WARNING! SOME ADULT CONTENT
3/27/23 Cala Llonda, Ibiza, Spain
The Cala Llonda is like a narrow gorge, maybe 100 m across
and 750 m long ending in a beach. It is open to the east. The high sides protected
us from the 20-30 knot wind that blew all night from the north. We could hear
the wind overhead, but the boat was very still.
I was up early, so while Suzette slept in, I got a few
things done. I uploaded to the Blog site, this is a very slow process in a 4G
world and pictures take forever. That said I have to have a project to work on
while I upload pictures. So, I started the process of reworking the bimini
infill that I had made at home, it did not fit properly. I took out all of the seams
on the leading edge and cleaned it up. Now I can fit it up and mark it up in
real time. My second project for the morning was to change around the power
source for the VHF and AIS so they were wired through the main panel at the nav
station and could be easily switched on and off with the rest of the
instruments.
Sunrise
Suzette was slow to get motivated, I think the pollen was getting to her. In the afternoon we went ashore and had a good walk up into the hills. There are some beautiful single-family homes tucked into the hills with a view to the sea. Back in town we lingered at the café for a light lunch then down to the beach to watch the boats roll in the incoming swell while we enjoyed terra ferma and warm sunshine.
It was Monday so the market was opened. We stopped in for
the usual, some fresh vegys and wine. The wind had settled as did the swell so
we headed back to the boat with a plan to make frittata for dinner. I think the
Spanish refer to this as a torta; egg, potatoes, cheese and onion. Ben waved us
over and invited us for sundowners. We enjoyed a couple of bottles of Vino
Verde and watched a beautiful sunset over the hills. With the north wind the
weather has turned cool, so it was not long before the party dispersed and we
returned to our warm boat. Ben and Anika live in Germany, it was interesting to
talk with them and get their perspective on the world.
3/28/23 Cala Llonde, Spain
It was a quiet night and cold morning, 55 F! As the sun rose,
we spent time reviewing the weather and planning the next few days over coffee
and biscuits. Pulled anchor about 1000 and waved good bye to our new friends.
As we left the Cala we unfurled the sails, turned SW and had a great
close-hauled sail to Formentera, an Island just south of Ibiza. The wind was
light, 10 knots, but we were in no hurry and enjoyed sailing along at about 4
knots. There is a lot of ferry traffic between the islands and they do not
alter for you, so we had to be vigilant. The pass between the islands is
shallow so we made sure to follow the safe water makers. It is a bit unnerving
when you can see the bottom as clearly as we could, but we were in 7+ m, no
worries.
A couple tacks had us in our new anchorage at about 1600,
Cala Sahona on the west side of Formentera. We anchored of the beach in 4 m of
Gin clear water. We could easily watch the chain pay out and see that we had
plenty of sandy bottom. There were a number of jelly fish swimming about,
entertaining because we did not plan to go swimming. The sun was out after a
partly cloudy day and it felt good to shower and then bask in the sun with a
cocktail. Now that it is spring, we have moved on from our winter drink, Black
Manhattan, to our summer drink Gin and Tonic or Rum and Tonic (Dubbed a
Rumantic when we were in Tonga).
The sun set over the sea, but no green flash. Maybe that
only occurs over the Pacific, or maybe it is just a myth…we will keep looking.
The cliff was lined with a dozen people also there for the sun set.
3/29/23 Cala Sahona, Formentera, Spain
A very calm night, up with sunshine and a light breeze.
Headed to the shore in the dinghy and parked on one of the fishing hut ramps.
We walked the beach where there are a number of signs explaining the
conservation measures being taken and where not to tread. Up past the hotel we
found the road and headed west towards and 18th century lookout
tower near the point. The tower was used as a look out for pirates attacking
the island. The road was sort of a compacted clay and rock surface lined with
low stone walls. Beyond the walls it appeared that the land was divided into
multi acre plots for farming. Some plots looked fallow, others plowed and ready
to plant and some planted; though I could not tell what they had planted. There
were a few farm animals; sheep, horses and mules.
The road sort of dead ended into a private property so we found our way down to the rocky cliffs at the shore. Someone, or many people, had created a distinct path along the cliff. As we walked Suzette was shedding layers because she was getting hot, pretty soon she was topless and now she was really hot! This island is known for its public nudity so she fit right in. There were a few beautiful homes set back a few hundred meters from the cliff with unobstructed views of the beautiful blue Mediterranean. We made it to the tower, about 4.5 miles. It appeared that the only door was on the second floor. There was a cornice feature above the door that we speculated might support a block and tackle to lift someone to the door, very secure from attack. More likely the wood stairs or ladder have long rotted away.
