With our original plans of going to the Madalenas Archipelago in the northeast of Sardinia changed due to adverse weather forecasts and with very limited options of hiding holes in the area, we decided to route across the Bonifacio Strait and head to Elba with a small stop in Corsica.
After a few days enjoying a nice bay in the eastern side of Corsica we finally made the rest of our way to Elba where we should stamp our "Costituto*" once again and the only option seemed to be in Porto Azzurro.
We made our landfall at end of the day in a bay in the south of the island and the following morning we moved to Porto Azzurro bay, a very crowded anchorage.
We got on the dinghy and went to town looking for a place to tie up, lunch and the harbourmaster or the Capitenerie di Porto to stamp the "Costituto*".
The odds were in our favour, there was a free dinghy dock inside the harbour and from there we could see the Guardia Costiera building, for once finding the right place seemed pretty straightforward!
We made our way there and learned they have really generous lunch hours so we decided to enjoy that waiting time with a couple of real Italian pizzas in a nearby restaurant.
Come the time and we returned to the Guardia Costiera building, rang the bell and an officer that had clearly just woken up from his siesta comes to the door. We explained why we were there and he said we were in the wrong building, what we were looking for was a few doors down that same street.
Surprised by the answer we went looking for the door number the officer had indicated, more surprised we were when we found out that was the marina office.
A few more questions exchanged at that office, I showed the "Costituto*" and the guy says we are in the wrong place, what we are looking for is, surprise, surprise in the first place we went!
We went back, rang the bell once again, the same officer comes to the door, we show the "Costituto*" and he understands what we are looking for.
10 minutes later we are out the door with the "Costituto*" stamped and no questions asked.
I guess waking up the Guardia Costiera from their siesta may result in a confused officer.
Guardia Costiera - Porto Azzurro
Capitenerie di Porto
Banchina IV Novembre, 18
Phone +39 056 595 195
*Costituto - Arrival document issue to non-Schengen flagged vessels in Italian waters.
***In the spirit of sharing our dreams and experiences we have shared this blog post in the NOFOREIGNLAND.COM website sailors community. In this post you can find information regarding check in and out procedures with location for the Port Police