Well, we made a start leaving, trying to get ahead of a south westerly. We failed, and the south-westerly had a lot of south-easterly in it. So we had a horrid swell and the wind on the nose. After an hour we had gone two miles and we both felt sick. So we turned round and went back. It's supposed to be fun.
We intended to anchor off the port, but got moved by the coast guard as we were exactly where the imminent ferry wanted to put his anchor to hold him off the quay in the now very blustery wind.
We returned into the Port and this time were allocated a place actually on the town quay. This was all very nice, except for the difficulties presented by a low quay and a high bow. When it then chucked down with rain, the problem got worse as Roaring Girl floated ever higher. We built a pyramid with a handy wood block and our trusty Lakeland folding step which basically worked, but boat movement made every morning's first descent a little hair-raising.
To be fair, the ferry did use our spot for the anchor. It then left again, leaving us a bit disgruntled, wondering why we hadn't just moved a short distance, and returned to our preferred spot. Then the thunderstorms came in, the wind swivelled around a lot and the sea got pretty rough, which made us quite glad to be firmly tied up after all. It wasn't a cheap decision though; until 15 September the price continued to be 60 euros a night; after 15th it dropped to 46 euros. Beware Isola Capraia with any sort of southerly forecast if your next stop is Elba or beyond!
On the Tuesday we hiked up into the hills north of the port. We carried all sorts of waterproofs with us, thereby ensuring a rain free afternoon for the island. From about 100m up we got this splendid view of Elba - which you couldn't see at all the day we tried to get away, proving how poor the visibility had been.