Balearic Islands, Mallorca and Menorca

Mallorca : 14 June 07
‘There’s a long-standing  Spanish joke about a mythical fifth Balearic Island called Majorca (English spelling) inhabited by an estimated 8 million tourists a year’-  ‘ The Rough Guide to Spain’ How true!! Most of us don’t even know how to spell or pronounce it correctly!
We had a deadline for heading to Mallorca, which was useful in a way, as we may not have left Ibiza otherwise! Our friend Peter was flying into Palma for a couple of days, so we needed to find a peaceful anchorage and a meeting point that was not too far from the airport. Last time he visited us in Galicia and we still feel guilty that it cost him 120 euros each way in a taxi from the airport. Hence, we were keen to make it somewhat easier for him this time around.
We sailed into Puerto de Andraitx which is protected from all directions except southwest – of course the swell from the SW was already starting to work its way into the bay ahead of the expected winds as we arrived. We were uninspired by the port and decided to try and find something a bit more peaceful for Peters last couple of days of freedom for some time (Small life-changing Diblet on it’s way in 2 months time!) This was not so easy, as everywhere around Palma faces south and the forecast wind direction for 5 days was SE, S, SW, S, SE ! Palma itself is a no-go as it is full and expensive.
We pulled into Santa Ponsa for an uncomfortable night of rolling, as the swell just worked its way round the corner of the bay. We sought relief from seasickness ashore, only to find a hideous overdeveloped, predominantly English egg and chips culture. We absolutely hated it, and only returned to our oscillating home when we could really bear it no longer!  However, it served its purpose as a crew pick-up place, and as soon as Peter was aboard the next morning, we were lifting up the anchor to be on our way.
We headed for Cala Portals in the Bay of Palma, solely for the reason that it appeared to offer some small protection from the southerly swell. It also offered excellent swimming, peaceful nights once the tourist boats went home and the most outrageous nudist beach yet!! Of course the boys were quite content here and were happy to spend the whole weekend attached to the binoculars or plopping in for a cool down swim. The small bay that we had chosen to anchor had a beach that was wall-to-wall, or rock-to-rock, naked, bronzed sun-worshippers. Not only that, but as anything goes in the Balearics, naked-lesbian-lilo-cavorting barely raised an eyebrow – not sure about what else it raised – best leave that subject alone!! The only shore-side entertainment was an expensive daytime restaurant – thanks Pete for shouting us poor live-aboards a meal. It was fun to pick a path between the towels and whatever else on the beach – there was no natural path across the beach to the restaurant and there was nowhere to look but down, hoping not to trip over anything hanging in the way !!
Well, Peter sure got his get-away-from-it-all cala experience, but not sure it was good for the old men’s blood pressure!!

Moving swiftly on :  we pulled into Palma harbor to see if we could get a berth of any sort, but it lived up to it’s reputation of busy, expensive, full and not that comfortable anyway. Peter went off to his flight home, and we went to watch the super-yacht regatta in the bay – what a deal !!
We thought the modern 4-masted ship was only a spectator until they came in on starboard to the windward mark and caused the spectator boats to scatter, as they forced the small (!)  super-yacht (120 foot plus) to overstand the mark. We watched from a safe distance, amongst the other relative superyachts – including those with helicopters for tenders.

