Formiche della Zanca (Capo Sant'Andrea)

A cluster of emerging rocks on the exposed NW corner of Elba, the seaward walls face the open Ligurian Sea and the Corsica Channel and take the full brunt of NW-W wind-waves driven by the Mistral and Tramontana. The Libeccio (SW) arrives more obliquely with Tyrrhenian fetch, while the landward sectors (SE-E-S) are shadowed by the bulk of Elba and by Punta della Zanca. With essentially no protection from the dominant NW quadrant, the site is unworkable in any northwesterly blow and best dived in settled summer conditions.