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"There's always a plan, but unexpected things happen and we just go with the flow. Though I do believe that fate and destiny often play their part"
sailing blog
Some people circumnavigate the globe. Our achievement is slightly less adventurous but nevertheless going right round Ibiza was quite an experience. It wasn't all plain sailing either, we had a few sticky moments along the way. After leaving the luxury of Marina Ibiza on 22nd July we sailed up the east coast to anchor in a spectacular little place called Cala Llonga. Steep pine carpeted hills either side of this long inlet, leading to a sandy beach, made it an ideal place to chill for a while. The picture below is the view from Comino anchored safely in the middle of the Cala in crystal clear water and not a jellyfish in sight. We swam all day, ate a hearty dinner and retired to bed feeling pretty damm lucky to be where we were. Sadly, during the night an annoying swell rolled in which made it difficult to sleep. There's a fine line between a soothing gentle rocking motion and something akin to being constantly rolled from one side of the bed to the other. Anyway, it was a sleepless night and in the morning we decided that we should move on. A short hop up the coast was Cala Pada. We dropped anchor off the beach thinking this would be an ideal place to spend a few days. Then the wind started to blow quite hard from the south. Guess which direction we were facing - south. Again, the swell kicked up and my instincts told me we should find a more sheltered place, preferably north facing. Up came the anchor, on went the engine and we steamed further up the cost with a beautiful little island called Tagomago a few miles off the mainland in our sights. In the most spectacular location, under dramatic cliffs and clear water like I've never seen before, we settled down once again. The wind grew much stronger, my nerves jangled, another sleepless night was on the cards. Up came the anchor, on went the engine. This time we crossed back to a very north facing small bay and as soon as we tucked in under the cliffs the world went completely calm......aaahhh......this would do nicely. In Cala del Lleo that night we were treated to an awesome sunset plus a good uninterrupted sleep. In the morning, feeling very refreshed, we decided to press on with our circumnavigation. As the electric motor whirred into action to bring up the anchor there was a horrible clunk. I looked down to see the anchor wedged between two rocks and clearly nothing short of a JCB was going to bring it up. On went the goggles and flippers for an urgent rescue mission whilst Nicky looked on nervously. Down I went into 15 feet of water and with one almighty yank out she came....£350 worth of anchor was saved. In brilliant early morning sunchine we travelled on round the north of Ibiza where the terrain looked like the scenery from Jurassic Park. Massive jagged cliffs, rolling pine forests and practically deserted. We passed Pta Moscarte, the northern most tip of the island, which has a lighthouse (see below) painted like a stick of candy. Our destination was Cala Portinatx, another beauty spot if ever there was one. Apart from a great beach and turquoise water we tend to choose Calas that have a bit of life in them. A few hotels, bars and restaurants mean there's plenty of people providing a bit of hustle and bustle. We've done isolated remote nooks and crannies but after a while you get bored of the nothingness. Are we philistines....probably. That said, Cala Portinatx was our home for a few days and we loved it. In the picture below, somewhere amongst the boats, is Comino bobbing about merrily. After a while at anchor there are certain necessities that run out. Water and battery power to name but two. Not the drinking stuff, bottled water is always on hand in little shops and cafe's but you do need to wash up the dishes now and then. Batteries can also be re-charged by running the engine for a while, but it's not ideal. So, onwards and upwards we decided to travel for a few hours back to San Antonio Bay where we could stock up. Sailing down the west cost of Ibiza the landscape was even more dramatic and totally uninhabited due to the towering rocky mountains that plunge vertically into the sea.