After this excitement we motored on to Puerto Andraitx to see if it was more welcoming second time around. We spoke to Roamer on the way by radio and they were up for heading to the same place.
Well, the swell had gone, and all was quiet, but we had no less than 8 anchoring attempts, including changing to a different type of anchor  -  before moving halfway out of the bay, well beyond the protection of the breakwater – we might as well have been back in Ibiza!! At the end of 40m of chain, we decided that we were unlikely to drag very far, and let’s face it, where we were there was no-one to drag onto!! Roamer got in first time, but later regretted their decision to move closer to the town – after several anchoring attempts. For future reference – stay close to the starboard buoys for best holding.
Up early the next morning due to anchor worry – we stocked up in the excellent supermarket and headed up to the north of the island – reputed to be of outstanding natural beauty and a world away from Magaluf and other Majorcan resorts of the south.
Puerto Soller                          
The north coast of Mallorca is absolutely stunning, truly naturally beautiful and completely undeveloped. We pulled into a semi-circular natural bay at Puerto de Soller. This is a very protected anchorage, the only harbor of refuge in 50 miles of tramontana-facing, rugged inhospitable coast.
We plopped our anchor in, it held perfectly 1st time and we knew that Soller wanted us to stay! The main town of Soller is set 2 miles away from the port – a first defence against pirate attacks of old. It is visited best by vintage tram. At the end of the tramway one can take the Victorian electric railway to Palma,crossing through and over the mountainous hills, orange, lemon and olive groves with breath taking scenery.We caught the early morning tram with the school kids off to school with their backpacks, and the hikers, who get dropped off early in the morning at the top of the mountain and walk down – very sensible.

Palma was very hot, despite the sea breeze, dusty and expensive, but lovely. You have to be very very careful where you eat and drink. The places in the backstreets where a few old Spanish people congregate are the best bet, but when you are hot and thirsty and standing outside a roadside restaurant/bar that serves big beers it’s easy to just sit down and order large beer. Stuart got more than he bargained for in the way of a litre of beer – costing an unbelievable €12.95 – even he said it didn’t taste so good when he knew what it cost! A litre of same in the supermarket is 1 euro.

Palma has the most amazing food market that we have ever seen :

We stayed in Soller for some days, as it is very pretty and we needed to be somewhere for our friend Rick to join us. There can’t be many more impressive approaches to arrive at your holiday accomodation– plane, taxi, Victorian train through the mountains, vintage tram, dinghy.

Rick soon discovered one of the ways we fill our time – it took the best part of a day wandering around in the heat searching for wifi internet and a television screen to watch the developing drama of the Americas cup final series-  NZ challenging the  Swiss for the cup that they stole, I mean won, when we were in Auckland 4 years ago.
While we were in Puerto Soller we experienced the strange ‘seiche’ that occurs around the Balearics. The seiche was recently brought to everyones attention in a yachting monthly article from a couple who had their yacht in Cuitadella in Menorca a while back – without warning the water level in the harbour dropped by a couple of meters, leaving fishing boats high and dry on the mud and pulling boats from their moorings, then followed by the sudden rushing in and out of water from the port causing much damage to the moored yachts. We did not suffer anything like this in Soller, but the boats rotated around their anchors in strong currents swishing through the bay. We lost an oar from the dinghy where it was tied to the end of the pontoon while we were ashore – a current must have pushed it under the end of the pontoon and ripped it off. We spent the night disentangling ourselves from 2 other yachts who had both anchored too close, and as there was no wind, and strong currents pushing us all over the place we frequently found ourselves attached to the other boats. At daybreak we pulled in some chain to pull ourselves clear of the 2 yachts, and then found we were dragging swiftly across the bay – we couldn’t really understand this as we still had 15m of chain out – and this should hold us with no wind. We pulled the anchor up and then understood the problem – the constant circling in the night had would the chain around the flukes of the anchor and tripped the anchor out. We cleared the whole mess and went and anchored somewhere else for a couple of hours kip.

No-one knows what causes the seiche – I recently read something by Rod Heikell who proposes that it occurs when a strong current driven by strong winds from different directions converge between islands – of course in the med this can be at some distance from where it is blowing – there is no tide to counteract the effects of the currents, so they travel unopposed for some distance.
We filled the water tanks uneventfully at the superyacht quay for €4 and set off to Cala Engossaubas on the south coast of the NE peninsula of the island. It still feels weird to watch your anchor set in the sand 25 feet below. We had a swim in beautiful warm, clear, jellyfish-free water, had some lunch, and with an iffy forecast we moved into the bay of Puerto de Pollensa.

