10 June 2024
| Metric | Details |
| Departure Time | 0930 |
| Expected Wind (max) | 15kn |
| Expected Wave (max) | 1.5m |
| Engine Hours | 4212 |
| Generator Hours | 1720 |
Brian at work on the impeller pump
We left Viareggio around 09:30 to buy provisions for the rest of the trip to Dubrovnik. The trip down to Elba Island was uneventful, but the weather was nice. It was a short journey since we left late and wanted to anchor by 19:00. The winds and waves increased from the south towards the end of the day, making it impossible to anchor at the bottom of Elba, so we decided to continue overnight.
About 10 minutes later, I went down to check the engine room and found that the main bushing on the impeller pump was decaying, causing black material to spray onto the engine block. Knowing that the pump had a limited life remaining, we decided to turn and head back up to Spiaggia di Calanova, which provided us protection from the weather. We dropped anchor and began replacing the impeller pump. We had a spare pump fully ready with an impeller, but we needed to transfer the gear from the old pump to the new one. We were fortunate to successfully remove and attach the gear, though installing the new pump proved more difficult. Nonetheless, we managed to complete the process, which took about three hours.
Exhausted, we went to bed, planning to wake up at 05:00 to make our way to Marina Riva di Traiano, just north of Rome. We needed to stay in a marina due to heavy seas and wind, which made it too challenging to anchor on the west coast of Italy.