We anchored for a few more days in the bay first before coming into the marina for some luxury, which is where we are now. One thing that has been bugging us all the time is the lack of internet access as and when we want it. Therefore, I finally got off my backside and braved a trip to a Spanish mobile phone shop to seek a solution. Two hours later and Comino now has her very own mobile router......we are, in the eyes of the world, a floating Wifi hotspot.....about bloody time too Nicky exclaimed. Our next adventure involves the kids coming to see us, which after nearly five months apart is going to be an emotional welcoming. James arrives next Wednesday for a week and Emily-Jane and her fiancee come at the end of August. Our plan now is to stay in Ibiza till the end of the summer. Things like the hippy markets, a night in Pasha, more trips to unexplored Calas mean ther's plent of new stuff to experience before we put Comino to bed for winter. Where that might be is emerging as an interesting story in it's own right.....more news on that front to follow. In the meantime the pic below sums up one of the things we both like to do most........get up and dive in.
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On 15th we lifted our anchor in San Antonio Bay and set off for a holiday around Ibiza. First stop was Cala Tarida, just a couple of hours away. The beach was wonderful, the water crystal clear and a few restaurants and bars on the shore made short hops in the dinghy an absolute must. I even found a place up the hill that specialised in take-away spit roasted chickens. I got them to pop one in a bag for me and quickly returned to give Nicky a surprise slap up lunch on-board, washed down with a chilled bottle of Vino Blanco. Absolute heaven I must say. Swimming off the boat is now routine but you can imagine my surprise when I got up early one morning for a quick dunk and found Comino completely surrounded by jelly fish. I had contemplated a skinny dip but something told me it could get a bit painful round the nether regions!!! After a few days we decided it was time to move on again and find another Cala. We poked our nose into a couple just to have a look but they were all choka. Not enough room to swing a cat let alone a 30 ft yacht. High season here is crowded with many boats from England, France, Italy, Belgium and Holland, not to mention the Spanish on their home turf. They range from little tiddlers like us, all the way up to 300ft super yachts costing £25 million plus. We're all trying to squeeze into the same idyllic little bays but luckily for us we can usually find a spot in shallow water unsuitable for the big boys.Travelling anti-clockwise round the island we eventually dropped the hook in Cala Yondel. More swimming and more chilling but later we had a rolly poly night with an irritating swell all night. Tired, we set off again with our sights on Ibiza Town and some home comforts in a marina for the first time in two weeks. This involved some tricky navigation through rocks, reefs and small islands all waiting to trip up the unprepared sailor. A few uncomfortable hours in very choppy seas later, we arrived in the capital and rocked up boldly to Marina Ibiza amongst the biggest boats you've ever seen. Sorry sir, no room at the inn was the initial response but the head honcho of the place came out of his office and took pity on me. He made a dozen phone calls to birth holders to see who was away for the weekend. Eventually, after a tense half an hour wait, he found us a place for three nights in the farthest corner of the marina amongst the small speedboats.....Phew!!! This marina is geared up for the worlds richest people. There are immaculately uniformed staff on hand to do everything for you if you can afford it. Fetch n carry, cook, clean, polish your Rolls Royce (there are plenty of them). Everywhere you look very stylish looking couples ooze money out of every orriface.....but I'm sure they're really nice people at heart!!! One of the VIP services here is completely free and I've used it mercilessly. Rich and famous people are not expected to walk anywhere in this heat so a fleet of gleaming white golf buggies patrol the marina picking you up the minute you step off your boat. How cool is that? Yesterday we took the ferry over to the old town for a good old mooch around. Very attractive place full of shops selling outrageous clothing designed mainly for hedonistic types looking to adopt a designer hippy lifestyle. If you wore the stuff on Cheltenham Promenade you'd be arrested I'm sure. Anyway, here's a few pics of our stay.....tomorrow we sail and that means saying goodbye to the luxury showers and toilets and hello again to our solar bags. Actually, they do just fine, plus you don't pay 94 euros