On the way out of the cala in the main channel I saw a large black fin appear for 5 seconds and slowly disappear never to emerge again – I looked in all the books we have on board and I could not make it match anything other than a shark ! Eek!

Pollensa is tucked so far down the end of a large bay that the anchorage is protected from most directions. We anchored successfully in the weed here, although others (Moyle Rose and Roamer) had some trouble getting their anchors to set.
 Ashore, we found an English owned internet café for Rick, and they agreed to show the Americas cup for us in the afternoon. NZ won that day, so we all got very drunk to celebrate. Unfortunately we also picked up some kind of stomach bug there. Pollensa was a nice buzzy town, but full of tourists, so we were quite happy to move on to Menorca from here - on an Americas cup rest day of course!!

Menorca : 28 June 2007
First stop Cuitadella. This long narrow inlet is surrounded by an ancient fortified town, used by Romans, Moors, and raided by Turks. It is a very impressive little port where passenger ferries just fit in the gap, causing lots of wash to the boats moored along the sides. It is amazing to see these ferries turn around in a gap just a few feet wider than their length – I wouldn’t have wanted to have been the first captain to have to try it! As we motored around the port lights came on and we were shuffled off to tie up in a tiny cala opposite the yacht club – which has been turned into a small marina with lazy lines. No-one is allowed to be at large in the port when the ferry is coming or going.

Once tied up and the ferry had gone past, we decided to stay here the night anyway as it was to be Rick’s last night with us. It was the first time for one month that we had paid any mooring fees, as we had managed to anchor everywhere. It was €40 per night, no power, water or facilities, and you had to use your own dinghy to go ashore at the yacht club, where you could pay more to have a shower. It was very nice to sleep properly at night – knowing that you are tied to the land. At anchor, there is always the possibility that your own anchor will drag, or more likely that someone elses will, and they will drag into us.
Despite our continuing stomach bugs we enjoyed a fine meal at a quayside restaurant . The old town is a real joy to wander amongst the tiny streets. Menorca has a different feel than Ibiza and Mallorca – it seems to have kept its soul ! It is very Spanish (well Menorcan really!) and the tourist trade is more relaxed and up market.
After seeing Rick off in his taxi, and another restful night tied ashore, we headed around the north of the island next, to Cala Algayerens, beautiful undeveloped beach with no shore facilities at all. It was great swimming and we gave the boat a good clean, to clear off the city dust that had accumulated. It was the weekend, so next day every Spanish person with a small motor boat came to anchor in the bay – there was room for everyone though so it was no problem. We estimated 120 boats were there in the day. At night they mostly went home, and about 8 boats were left to enjoy the peace and quiet.

We were out of mobile phone signal here, and with no internet. We had a navtex forecast which gave strong northerly winds, and in the morning the swell had started to build in the entrance to the cala. One by one the boats headed out and we went back to the South east of the island. We had a fantastic sail in 20knots of wind – we have had the best sailing in the Balearics of anywhere so far.
Cuitadella was closed due to 1m water oscillations, which we assume to be another seiche. So we headed on around to Cala Covas on the south side. It is reputed to be the most spectacular cala of the Balearics, containing nearly 150 caves, some of which are prehistoric, and some still inhabited by hippies (when the warden is not around to shoo them off) It is a tiny cove with many rocks just under the water near the edge, so it required a complicated manoevre to fit into a slot amongst the few other yachts here. After circling for some minutes to prepare all lines, fenders, dinghy with oars,  and anchor. First we dropped the anchor into a sand patch in the centre of the cala, and reverse into a spot, allowing chain to run out and stopping within a metre of the rocks. Then I launched the dinghy and rowed lines ashore to find suitable rocks to tie them to, before Stu pulled the lines in and kept us pulled off the underwater rocks. All this has to be done as quick as possible to avoid being blown onto the other yachts. We executed it all without embarrassment, and settled in for a very quiet night. Again, no facilities, bars, no mobile phone signal, but Navtex still worked so we knew that we only had one night here before we had to start seeking shelter from strong winds again.
It is a very spooky place at night – surrounded by all those dark caves – we were glad to be in the company of several other yachts – although there was no danger at all.