The tower piqued my interest as we have seen a lot of these
sprinkled around the shores of the Med. I am reading a book called The Great
Sea that covers the history of the Mediterranean Sea from 22,000 BC to present.
In Roman times the book describes a structure like this lookout tower that was
built as a sort of mini Castle. It served as a look out garrison, armory and
food storage building for the village around it. I am betting that some of the
towers we have spotted date back to the Roman times.
Walking back along the road we found ourselves on the more
populated side of the island. There were many beautiful homes with great views
to the sea and the harbor. Some of the homes appeared to be occupied year-round
others were just being opened up for the season and others were shuttered waiting
for their owner to return.
When we returned to the fishing huts they lived up to their reputation for nude sunbathers. Suzette had long put her clothes back on. However, back on the boat she was quick to disrobe and jump in the clear water for a brief swim, 16 C is pretty cold water. I could not bring myself to jump in, but laying in the sun and erasing some tan lines was feeling pretty good. As I laid on the swim step it was mesmerizing watch the breeze push things along the surface while the current seemed to move the jelly fish in a different diction and the fish went where ever they wanted. A seagull was working up his nerve as he got closer and closer hoping some morsel might come his way…don’t feed the seagulls!
There she goes again
As the people gathered on shore for another sunset it was
getting cool and time to tuck up under the dodger out of the breeze with a
sundowner to enjoy the show.
3/30/23 Cala Sahona, Formentera, Spain
Awoke to an overcast sky that quickly burned off as the sun
rose in the sky. Suzette set about taking advantage of the wet decks and hosed
the pollen off the boat. We pulled anchor and made the short trip north to
Ibiza City, Ibiza, Spain. I had hoped to beat the wind today so that we could
easily dock, but no such luck. With a 15-knot cross wind we stuck the landing
between two beautiful 55’ Riva power boats. The Marineros wasted no time
securing our stern and handing me the sand line. By the time I tied the bow and
returned to the cockpit they were gone. As I surveyed my new birth and beamed
with pride at my docking maneuver, I realized this was two slips, room for
another boat next to me!? We did our check in at the office, pretty quick since
I sent my documents by email ahead of time.
I had a couple objectives for the day; check into the
country and find a WIFI to download the updates for my Raymarine instruments
and send some voluminous emails. Yes, we had not checked into Spain yet.
Everywhere we stopped there were no customs offices open. The marina office
directed us to the Policia International, which turned out to be the other side
of town so that would wait until tomorrow. Suzette’s priority was to find a
good masseuse and schedule an appointment, her shoulder was bothering her, an
old injury. The office made a recommendation, so that was the first stop as we
wandered around the city.
The masseuse was all booked up, but was kind enough to take
our number to call if something opened up. He also recommended a chiropractor
down the street. The chiropractors office was closed when we arrived, 1400, the
bewitching hour. We found a great café nearby with WIFI and settled in with a
bottle of wine and my laptop. We managed to conduct all of our business and
drink the wine in time for closing at 1530. The waitress was trying to convey a
message to us, but she did not speak much English. She used her phone and
translator “I am proud of you for finishing the bottle of wine”. Should we be
proud or embarrassed? She was very sweet and we said our good byes.
The chiropractor was still not open so we walked the town.
Suzette found a cool looking organic hair salon/CBD shop and made appointments
for us to get our hair cut on Saturday. Getting appointments was hard, not
because the town was crowded, but because the place was only just starting to
open up. The grand opening for the Discotheques was not until the end of the
month, that is when it becomes crowded. They are famous for their dance clubs
here and some of the smaller ones are open.
As we passed through the marina, we could see lots of
activity on the boats as the cleaning and maintenance crews were hard at work
getting the fabulous yachts ready for the season. Our quay was lined with 50’
plus power boats already gleaming and looking ready.
Upon our return to the boat, I decided it would be a good
time to do the software upgrade on the navigation system. I down loaded the
upgrade to a micro-SD card that I had bought several stops back. The micro-SD
card gets inserted into a slot in the MFD at the helm. That slot is spring
loaded. I put the card in, but not all the way and, before I knew it, I was
watching the card fly through the air bounce of the combing, cartwheel across
the side deck and descend into the sea! There were more than a few explicatives
as I had worked so hard to get to this point. Nothing a new card could not fix.
Let’s just say I was a bit grumpy that evening.
3/31/23 Ibiza City, Ibiza, Spain
A quiet night at the dock always makes for a good night’s
sleep. The morning was cold so we tried out the new portable heater in the
morning, works like a champ! Suzette was anxious to get back to the chiropractor’s
office and make an appointment. We found Ruban, but he was booked up. He took
our number and promised to call if something opened up. Back to our new
favorite café, Prince Bakery, for coffees and a piece of a spinach filled
pastry.