a night for them!!! Hello again. We've travelled so far lately with so much to tell, but firstly I'm pleased to confirm that our destination for this summer has been reached - we're in Ibiza, with Majorca and Minorca in our sights. The journey here was via Alicante, Calpe, Morayara and Denia, followed by a calm thirteen hour crossing from the mainland over to the nearest of the Balearic Islands. We've had to pinch ourselves just to make sure we're not dreaming. For the past five nights Comino has been comfortably settled at anchor in San Antonio Bay, a safe distance I hasten to add from the town where they made Ibiza Uncut, a documentary about the outrageous behaviour of the youth of today whilst on holiday. More of that later. It's probably best to use pictures to catch up on our adventure over the past couple of weeks, pretty well all of it without wifi, hence the lack of communication with the outside world. AlicanteCalpe
MorayraIbizaAs I said, we've been chilling out nicely for five days before we start exploring the beautiful Calas around the Island over the next month or so. We'll anchor most of the time with occasional visits to a marina to top up with water and fresh supplies. Where we are now is just a short dingy hop to a fantastic little beach complete with bar/restaurant actually sitting in the water on a concrete plinth. A Spa supermarket (small by our usual standards) is just a short walk away so everything we need to survive is on hand. For purely research purposes, we have ventured into San Antonio during the daytime to see if it's as bad as they say, but really it's fine just as long as you depart before dark when the carnage commences. You notice that there are thousands of bewildered souls sitting around eating all-day English breakfasts trying to fathom out what they did last night. There's no doubt this is party town personified. To fit in properly you also have to have at least 50% of your body tattooed, with a few piercing thrown in for good measure. Oh well......it's just kids enjoying themselves isn't it?
Next time we log on hopefully we'll have tales (and pictures) of the more remote parts of Ibiza, which I'm lead to believe will take our breath away. Catch up again soon. After two rather hot n' sticky weeks enjoying the absolute delights of Cartagena, we decided it really was time to move on again. Untying our ropes was tinged with a little sadness, but Ibiza is firmly in our sights. To get there still requires a few long sails along the Spanish coast, before the long crossing over to the island itself.
The journey yesterday was plotted as an eight hour sail to Torrevieja, with a forecast predicting breezy North Easterly winds. Not ideal for our planned route as unfortunately this would give us wind bang on the nose for the first half of the journey. Of bigger concern was the sea state. Winds from an easterly direction can mean "choppy". My word choppy is what we got. Thank you very much Mr Neptune. The first couple of hours to Pta de la Espada, a major headland where we turned north east, was very rolly-poly. From there to Cabo de Palos was like being at Alton Towers, the sea was that rough. Both Nicki and Comino coped extremely well despite the fact that waves frequently came over the decks. Once round the cape, we headed due north with the wind now on our starboard bow, meaning the sails could go up in all their glory. We flew to Torrevieja, averaging 6.5 knots and with this spurt of speed our journey time was cut down to under seven hours. It was extremely hot when we arrived late afternoon at Marina Salinas in Torrevieja. To our delight, what do you think was the first thing we saw when we tied up on the waiting pontoon? - a swimming pool!! After completing the check-in paperwork at the office, I asked if our fee included use of the pool - "Yes sir" came the reply. To be honest, we were a bit too cream crackered to take a dip straight away, but the decision to stay for the weekend was made there and then. Sun-loungers and speedos here we come. That evening we took a stroll into the town for a quick nosey and to get a few essential supplies (a bottle of vino). OMG...me thinks this place is like no other. An upmarket Blackpool would be one way to describe it, only three times the size. Tonight (Saturday) we're going to put on our best glad rags and go exploring some more. What I can tell you already is that because this is a Spanish holiday resort, they don't have endless fish and chip shops...oh no...they have endless kebab shops instead. I think I'm going to like this place! However, before I post pictures of Torrevieja-On-Sea, as I call it, enjoy a few more shots of our previous home in Cartegena. I fear the next picture gallery will be somewhat more wacky. I said in my last post that