We contemplated a visit to Cova d’en Xoroi,  a bar and restaurant built into natural caves halfway up the cliffs, but we needed to move on the next day. The swell was already starting to enter the cala and the dinghy was being bumped into the rocks as I went in to untie the lines.

 Cova d’en Xoroi from the sea

With strong winds coming, we headed for the natural harbor that the French and English fought for many times over – Mahon.  You can see why everyone wanted to own it – it is deep, large, very well protected from all sides. We had heard several horror stories about Mahon, but we’re pleased to find them unfounded. The harbour authorities manage all the buoys (€17/night) and pontoon islands (€70/night we think), and the club nautico charge a fortune for a space on the quay, but there is no need to bother with any of this because there is a very fine anchorage in Cala Taulera under the fortifications of La Mola in a circular bay with 2 beaches, 2 small entrances, and well protected from the wind from any direction, and with good holding in weedy sandy mud. It takes about 20-30 minutes by dinghy to reach the quay, so shopping and internet are a whole day event, and the best supermarket is at the top of the hill. You have to have eyes in the back of you head on the trip ashore in case a huge cruise ship slides silently up behind you!

A cruise ship slides past us as we cross the channel by dinghy

Cala Taulera

The anchorage is full of liveaboard yachts, so the entertainment at night is provided by one or other boat. Water is easily available from a small water pontoon island - a 50c coin supplies 50 litres of water. Diesel is available at the club nautico, avoiding the beginning and end of the day and the weekends when all the small power boats queue up, and if there is a luxury motor boat filling up, just go off and do something else for and hour!
Here we watched the last of the Americas cup races and when we got back to the boat, the Team NZ flag was flown at half mast. The Swiss had sadly managed to keep their ill-gotten gains.
As we are anchored just off the beach for the entrance to the Fort Isabel II on La Mola island, it beckoned an exploration. It has only been open to the public for a couple of years, previously being populated by the Spanish army, and housing a prison for those opposed to the Franco regime. The fort itself was built to repel the French (who wanted the port as a refuge between France and Algeria) and the English ( who wanted it as a base between Malta and Gibraltar). It was very successful, as once built, it was never attacked, and its cannons were never fired in anger. The architecture is fascinating, every stone hand-carved and every feature perfectly aligned. It is a work of art, particularly the galleries where soldiers armed with rifles could defend the double moat from a land based attack. Looking through the doors of these rooms, is like looking in an infinity mirror. It also house a 15 inch Vickers battery cannon; last test-fired in 1991, the Mahon residents were warned prior to firing, as it made their windows rattle! . It can penetrate 36cm of armour plate at 23km. Given the number of French and English boats in the anchorage, you could forgive them for thinking themselves under threat again!

We have been here for two weeks, with friends on ‘Will You’, ‘Roamer’ and ‘Moyle Rose’, and have met lots of others here. The kayaks were unpacked and have explored most of the calas around the port, including one that the pilot book indicated might be suitable for small yachts – small kayaks maybe, but not yachts!
We sat out our first gale at anchor here- which was entirely uneventful except for a couple of French boats dragging their anchors in the early hours. Quelle Surprise!

We made a trip up to town together for the evening to see the fishing boat blessing festival – there were lots of boats accompanying the 3 fishing boats out to the harbour entrance, but none of the expected dancing and music on the quay – unusual for Spain, they tend to celebrate everything with some fireworks at least.

Kate tries to attract Peter Stringfellow’s attention –but he was just playing it cool!

