountains and high rugged mountains inland about 9,000 feet high (Corte) which reminded us of Utah! We saw many beautiful homes with green or red slate roofs, white sandy beaches (which seemed impossible to get to) filled with people, Mimosa trees, Palm tress, Cypress trees, huge Pine trees and flowers everywhere!!! The roads along the coast were winding and extremely narrow with the sea hundreds of feet below as our shoulder!!! It reminded us of Amalfi without the buses...however,we did see cows, calves, and wild pigs and piglets along the road. The wild pigs did get very aggressive when you tried to feed them…..it was very intense after a few minutes and I ran for cover!!!! On the 12th, we anchored at Cargese, a reasonably calm anchorage with poor holding, and traveled to Bonifacio the next day. We went into one of the busiest marinas (48 Euros) I have seen. The dock boys in a dinghy pointed in the general direction of a berth as they passed us on their way to help with the mega yachts so we took the berth we liked best. We waited to see if they were going to tell us to move, but they didn't. We walked around the town and had dinner on board. That night we started to hear firecrackers that some kids were shooting off. Then about 11 pm to midnight, the castle in the Citadel started firing off the heavy duty fireworks of every kind, color and fantastic shapes!!! And we had the best seats in the house!!! The fireworks looked beautiful exploding out of the castle and flying over our boat into the reflected water below. We realized eveveryone was celebrating " Bastille Day." The next day we rented another car and drove around the rest of Corsica. We went to see the harbors of Port-Vecchio and the towns of Sartene (we experienced Corscian beer and ham…very good), Propriano and many other smaller towns and villages. We also visited Filitosa. This was Corsica's first settlement which dates back to the seventh millennium before Christ!!! There were many menhirs (the most simple megalithic monuments) in which the Corsicans became specialists. Corsica is the leading region in Europe for the quantity and the quality of megalithic statue art. It was a very interesting site, especially since it was only discovered in 1946. The following day, July 15th, we left for the harbor of Rondinara because it is very protected and strong winds were coming for a few days. We got there and found ourselves in the middle of at least 50 boats and nothing else around!! In the next several days, many of the boats left in the early morning when the winds were quiet. We had about 50-70 miles to go for our next destination and therefore stayed put!!! The water was extremely clear and we went swimming every day to cool off from the extremely hot and humid weather. The holding was great in sand and there was plenty of room for more boats. A great protected anchorage! On July 19th at 5:30 a.m., we finally left Rondinara to go north on the east coast of Corsica. On the east side, the mountains are less rugged and high with more flat areas and greenery. In both areas we have noticed many Genoese Towers which were built while they were in power. These towers are not as high as the Roman and Greek towers and they seem to blend into the surrounding hills and mountains. I guess that was the idea!!!! We arrived at Bastia (50 Euros) about 8 p.m. and finally walked on land after five days on the boat!! It felt good. We had a drink and went to wash off the boat and take a real shower on land. In all of the places we went on Corsica, we were the only boat flying an American flag. And except for the two boats we met in Elba, we haven't seen any other American boats since we left Ostia, Italy, where we kept the boat while we went to the states for Jaclyn and Jason's wedding. Tomorrow we leave Corsica and head for a small Italian island north of Elba called Island of Capraia which was once a prison. Next time, Capraia and the Italian Riviera!!! Au revoir…..