Speculation from Italy: Capt. Sailed Costa Concordia Thru Dangerous Strait off Island Coast

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Interesting Italian blog saying a sail-past of the port had been done before

http://www.zazoom.it/blog_rsc/post.asp?id=5328

there's a button for Google translate on the right - a British flag - which gives:

The newsletter ElbaReport indicates that long-standing practice was during Costa's cruises offer passengers a panoramic tour of the Lily browsing a few hundred meters from the coast of the island. Move up in the cache site Giglionews - unreachable until Saturday evening because of excessive traffic - not only can you find a letter of thanks from the mayor Ortelli to the skipper, but he also learns that August 14, 2011 the ship had carried out a flyby in front of the island at 22:00:

(Giglio = Lily in translation)

That chart seems to show Le Scole may be a kilometre from the port, but scarcely a hundred yards from the nearest point on the island. Incredible they would try to sail that close to land without complete control of the ship and precise knowledge of their position (and the captain on the bridge).