 

Most people are here waiting for the right weather slot to make the 200 mile trip to Sardinia. It is an excellent place to stock up and get weather forecasts etc. When we arrived here we realized that we had only been in the Balearics for 4 weeks, and we were already at the point  closest to Sardinia. We decided that we had been hurrying through and should slow down a bit and just enjoy being here. Two weeks later we are still in Mahon, but then so are Roamer, Will You and Moyle Rose – it’s just too good to leave. Roamer and Will You will eventually leave for Sardinia from here when the weather is settled again. Both boats have target destinations for the autumn that are earlier than ours for different reasons. We realize that we are able to take a bit more time to enjoy the island, and hope to visit the calas on the north east side before we move on east.
We had had good reason to stay here for these 2 weeks – the weather just has not reached its summer stability yet – probably something to do with the same weather systems ravaging the UK at the moment, the tail end is upsetting the normal Med highs and lows– at least it isn’t raining here though! We couldn’t think of a more pleasant harbor to be anchored in while the winds sort themselves out, and more pleasant company to share it with.
17th July 2007

Addaya and Fornells
‘Moyle Rose’ , ‘Roamer’ and ‘Will You’ moved on within a couple of days of writing this, so,  friendless and partied out with headed for some R&R round the north tip of Menorca.
First stop Addaya – some local knowledge had prepared us for the dogleg entrance through the rocks – it is Ok once you are inside the deep wooded cala but only a fool would attempt it for the first time in any northerly wind or swell. Luckily it was flat calm for us. We motored slowly up through the packed moorings, expecting the water to shoal well before there was any space to anchor, but actually there is plenty of room to anchor in a perfectly peaceful setting, beyond the moorings, deep inland almost isolated from the world. You could happily spend months in here, without any knowledge of the sea conditions outside. It was a beautiful place to rest and swim in water at 30+ Degrees, but shoreside activities were soon exhausted. On the quay close to the anchorage/marina the road leads through neat little plots and bungalows reminiscent of a characterless suburban new town, leading to a couple of purpose-built holiday bar-restaurants including the ubiquitous Irish bar, complete with Shamrock symbol. A somewhat longer trip ashore by dinghy takes you almost out of the Cala and then back in to a second bay to the old fishing quay, complete with toothless grannies, dogs and children. The atmosphere somewhat more attractive to us, the Spanish tourist/English tourist divide was evident in the differences between the two sites.
After a couple of days to chill we headed on west a few miles to Fornells. Our friend Rick had told us a lot about the fabulous sailing school (Menorca Sailing) at Ses Salines at the head of this large cala, so we headed up and anchored off the school for several days, while the wind blew it’s now customary 30 knots during the day. At least we had a lot of entertainment watching both novices and experts practicing their windsurfing and dinghy sailing – feeling slightly jealous that we couldn’t join in. The kit and the training both seemed to be superb, so if anyone is looking for a watersports holiday option – this comes highly recommended. And I’m not just saying that because we used their wifi internet connection for free for a few days!!
A trip ashore to Fornells town was rewarded by it being the weekend of the San Antoni festival. Our understanding of this is a bit patchy, but it seems to be a longstanding elaborate and exciting spectacle of horseman/woman-ship and bravado by the participating spectators.
The boisterous stallions dance into a packed sawdust ring, to an ever-repeating tune played by a very long-suffering youth brass-band.  The horses are goaded by the crowd, and encouraged by the riders to rear-up on their hind-legs as they dance, surging through the mass of people, so that the courageous ones can attempt to  touch the ceremonial breastplate of the horse by diving under it – this being good luck. Survival of this act could be considered very good luck, whether it brings additional fortune is debatable. The Red-cross were on hand to deal with crushing and stampeding injuries, but amazingly we saw none. A real blow for Health and Safety and Risk Assessment specialists across the world! 

After updating our website, and waiting for a weather slot, we were ready for the 200 mile crossing to Sardinia. Spanish books away and Italian books at the ready!!
Alas Med-weather usually means that you wait for a forecast of no wind, so as to avoid the Golfe du Lion gale leftovers. So we motor-sailed for 33 hours and arrived at Porto Conte on the north west coast of Sardinia, looking forward to a new language, culture and island.

