19th August 2016 Elba, Darsena Medicea,
For some reason Mike realised that the wind generator and the solar panels had given us a total of 1 amp power in 2,000+ hours and being on anchor was causing our batteries to loose charge. Having planned to stay there a couple of days we decided to up sticks and go into a marina on the isle of Elba, a small island off the coast of Italy. As we left our anchorage I circled around Highliner, to thank Peter and Marlies for the meal and explain why we were going. Peter shouted "Port Auzzuro gets very busy so ring ahead and get a berth"
Normally when we set sail we will get the sails sorted together, nowadays because the main is much easier now, Mike will sail her into the wind whilst I winch the sail out. I enjoy doing it in the knowledge it is good for my bingo wings. Today was different, Mike eager to get the battery problem sorted told me to go ring the marina, a simple job, but Port Azzuro listed several numbers for what looked like different marinas but the map did not identify where any of these were, how could I book a berth when we didn't know where it was. I was trying explain this to Mike who was busy getting the main sail out and not grasping what I was saying. In the heat of the debate he lifted the block off the Main Halyard resulting in the sail part dropping. This is more problematic than it sounds as our sail is not made for dropping as it is an in mast sail which means it folds up in our mast and is attached through a channel. Dropping the sail completely onto the deck would be an option but again because the sail has batons which are longer than the boat this would not be easy. The wind was blowing and Mike managed to hoist it up, in between swearing at himself, but this was only a temporary fix as we needed to drop it again to feed 18 inches of beading back into the channel on the mast. This is never easy when we do it in the marina so I was dreading doing it under sail. Mike, always one to know what to do said we would wait till we got shelter from the island and then we would part drop it and re hoist it . Fortunately with benign conditions and very precise instructions we managed to drop the sail and rectify the situation.
Back to trying to reserve a berth, all the numbers just rang engaged so we were going to have to take pot luck. The first marina as you entered the port to our relief had loads of space and we were guided to a berth on the town quay. Very quickly the marina filled up so we were thankful we had got a berth and some electric. Mike started to test some voltage and quickly established that the panel could not cope with the amount of power from the solar panels so was in effect blocking any charge going to the batteries. A problem that could be easily resolved with a bit of effort. Before work could be started Mike cycled to the office to pay for our nights mooring. Upon his return he said "guess how much?","€63" , the most we have paid was Monaco at €60, "double it, €125 and we have to be off by 10:00". You like to think you get what you pay for but this is never the case in marinas, you get some really nice ones that are cheap and you get some that are terrible and charge the earth. Anyway nothing we could do about it, take it on the chin and sort the problems out.
As time was marching on I went off to find a supermarket whilst Mike did the wiring. I walked around the basin and the street behind it, lots of restaurants and shops selling very expensive jewellery, clothes, shoes, perfumes etc. but no food. About to give up and return to the boat I spotted a sign with a picture of a supermarket trolley so started to follow them. This was not a supermarket like I had ever seen it was more like a warehouse with water bottles stacked high a couple of shelf stands and very little food. Thankful for small mercies I did get some Milk and biscuits for Mike.