The Policia National was about a mile or so away so we set
out through town on foot taking in the sights along the way. It was a big city;
you would not know that you were on an island about 3 times the size of
Catalina. At the Police station the officer first told us that they did not
stamp pass ports and did not know where we could get this done. Then he came
back and told us to go to the port police at the marina and they would direct
us to the Policia International in the port. We made a few stops on the way
back to the port; some fruit and water from the little market, a new micro-SD
card, an attempt to buy engine oil.
We checked with the port police, they said “go to the Policia
International”, we asked where and they hung up on the intercom. Guess we are
not checking in; cannot say we did not try. Guess we will continue as persons
with no country, at least no one wants to arrest us, yet. Done with that we
headed to a water front café and enjoyed libations and a margarita pizza. This
was definitely a yachty looking crowd, more upscale than we have been seeing. We
were surrounded by 50’ plus gleaming yachts.
Port side neighbor Wajer 55
Starboard side neighbor, they came and cleaned this boat every day
The wind was picking up so we returned to the boat. In anticipation of haircuts on Saturday I did Suzette’s color job, opps, probably was not supposed to tell. Yes, I am usually her hair dresser; color, cut… While she steeped in her hair color, I continued my work to document and map my navigation system. There are lots of parts and pieces tied together on a Sea Talk network by Raymarine. I like to know here the parts are and how they talk to each other in the event that I have system malfunction.
It was a windy night with 30 knot gusts starting at
midnight. The wind woke us up around 0030 so we decided to go for a walk and
see what the late night crowd was up to. The bars were packed inside and out as
the music thumped out a beat. The temperature was 19 C, eerily warm. Back on
the boat we listened to the wind howl until about 0300 and then it settled
down. The high wind prediction is what brought us into a marina, Sunday and
Monday would be the highest winds.
4/1/23 Ibiza City, Ibiza, Spain
Today would be our calm day for the wind. It was hazy over
the water. We lingered over coffee before heading off to the hair salon. The
hair stylist spoke enough English for us to feel confident going under the
knife. I cut my hair off before we left and it has been trying to find its way,
that said, I think that the cutter did a pretty nice job. She did a great job
on Suzette’s hair.
We stopped at the café in the marina for coffees and Avocado
Toast, our new favorite since being introduced to it at SYC. We dug out our
bicycles and headed off to the castle. They have great bike paths here that are
well marked and off of the street with some streets designated for bikes to
have priority, like they do in Long Beach. The castle was another example of
what a great job Spain is doing to keep the ancient structures looking
beautiful and yet intermixing modern uses. The castle sits atop the promontory
overlooking the harbor entrance. From there we road along the beach front of
Ibiza, the wind seems to have kept the sunbathers away. Suzette is still
looking for a mirror to put above the bar on the boat, so we made a few stops
to shop.
As we were returning to the boat, we were met by road blocks and empty streets in anticipation of the marathon runners slated for the afternoon. The crowds were building so we joined the fray and cheered on the runners. There were a group of young women in bright red dresses doing a dance for the runners as they passed. It Reminded me of the Red Dress Hash and our friends Scott and Bobby, no drinking involved here. At the marina the wind was holding steady, but not obnoxious. The rear tire on my bike has a slow leak so I decided it was time to fix it, a dirty job, but it needed to be done. After all that bike riding, we were tired and we knew the wind would start howling at midnight, so we were off to sleep by 2000ish.
As predicted the wind made a 180-degree shift and was blowing a steady 30 knots with 45 knot gusts! We checked the lines, the dinghy tie down, the way we were laying with the other boat and anything else that looked like a problem. All looked good, but in spite of being tied to a dock we stayed up to monitor. We played Mexican Train until about 0300 when the wind subsided just a little and we felt confident that we had survived the worst. Not that I could do anything about it, but my worst fear was that the 20mm mooring line on the bow would give way and I would swing through the open birth next to me and into the $2 million dollar yacht moored on the end.
4/2/23 Ibiza City, Ibiza, Spain
All’s well that ends well. The sun was up and the wind had settled to about 20 knots with 30 knot gusts on our starboard bow. A good morning to stay below. The wind settled down to around 15 by around noon, time to wonder. We walked all the streets in the old town and up into the part of town behind the lower ramparts. The area behind the rampart was a warren of alleys and small streets lined mostly with small homes, not detached, but a line of two-story apartments. There was an occasional restaurant. At the north end of the rampart were stairs that led to the upper rampart that we had visited the day before. There was a very cool looking restaurant along the stair where everyone sat in bean bag chairs around low tables. This was great for drinking; eating not so much. There were lots of people in town as a result of a cruise ship that had arrived in the morning. It was fun just sitting in the shade in the big square and watching the people go by. There was a guy playing guitar and singing with his hat out. The people were generous at the end of his performance.