Balearic Islands, Formentera and Ibiza

Formentera and Isla Espalmador, 31 May 2007
At last we have arrived at our first cruising destination!!! It has nearly taken a year, but we have seen such a lot along the way. It took 5 attempts to get our anchor to hold in the weedy bottom of the anchorage. Finally it bit and we could get some sleep after our night crossing, and relax for the day.
Early next morning the wind came round and put us on a lee shore (normally you always try to anchor so that you are being blown off the land – not onto it, so that if the anchor does not hold you do not end up on the beach/rocks/mud!) so we upped anchor and headed to Isla Espalmador – a beautiful anchorage in a bay of a privately owned island. The anchor held on the 3rd attempt – things are looking up! We found ‘Will You’ at anchor here too. The water is clear with turquoise patches over the sandy bits. Excellent for swimming.

We had heard and read about some mud pools on the island, so were not surprised to see small groups of people ,often naked , heading from the beach into the sand dunes, then similar sized groups of very black humans returning to the beach. This ritual is a must do, although I still can’t see why anybody wants to smell like a sulphurous rotting mud swamp for 2 days. People pay a fortune for this mud in exclusive spas!

Our first wedding anniversary was upon us so we decided to head off to another cala that had been recommended to us on Formentera – Cala Sahona. The water here was very clear and absolutely turquoise, and the weather behaved itself so the cala was tranquil. It was really weird to swim around the boat and to clearly see the underwater aspect that you can only vaguely remember from haul outs.

In the evening we headed up to the Mohito bar to watch the sunset. The mohitos (Cuban rum and fresh mint cocktail) had been recommended to us, so despite the absence of a menu or pricelist ordered one each. They slipped down very nicely, so we ordered a second one each. We speculated how much they might cost as we watched the sunset over the bay – oh well what the hell, we’ll have a third one! I went up to pay our bill and being slightly sossled I did not express too much surprise when presented with a bill for 13 euros – what a bargain, I thought. I then glanced up and saw that they had given me the bill for the wrong table, which had had only 2 mohitos! We quickly disappeared into the darkness outside before they realized their error and asked for 26 euros more. We wandered over to the beachside restaurant and decided the menu was too pricey and not apparently great quality and so we agreed that we could cook up something better ourselves on the boat. So we wobbled back to the dinghy on the beach. To our dismay there were a couple of people on the beach coming towards us waving flashlights – we really thought that the bar had rumbled their mistake and come after us for the money. “Ola Ola! Were you in the bar just now?” We could no longer escape so we resigned ourselves that they’d caught up with us. “I lost my bag in the bar and it’s closed now – did you see it anywhere?”  Just some other punters – not an angry proprietor. “No, sorry mate” we said and breathed a huge sigh of relief. So we did get away with  3 for the price of 1 after all.

Ibiza : 4th June 2007
As we didn’t feel we could go back to the same bar a second night we moved on the next morning, and just to be sure that we were off the hook we went a different island. A short hop and we were in Ibiza, and we found ourselves in Cala Yondal with just one other yacht at anchor. There were 2 beach chill-out clubs full of beautiful people. They were playing really good up-to-the-minute chill-out tunes at both bars – unfortunately we were anchored exactly halfway between the two! They were very well behaved and the music finished reasonably early by Ibiza standards.
Next day we moved onto Cala Port Roig – not as pretty or chilled out as Yondal, but a long safe well protected anchorage. Here we met up with Kate and Davy on Roamer and saw them at anchor for the first time – had to have a photo of that, just in case it never happened again. (They must have liked it – they’ve become true cheapskates like us !!) No shore-side entertainment here and not the prettiest cala, so we were on the move again the next day.

