TUSCANY

PHOTOS OF CAPRAIA... and a short trip report

"We discovered beautiful bays and towering cliffs, truly memorable landscapes. Cala Rossa (the Red Bay), would inspire even an electric iron, with its red and white rocks and blue transparent waters.
We plunged among hundreds of sea breams, silvery-blue fish that are also quite tasty (luckily for them they were safe: the waters of the island form a natural reserve)."
READ THE FULL TRIP REPORT FURTHER BELOW IN THIS PAGE

CAPRAIA TRAVEL INFO

Tuscany is famous for its hills where picturesque villages are perched. The islands off the coast boast unforgettable beaches and cliffs.
Write us here: info@wildtrips.net if you are interested in sailing charters to Tuscany.
HAVE A LOOK AT THE PHOTO DESCRIPTIONS AND AT THE TUSCANY TRIP REPORT BELOW FOR MORE INFORMATION

CAPRAIA TRIP REPORT AND PHOTOS

A short sailing trip to Capraia is a great way – the best – to discover an amazing island, which is not too touristy and is surrounded by clean, beautiful waters.
We sailed by night from Chiavari, near Genoa, to Capraia. When we arrived, in the late morning, we anchored in the bay in front of the town. Later we were assigned a buoy where we went to moor after a swim. It was in crystal clear waters full of fish. Steep cliffs were just a few tens of meters away. Further west there were the town and the small port, reachable by boat’s tender in fifty strokes of oar.

We soon went ashore to visit the quiet village of Capraia, with its castle perched over the sea in a panoramic position. After a nice walk we got back to the boat and we had dinner.
We felt as if we were in another world. We had left just the day before, but it seemed one month. We were inspired and free and peaceful.

***
Now I am going to tell a funny anecdote (you can skip to the following asterisks if you don’t want or if you don’t dare to laugh at me).
After dinner, my girlfriend and I decided to go into town to get some ice cream. We wore nice clothes, we jumped onto the tender and we began to row. Too bad there was a headwind of 20 knots which made all our efforts useless. I lifted a sea of ​​sprays, but no way, the rubber-boat was drifting in all directions but the one we wanted. A bit amused and a bit terrified, I accepted the challenge of the elements and with all my efforts I managed to approach the mouth of the channel leading into the village. Unfortunately, here the wind got even stronger, as we should have expected, and in a flurry of spray I lost an oar. Very bad situation. Who knows where the wind would push us. Maybe to Corse.

Then, with an immense effort, I managed to reach the oar and pick it up. At that point, my girlfriend and I had a brief meeting in which we considered if we’d better return to the boat or not. We decided that it was better surviving and we headed back.
Initially, the wind pushed us against the cliff, and I was already investigating if there was a hidden beach where to sleep, but in the end I gave it all and we managed to grab a rope of a boat. From there, pushing and pulling moorings and hulls and buoys, we reached our home sweet houseboat.
"You came back early," we were told.
"Well, everything was closed," we replied, completely soaked. Nobody believed us, so we confessed the shameful defeat. Overall, it was an extremely funny experience, which I recommend, with the due caution. (I exaggerated the risks, but it is always good to consider possible consequences).
(You might argue that I should mount a small motor on the tender. An intelligent idea, but I might reply that in the 10 seconds necessary to start a cold engine we would end up stuck on some rock or in the sea. Rowing brings an intrinsic safety. Of course, having both the engine and the oars is not a bad idea).
***
The next day we explored Capraia coasts aboard a small engine boat that we had rented for 60 euros for the whole day… not much, once divided by five people. We discovered beautiful bays and towering cliffs, truly memorable landscapes. Cala Rossa (the Red Bay), would inspire even an electric iron, with its red and white rocks and blue transparent waters.

We plunged among hundreds of sea breams, silvery-blue fish that are also quite tasty (luckily for them they were safe: the waters of the island form a natural reserve).
After some beautiful swims we went back to Capraia town. We were lucky enough to spot an octopus lying on the sea floor just under our boat. We were getting accustomed to living in the nature, breathing the sea air, base our lives on sunlight and wind. It didn’t seem anymore that we had left for one month, it looked more like one year. The mainland and our jobs and the daily routine were as far as Katmandu and Timbuktu.

We had dinner with some excellent “Panzanella”, a dish for everyone.
The next day we sailed around Capraia, anchoring in waters so clear that the bottom seemed just 1 meter below the surface. The echo sounder, however, measured 10 meters and we trusted it and we plunged headfirst. We didn’t hit rocks or sand, so the instrument was right.
In the afternoon we sailed under a good South wind. The boat was tilted, the crew busy with tacks and gybes. We tighted and we loosened the sheets, it was an exciting time under a bright sun.

An aperitif in the middle of the sea, with views of Capraia, it was our way to say goodbye to the island. We returned to Liguria under full moon and a beautiful starry sky, with the south wind that kept acting as our "engine", thus concluding in the best way our weekend that lasted a year.
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