Friday 6th April 2012
Today we arrived at Civitavecchia at 7 a.m. and left the ship after breakfast for a trip to see a new ferry. After collecting a hire car, we headed through the early morning mist to the north in Tuscany, arriving in sunshine in the delightful little ferry port of San Stefano.
A welcome sight was Toremar’s new car ferry GIUSEPPE RUM waiting for us to board, and enjoy the 55 minute journey across the sea to the island of Giglio. She was fully loaded, and the snack bar opened as soon as we left port.
Approaching Giglio of course we could see the terrible sight of the COSTA CONCORDIA lying on her side against the rocks. At a distance, the width of her across our sightline seemed to be much the same as the width of the little port village of Giglio, which was a sad comparison. With a wide stretch of water between San Stefano and the island of Giglio, that took us 55 minutes to cross on this new ferry, it seems impossible to imagine the circumstances that took such a large cruise ship so near to the island.
Most of our fellow passengers left the ship at the island, to enjoy Good Friday and their Easter holiday, so after time in Giglio we returned on the ferry back to San Stefano, watching other vessels crossing our path safely.
Once across the causeway, we stopped at the ancient town of Orbitello for refreshment (ok, ice-cream) and a walk round castle walls, before heading back to the port of Civitavecchia to return the hire car.
Back on board we could enjoy the comings and goings of ships into the port, before our departure.
Ships seen: Astor, Seabourn Sojourn, Scintu, Nuraghes, MSC Splendida, Sea Spirit 1, Giuseppe Rum, Isola del Giglio, Costa Concordia, Grimaldi’s Eurocargo Genova, Revenge, Moby Wonder, Dianium, Zeus Palace
To be continued...