Kate and Davey wet their anchor

 The ‘spiritual’ island of Vedra

In tandem with Roamer we gently sailed up the stunningly beautiful coast to Cala Badella, passing between the ‘spiritual’ island of Vedra and the mainland – it didn’t think that it felt particularly ‘spiritual’ but then we hadn’t been up clubbing all night and taking drugs! Ibiza is very cliffy and steep-to so it seems to just rise straight out of the sea. Vedra must make an amazing sight at sunset from the mainland. Cala Badella was pretty much full of mooring buoys, but there was room for boats to anchor around the moorings. After 1 failed attempt to get good holding we picked up a buoy and stayed for 2 nights on it. No-one came to take money or shooed us off – it was probably a private mooring and we were just lucky that the owner had vacated it for a while.
Anchoring
We take our anchoring seriously and that is why we have so many failed attempts. Let me explain that – many yachts just drop their hook any-old how, pile several metres of chain on top of their anchors and stop their engines – often, to be fair they are just stopped for lunch or for the night in a fair-weather anchorage. 15-20knots of wind ( an average sea-breeze) seems to sort them out and they start to drag their anchors, causing havoc amongst the other anchored boats (forgive me – the French appear to be the absolute worst at this – everyone assumes the worst when a French flag appears in an anchorage!)  Being used to anchoring in Brittany in strong tides and in the UK with 180 degree wind-shifts and unexpected gales we take it a bit more seriously – we drop the anchor and slowly drift backwards letting out chain as we go. We put out 3-4 times the depth of water in chain and slowly motor astern to encourage the anchor to bite into the sand/mud/weed/rock. If it bites we then motor astern at half throttle, mimicking the effects of a gale to see if we drift backwards. If don’t move we are happy to sleep well at night (apart from knowing that there is a French boat upwind of us!) If it doesn’t hold like this, we pull it up and start again. Hence, if our anchoring attempts seem to reflect a poor anchor, it is not a fair assumption. It just means we are trying harder to be secure at all times.
Cala Badella was a comfortable combination of small tourist development and un-spoilt beauty. The English family tourism had encouraged competition between the bars, so they were good value and with good services – we found free wifi internet in a beach bar so we stayed all afternoon (working hard  you know! ) for the price of a few beers!

There was a small bonus for Stuart and Davey – a model sunset photo-shoot was taking place just on the rocks to the stern of our boat. We don’t think that Matador was forming the backdrop to their shoot – it wouldn’t have looked proper with the reflection from the binoculars in the background or the long slavering tongues!

Puerto de San Antonio : 8 June 2007
We arrived here well equipped with info as to where to anchor from ‘Huit Huit’ who had spent many seasons here. They were absolutely right and we dropped anchor in good holding inside the green marks but just before where the anchorage proper is marked on the charts. We didn’t expect them, but they arrived a few days later to find us in their favourite spot!
A good safe anchorage was appreciated, as we wanted to experience some night-life here. It is the second club city of Ibiza – two of the big clubs are based here, Paradis and Eden – and there are good bus connections to the real city of clubbing – Ibiza town. Both these options mean that we needed to be comfortable to leave the boat unattended while we spent a good part of the night ashore out of sight of Matador. 
Well we dug our anchor in well as usual and within a few hours the 20 knot test blew up. 5 boats dragged their anchors and ended up in the channel but we were confident that we were safe and sound because we had done the ‘full gale’ test.  Roamer anchored too, and they were well acquainted with San Antonio, having holidayed on the island before. They insisted that we visit the west end of San Antonio – a neon lit strip of bars and clubs bursting with lobster-red loud-mouthed Brits on cheap boozed-up holidays. This is the smelly armpit, zitty chin, sweaty crotch of Ibiza but luckily the town planners seem to have contained it all within a small area. We took advantage of cheap beer and sat and people watched for many hours – fascinating anthropological study !