It was Sunday so it was boat made pizza for dinner. We spent
most of the evening researching the weather and places to anchor next as we
were head to Mallorca in the next day or so. The prediction was for 20 to 30
knots again over night, but it never materialized. The winds were predicted to
be mild after that, but all this wind left us with a good-sized swell to try
and avoid. Having satisfied our weather and anchorage planning it was time for
pizza, this may have been the best boat pizza yet!
For the evening we attempted to relearn the game of
Pinochle. I am not sure I really get this game in terms of strategy, but we
will keep trying.
4/3/23 Ibiza City, Ibiza, Spain
A beautiful sunny calm morning. We have been enjoying the
luxury of our little electric heater while plugged in at the dock. Typical
indoor temp in the morning is 56 F. We generally start the day in the mid 50s
and by noon it is low to mid 70s below and we are opening a hatch or two. The
high winds predicted for Sunday night went west of us making for a quiet night.
The light breeze from the NW was ideal for our departure from the marina birth.
Headed east retracing our path back to the NE end of the
island, our jumping off point for Mallorca. The swell was as big as we have
seen in the Med, 2 m plus, but gentle with a long period like we have in the
pacific. We arrived at our anchorage for the night, Cala de Sant Vincent, and
began the search for a sandy spot as close in as possible. There were two boats
anchored already, though it appeared they were on sea grass. Satisfied with our
anchor location we waited for the predicted wind shift to be sure we settled
out of the grass and away from the other boats.
The wind shifted to the SE and we were in a perfect spot. We rowed to shore and pulled the dinghy up on the sand. There were a fair number of beach goers sunbathing and even swimming. A trio of girls were doing a little photo shoot near the fishing huts, posing for each other in their bikinis. The hills rose quickly from the beach area. We hiked to nearly the top of the eastern hill hoping for a glimpse of Mallorca in the distance. The roadway was dotted with beautiful homes tucked into the hill side; each one creating their own private oasis over looking the sea. Near the top we found ourselves looking out to sea to the north, beautiful, but no Mallorca.
The sun set over he hill as two catamarans found their way
into the cala to anchor. Overnight the wind behaved, but the swell did not,
making for a rolling night. Once again, the wind had us sideways to the swell.
We slept athwart ship and managed to get a little rest.
3/4/23 Cala de Sant Vincent, Ibiza, Spain
Up early for the crossing to Mallorca. A bit of overcast,
cold, 50 F, with a light breeze from the southeast. The swell had died down to
less than a meter and the breeze was behind us as we made our way a little N of
E to Mallorca. The distance is 58 miles from Cala de Sant Vincent to Platja de
s’Arenel, out next anchorage. If you try to look up these names of places you
will find them spelled several different ways. There are at least 3 languages
spoken here, Spanish, Catalan and a Mallorcan dialect of Catalan. The charts
tend to use Spanish, the cruising guide is a mish mash and the anchorage app
uses the local language. Confusing I know! We saw a couple blow hole spouts of
from either dolphin or whales, but too far away to tell. We fished out some flotsam,
a 5-gallon jug. I made the mistake of opening and taking a whiff, it nearly
knocked me out, a strong chemical smell like toluene or some such industrial
solvent. I won’t do that again!
When we were a couple hours out from Mallorca the wind
clocked northwest and picked up above 10 knots so were able to enjoy the peace
and tranquility of sailing for a while. The wind died as we were closing the
Bahia de Palma, we furled the sails in a nick of time as the wind clocked 180
degrees and shot up to 18 knots on the nose.
As we arrived into the Bahia de Palma, we could see hundreds of small sail boats in various fleets setting up to race. A rib came over to us and asked that we go around the race course. Decided to simply stay and watch as the boats raced around the course. I am not sure what class they were, there were a huge fleet of Sabots, a small fleet of Hobie type catamarans, a boat the looked like it had wings that the two man team could hike out on and Lasers. They were moving fast in this 15-knot breeze. At the beach there were hundreds of kite surfers.
There was finally enough of a break in the action for us to
get across the course and into our anchorage just outside of the marina. By the
time we anchored the wind had dropped to 5 knots and the races were over. We
watched as the sailboats were towed in by the many colorful ribs that were on
station. We anchored 3.5 m of clear water with plenty of sand. Welcome to
Mallorca and a beautiful sunset over the hills surrounding the bahia and a
rising full moon.
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