Having had a broken nights sleep we were all tired and with a prospect of a 50 mile journey plus a rather bumpy start we declared it a no school day, accepting that we would do school on Sunday instead when we were alongside. So, lines dropped and out of Marina di Pisa I realised that with all the discussion about if Giglio was a good port for tomorrow, we hadn't actually booked todays marina. I looked up the number of Marina di Salivoli and gave them a call.... they
were FULL!!! Hmmm, ok, let's try the marina on Elba, so I gave them a call and they were also full, but we could be on the waiting list and they would call back in an hour. By now we were starting to think we'd be going back to Pisa! Searching other options along the coast we came across Marina Di San Vincenzo which wasn't really far enough but at least was better than going back to Pisa. They had space but we didn't book just yet in case Elba came back with a good offer. We then saw Marina Di Rocco which could be good for Saturday night and possibly holing up for the bad weather to follow. It had a great review and looked cheap! I gave them a call and they had space for Saturday and as long as we wanted... at 17 Euros a night so we booked for Saturday and then called back San Vincenzo to book. We had a plan! Lesson learned... don't set off without booking the next place!It was a cold morning, so much so that Patrick donned the special hat given to him on his last significant birthday!
Also in the morning we spotted a tug testing it's fire cannon. The kids really loved watching it.
We were all pretty tired when we arrived at San Vincenzi but loved a trip on the marina golf cart to get to the office. We then went for a short walk and found a small playground where the kids found some Italian playmates.
On the way back to the boat we passed some water sprinklers that the kids obviously were drawn to like a magnet. They had great fun but unfortunately Esme's eczema started to hurt so we hurried back to Laurin for a shower.
Saturday
Another early start and this time the swell and wind waves were definitely a bit lumpier, however until we rounded the first headland the wind direction and strength allowed us to have a somewhat rare sail, cue one very happy Patrick!
None of us really felt like making a proper breakfast so out came the snack tub much to Esme's delight.
Given the lack of school the kids eventually started to get bored so we got out the play doh and some pipe cleaners as well as some other craft stuff and let the kids run wild. Esmé made a hermit crab using one of the shells from her collection.
AJ suddenly appeared on deck saying he felt a little queasy. He was also scared of the waves as we rounded the headland. Out came the ginger biscuits, lifejacket on and clipped him to the binnacle hand rail. I then encouraged him to stand on the seat and ride the waves like a surfer. Esmé joined in too, and with Patrick encouraging them to enjoy the waves, spirits started to rise. We put some music on but are missing our speaker as what we really like with big waves is LOUD music!
As we rounded the headland we had to keep a lookout for the Elba Ferries. I hate dodging large ships and used to always default to Patrick as he has much better special awareness when it comes to judging if something is going to be an issue. This is even harder when the big boat is coming out of a harbour so is likely to change course. Now we have AIS things are much calmer on board, as well as safer. If I am not 100% happy with a situation, instead of defaulting to Patrick I can look up the name of the ship and call them on the radio to check that they have seen us. In this case we were the stand on vessel so the Ferry Moby Kiss confirmed that he had seen us and would go astern of us.
After several tries to contact them on the radio they eventually responded when Patrick gave them a call. Once inside the harbour they assisted us into our berth and we had a small tidy up before chilling out. Esmé found a friend and they played for well over an hour without any common language at all!
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