After a good night’s sleep, we were all keen to have another great swim. The men both had a pre breakfast swim, so the girls decided we would set off after breakfast to explore the rocky foreshore and swim towards the small beach called Scaglieri. The large, smooth rock formations were quite beautiful, especially because there was a white tiny saucer-shaped ‘flower’ carpeting many of the rocks. We sat for a while in the shallows enjoying the Italians ways of interacting on the beach. Nearly all women wear bikinis, and usually the briefer the better, with both cheeks fully revealed! Older women wear two piece numbers and confidence exudes as they strut their stuff. Kids are the same wherever you are in the world and were full of life! Italians seem to like playing beach tennis, batting a small hard ball with short handled hard racquets. We had to be careful not to get hit, because they were quite serious about winning the points.
When we got back to Trilogy, the men were nowhere to be seen.....and we thought they wanted to write emails! When they returned, they fessed up that they had found a cafe and had been ‘thinking’ we might like to join them! It was lunchtime by then, so we created individual salad bowls that featured smoked salmon and boiled eggs. With an afternoon siesta behind us, we all piled into the tender for a little explore further afield. We picked a rocky cove that had big clumps of weed scattered across the seabed and snorkelled there for a while with only a few fish and an enormous eel sighted.
On the way back we tied off at the dinghy dock of the 5 star Hotel Hermitage tucked up in the corner of the Biodola Beach. We were warmly invited to join them for dinner by the head waiter Antonio and we returned to Trilogy to smarten up as best we could. The Hermitage restaurant (one of four at the resort) was right on the beach and we saluted the magnificent sunset that lit up the sky. We were seated beside a small pool and each table setting had a fun decorative hand painted plate to welcome us. The food was wonderful until our Secondi arrived and Shena and I had a jaw dropping moment! We had both ordered ‘breaded veal chop’, which presented as a large dinner plate size schnitzel, with a small bone on one corner. It was massive and one serve would have served all of us! Sweet, juicy tiny tom tomatoes, rucola and shaved Parmesan were scattered across the plate, which added to the delicate yet delicious flavour, but there was little chance we could do it justice. However, with a little help from the men, the meals were finished. It was a lovely evening and nudging midnight, we retreated to our bunks.
To continue our exploration, we moved further west along the south coast for a short distance and dropped anchor outside the marina at the township of Marciana Marina. After a bit of trouble finding the dinghy dock, we headed for the Conad supermarket to top up on all things delicious. We managed to man- handle the trolley and numerous bags back to Trilogy and once stowed, we departed. We motored along the coast, seeing many pretty villages tucked into the folds of the hills as we went. The destination was San Andrea, which provided reasonable protection for the variable conditions, with the winds mostly coming from the east or the west! San Andrea was a very pretty township, with housing scattered up the hill and a cluster of cafes and restaurants down at beach level. There were stacks of umbrellas on the small sandy beach and a few umbrellas perched on the large smooth boulders. We have no idea how they were anchored down. Once settled, we ate a late lunch and had a beautiful swim in the incredibly clear aqua blue water. We explored the rocky shore which had some lovely schools of tiny fish and ended up on the beach, which was packed, being a Saturday. We had some money with us and it wasn’t long before we were all sipping on delicious affogatos, taking in the scene around us. A lovely Italian couple who were riding motor bikes around Elba for their holiday, chatted to us about what we were doing. The husband, who raced small yachts on a lake on the mainland, expressed his jealousy at our adventure. It jolted us a bit and served to remind us how fortunate we are! The cafe staff were so nice that we decided to return for dinner....something far simpler and less daunting than the previous night’s meal, but just as satisfying.
We awoke to smooth glassy water and it was just wonderful to swim away from Trilogy and enter the silent world of the sea. There were myriads of tiny fish that appeared black when swimming in one direction but flashed gold stripes when they turned. Deeper, swimming in and around the clumps of weed were slightly larger fish, shiny silver with a sizeable black spot in front of the tail. It was possible to just stay still and the tiny fish came very close, with apparently no fear. After our usual healthy bowl of muesli, yoghurt and fresh fruit, we got underway to continue down the east and onto the southern coastline. Again, the coastline was dotted with lovely townships hugging the coast, with high hills forming a backdrop. Near a beach called Pomonte, we noted a shipwreck marked in the pilot book and realised that there were lots of small craft gathered in the vicinity and many people snorkelling. We couldn’t resist stopping to investigate! Once Trilogy was anchored as close as was possible, we donned our snorkeling gear and headed off together to see what we could. It was the wreck of the Elviscot, a cargo ship of 65 metres, which sank in 1972, lying in only 12 metres. It sank because of a violent heavy sea that pushed it up on the rocks that lie just off the coast. We had a wonderful time, swimming firstly around the ocean side of the rocks that the Elviscot had foundered on and then back into the gap that she had come to rest in. The deck was in almost one piece and lay separate to the hull and wheel house. The sunlight shafted through the clear water and it was quite sobering to think about how frightening it must have been to hit rocks in heavy seas. There was no loss of life, as the ship didn’t immediately go down and it was about 100 metres from shore. The underwater cameras were working overtime! Although there were no sightings, it is said that octopus and eels have taken up residence. It was a memorable experience indeed!
After returning to Trilogy, it was lunchtime and we all enjoyed a lovely salad. We departed soon afterwards and headed for Golfo di Campo. This wide bay promised two sandy beaches and a marina. The main beach was long and sweeping and as always, filled with Italians enjoying the best of summer. We had plenty of space to anchor in and about 200 metres from the beach...a good swim away! We decided to take the tender ashore for a look-see and have dinner somewhere.
The township Campo Nell ‘Elba was spread along the foreshore, with the marina at one end. We promenaded along the beachfront, checking out several restaurants until we found one that appealed, Ristorante La Lucciola. The meals were delicious and we all really liked the caramelised balsamic that was provided for the bread. Needless to say, there was no bread left in the basket, or in the Chianti bottle!