I thought Torrevieja might be a slightly wacky place. Actually, having spent the weekend here, it would be more accurate to say that it offers plenty of variety which, in my opinion, is the spice of life. During our first venture into the town, it became clear that any comparison to Blackpool would be grossly unfair. This is simply a very busy Spanish holiday resort full of all the good things Spain has to offer. For example, we enjoyed an enormous buffet restaurant featuring over a hundred freshly cooked dishes for just €7.95 a head, plus €3 for a bottle of perfectly drinkable wine. Fish in abundance, mountains of different grilled meats, traditional stews, platters, sumptuous salads and many, many deserts. It's called a bottomless lunch and we did our best to sample as much as we could. As we ate, the crowded beach emptied itself as hundreds of Spanish tourists joined us to tuck into this gastronomic extravaganza. By mid afternoon the beach was crowded again - but everyone was asleep now!. Below, a pic of the main beach, but it is the weekend after all. Actually, I think the hustle and bustle of Torrevieja is what gives it an energetic, vibrant feel, with plenty of Spanish authenticity. In this case, busy does not mean tacky. Being accosted by a giant prawn in broad daylight, as we meandered around the town, was certainly a bit wacky. It was advertising a fish market would you believe, which meant only one thing. We came home with a few giant prawns to be fried with a little garlic and white wine later that evening. We're nothing but predictable. The marina area is very cool with beautifully furnished chill-out lounges and uber trendy bars, the best of which is called Niki Beach. In a blatant breach of The Trades Description Act, there's no beach anywhere to be seen, but the pool more than makes up for it. We decided it would be rude not to take a day off and relax in the comfy sofas at Niki Beach, whilst listening to the DJ playing a mix of Ibiza lounge music on what they said would be "Sundown Sunday". Our lazy day, sizzling in the sunshine, certainly didn't disappoint. I did notice some very beautiful people who paraded around us in semi-naked swimwear, although they always kept their stiletto heels on for some reason! Given the heat, we gingerly overcame our modesty and took to the pool at regular intervals to cool down. Things hotted up late afternoon when the DJ notched up the volume, prompting some of the beach babes to stand up and gyrate in tune with the music. On no account was it possible for me to take any photos now for fear of being arrested! Instead I took pics earlier in the day when the place was empty……if you want to see what I saw, you'll just have to use your imagination. Today (Monday), the forecast is for strongish easterly winds, so we've decided to stay put. Another trip to the pool might be in order. Being a weekday, it'll be quiet I suspect. No worries, we'll do a hundred lengths each to make sure we also become the beautiful people in future......although it might take a bit more than that..........speak for yourself says Nicki.........sadly she's not wrong there! |
A FEW PICS OF COMINO Click a photo to enlarge and use side arrows to scroll through. COMINO IS CURRENTLY HEREDID SOMEONE SAY SEAFOODOn our journey from Portugal to Greece we enjoyed amazing seafood almost everywhere we stopped. Finding the local fish market was always a priority because seafood was so plentiful and so reasonably priced. And, the displays were a feast for your eyes.
Locating a market sometimes meant pounding the pavements in searing heat, but if you kept your eyes peeled, you often came across a little clue. The pic below was a rather less than subtle advert for a fish market - it was eight feet tall.
Freshly cooked onboard, a plateful of giant prawns, baked in wine and garlic, washed down with a few glasses of local vino, was like heaven. Watching the sunset on the boat eating a meal like that was the epitome of "living the dream".
Now we're in Greece we've another favourite to savour. I'm talking about fried Calamari. It's usually good, but every now and then it's off-the-scale fantastic. At Natalie's Taverna on Kontokali Beach in Corfu, it was nothing short of epic.
We're based in Lefkas now and It's been a bit of a mission to find somewhere just as good. And we have. Rakias is a mere ten minute walk from the marina and this little fish market, with its very own taverna attached, is quite sensational.
Oh...and it's also worth mentioning that, on occasions, a bit of barbequed Octopus is on the menu at some of the tavernas we frequent. Can I resist....no. SUNSETS AND DRAMATIC SKIESNo filters, or any other monkey business, have been used to enhance these images.
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