Along the sunset strip the up-market chill out bars were an improvement – the original Café del Mar still exists here amongst several competitors- we just felt out of place – not on holiday, not burnt bright red, not living or working on the island, too old and frankly couldn’t wait to move on.
As our first San Antonio hangover waned we popped on the bus to Ibiza town, arriving about 5pm. We walked all around the impressive fortifations of Ibiza, the Dalt Vila, climbing to the highest vantage point enjoyed by Greeks, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Moors and Catalans as they successively ruled the island. The evening heat hangs heavily as you slowly ascend the many steps to the top of the old town. We were glad that our hangovers had precluded an earlier start !

Later we sought out the nightlife, exploring the hip gay area of the old town, the pre-clubbing bars with their touts trying to encourage you in – to overpriced beers and over-hyped transvestite parade. San Antonio had been a good practice run and we got off without too much ripping off, heading home on the night-bus at 3.30am. We could have spent 30 euros each on a ticket to one of the big clubs just for the experience, but it was still early in the season and any atmosphere in the pre-club bars appeared forced, false and directed at tourists with too much money to spend.

We’re sure that the foam parties and water parties are great fun if you are part of the crowd, in the mood, slightly drugged (no-one could afford to be drunk at 10 euros minimum for a small bottle of beer!)  and younger than us !

Before leaving San Antonio we decided to fill our water tanks. 540 litres of water in our tanks seems to last us around 2-3 weeks if we are sensible , so it is not too much of a chore to fill the tanks when it is convenient. However, filling with water in San Antonio involved queuing in the office, presenting ship’s papers, captain’s passport, a 30 minute time slot, a dirty oily quay, no cleats to tie to, a special hose fitting only available in the Balearics, and 4.35 euros in exact change, if you please – but for the freedom of anchoring where and when we want for free, it is a small price to pay and only a mornings toil.
We headed for the less-developed north of the island and enjoyed spectacular scenery again before anchoring in Cala San Miguel. This was another beautiful cala with a combination of laid back charm and Thomson holidays apartments. A small supermarket met our immediate needs. The inflatable kayaks came out for some exercise. Roamer joined us for a surprisingly good Chinese meal and we were happy bunnies indeed.

We were finding that some calas would suffer from an invasion of jellyfish in their hundreds for a day, but often the following day they were gone. A sort of jellyfish cruise thing going on maybe, like the huge cruise ships that spend 12 hours in port, disgorge 2000 people into the town and then depart as quickly as they came. We quickly learnt that you do not swim if the little evil b***ds are in town. They certainly do not try to get out of your way, and they have chemical warfare knowledge second to none. We thought we’d cracked a new cure, saltwater scrub, antihistamine tablet, hydrogen peroxide to clean, ammonia to neutralize the sting followed by a burn-jel dressing to relieve the intense heat. This resulted in an impressive immediate cure, but unfortunately it just lay dormant for 7 days and came back just as bad as if no action had been taken. A month later the skin is only just healing. Alas global warming is raising the average sea temperature, leading to huge increase in the numbers and size of jelly fish, and their natural predators, tuna and turtles are  in decline.
If only we could wage war on mosquitos and jellyfish instead of innocent people.

Our last stop in Ibiza was Cala Portinatx, an attractive cala with sane tourist development. Along with Roamer we found an excellent Asian restaurant at the top of the town overlooking the bar – not cheap, but excellent quality – and there was a swimming pool on the terrace in case anyone fancied a quick dip between courses. It was a real treat to enjoy a meal like this- the sort of meal we would have had at least weekly back in the UK- but we can afford to do this occasionally now that we are not paying for overnight marinas. We love swinging to our own anchor for free– long may it continue!!

A 50 mile passage took us to Mallorca, we had a target to meet, our friend Peter was about to arrive in Palma and we needed to be on our way. Ibiza was far more than loud clubs and bars, it also had many beautiful calas and spectacular scenery.
You’ll have to take our word for it, but this is a sperm whale we sighted between Ibiza and Mallorca. It jumped out of the water 5 times, getting a bit closer to the boat each time. It was an amazing sight but we were quite relieved when he stopped getting closer and disappeared, just in case it hadn’t seen us!