Elba · Wind lore
Which wind,
which beach
Whether a beach day works out depends on parking, shade, crowds and price — and at some beaches on the wind. There, the same beach is crystal-clear in a north wind and a bed of algae in a south wind. Here's which wind hits which coast — and where the maths is worthless.
Today on Elba
Model values for Elba; water and wave for the open sea south of the island — computed, not observed. The map below starts on today's wind. · Data: Open-Meteo
Pick a wind — read off the coast
Tramontana
- Exposed — this is where it rolls in
- North coast
- In the lee — this is where it's calm
- South coast
- Fetch
- —
- What that means
- —
- Exposed: waves, debris, algae
- In the lee: calm, clear water
- Glancing: little effect
The rule behind it
A wind is named after the direction it comes from. Scirocco is a southeasterly wind, not a wind blowing towards the southeast.
The coast facing into the wind is the windward coast: that's where the waves run up, where debris lands, where torn-loose Posidonia washes ashore. The coast turned away lies in the lee — there the water is still and clear.
That's why the beaches on Elba are never all good or all bad at once. In any wind there's one side of the island worth going to. You just have to know which.
A bay on the south coast can open towards the southwest and then suffer in a Libeccio, even though an Ostro barely troubles it. That's why we log the rule for each beach individually — the side of the coast is only a first approximation.
Why a south wind is worse than an east wind
Waves need a run-up. The longer the stretch of open water a wind can sweep across — the fetch — the higher the waves and the more debris ends up on the beach.
And around Elba the fetch is very unevenly distributed. To the east, the Italian mainland is only about ten kilometres away. To the south and southwest, the Tyrrhenian Sea opens up for hundreds of kilometres.
| Wind | Open water | Effect on the beach |
|---|---|---|
| Levante (E) Grecale (NE) similar |
short — mainland at Piombino | Choppy, short waves. Unpleasant, but rarely destructive. |
| Scirocco (SE) Ostro (S) similar |
very long — open Tyrrhenian Sea | Long swell, heavy algae deposits. South-coast beaches get buried. |
| Libeccio (SW) | long | Powerful waves onto the southwest side. The classic storm wind. |
| Maestrale (NW) | long | The strongest wind in the region. Hits the north and west coasts — dry and clear, but rough. |
| Tramontana (N) | medium | Cold and clear. The north coast turns rough, the south coast gets aquarium-grade visibility. |
The south-coast beach Felciaio sits fully windward of a very long fetch in a Scirocco or Ostro. That's why the algae there aren't a blemish but a deal-breaker — and why the water is crystal-clear in a Tramontana.
What we know so far
Felciaio
Avoid in south and southeast winds. The beach gets buried in algae then. In northerly winds — Tramontana, Grecale, Maestrale — the water is clear. The maths agrees: the bay opens towards 201°, i.e. south.
Observed ourselves, confirmed.
Ortano
The bay opens towards 84–99°, i.e. east. On paper exposed from northeast through southeast. The short fetch to the east suggests it comes off milder than on the south coast.
A hypothesis from the coastal geometry, not yet verified. We'll log it once we've seen it.
Remaiolo
The bay opens towards 232–238°, i.e. southwest. On paper exposed from south through southwest to west — Libeccio suspected.
Computed suspicion, not yet observed.
Istia
The bay opens towards 23–27°, i.e. northeast — the exact counterpart to Remaiolo, 30 minutes away on foot. If both hold up, it would be an escape pair: when one is windward, the other lies in the lee.
Computed suspicion, not yet observed.
Ottonella & Bagnaia
On paper both bays open westwards (261–286° and 271–277°) — but here the method gives us little: inside the convoluted Gulf of Portoferraio the coastal normal isn't a usable suspicion. The gulf setting probably shelters them, but nothing is verified.
Exactly the limitation set out in the small print above. Observation wins.
Cavo & Frugoso
Cavo and Frugoso sit only a few hundred metres apart on a narrow headland — Armin's "Cavo trick" says they face the wind differently. Here the method fails in a different way than in the Gulf of Portoferraio: over such a short distance the calculation returns almost the same value for both bays (roughly 40–75°) instead of two different ones — it simply can't resolve the headland.
So far only the switching principle is confirmed, not the direction. Observation wins.