Cove hopping around Ibiza
Tuesday 30th April….. Yes all the plans came together today....walk Saffy ashore at 6.30am then depart at 7am. Overnight it had been really calm and we got a good sleep and there were no crashing waves to negotiate for Saffy's walk. Finally we were on our way to Ibiza.
The Spanish call it Eivissa
It was about a 55 mile trip and the weather was right on forecast. 7-12 knots wind from the south east and a 0.7m swell from the same direction. We had a great sail across the Ibiza Channel and for the last two hours we were doing 9.5 to 10 knots. A bit too fast for me that is, but Dean had fun.
I know wer'e going to sunny Ibiza, but it's chilly out at sea
One of about 6 large ferries & ships we saw today
It's a busy place it seems
Tonight we’re anchored in a swimming pool….well almost. It’s called Cala Tarida and it’s on the west coast of Ibiza. The water is perfectly clear and gorgeously blue. Dean jumped in and dove down to check the anchor, and found some fish having a look too.
Now where's that anchor?
Looking over the side with his goggles on
Now time to dive down for a closer look
Told you it was a swimming pool
....and it's all ours
Here's a photo of the anchor dug in with some nosey fish around.
This photo was taken with our GoPro camera from the dinghy in 4 metres of water
So day 1 in the Balearics and all is good good good.
Wednesday 1st May…. Balearics Day 2 and we are anchored in yet another swimming pool. How cool is that? The sea was so calm this morning in Cala Tarida when we got up early again. We sat watching the fish swimming all around the boat I guess they know where to hang around looking for food scraps.
We took the dinghy for a ride around the bay investigating a few secret coves and walking Saffy. There was a lovely hotel on the beach with a swimming pool almost as clear as ours!
Thursday 2nd May…. Well it was exactly one year ago today that we left Gornalwood and Thésée became our home. We’ve seen some wonderful places along the way and today was certainly no exception. So we made a fairly quick decision this morning to move along the coast about 5 miles south to a place called Cala Saona. As it was so close we didn’t unload the dinghy and go ashore until we arrived there.
Yet another ‘swimming pool’ it’s incredible. I can’t describe how beautiful the water is, and of course the sandy bottom helps. So we picked our spot and dropped the anchor. It was quite blowy but there was a fair amount of shelter from the land. It’s very rural with just one hotel and an amazing beach. Best of all there was a real quirky Chiringuito (beach shack) at the corner of the little bay. After quite a long walkabout we stopped at this Chiringuito and as it was almost past midday, ordered a half carafe of Sangria. We had heard the bars were expensive and indeed the bill for this was 18 euros. So we weren’t too surprised. You pay for the experience I suppose. It was such a perfect place and the staff were overly attentive, we even had little blue lizards running around our feet. It really couldn’t have been more perfect, so the 18 euros was feeling well worth it, especially as we havent paid out for expensive marinas for a few days now. We then went on to order two baguettes and a beer and the whole thing came to just 30 euros. Also there was no worrying over Thesee and the dinghy on the beach because everything was in our view.
Later on after a bit of snoozing and a bit of cleaning we went back ashore for Saffy’s evening walk and passing the Chiringuito the staff waved us over. Well, they had recognised us and were waving Saffy’s water bowl at us. We didn’t even know it was missing….too much Sangria. We’ve fallen in love with this place and Formentera as a whole it seems.
Friday 3rd May…. Well as much as we enjoyed Formentera we had to move on once again. The problem seems to be the wind doesn’t do the same thing from one day to the next, hence we’re always looking for a protected anchorage. However it was a calm night and yet again we slept well. So about 9am we moved north across the bay and decided upon another spot, this time called Cala Yondal (Jondal). It’s a pretty enough place, the cliffs kind of remind us of Mupe Bay in Dorset, only not as spectacular I might say. We’re near to Ibiza airport so a chance to do some plane spotting, no big stuff here though…..mainly budget airlines. But really you don’t even notice the aircraft so it’s not a nuisance. We are anchored just off a rocky beach with a couple of bars. We’ve been told they are quite noisy into the early hours, but maybe not tonight as it’s very overcast and we can see all the partygoers with blankets around their shoulders. Good news for us though. Tonight we have about five neighbours including a pirate ship (well almost).
Saturday 4th May... May the fourth be with you, Dean says it's StarWars day today! There was no rush to move on so we took a leisurely walkies about 9am. There's not a lot here at Port Jondal, it's quite sparse infact apart from 3 bar/restaurants along the beach.
By 11am we were on our way east towards Santa Eulalia. We took a shortcut passage across the waters between Ibiza and Formentera. The pilot book said least depth would be 3-4 metres and infact we saw 4.5 metres. The chartplotter said it should be 8 metres. Need to be aware of that in future. It's a very busy area for shipping as it's right on Ibiza City doorstep and there are ferries galore. So on our way to our first marina in 7 days, reason being there's a blow coming through at around 6am tomorrow morning and we (well me Linda) thought we should play it safe. Besides there was shopping to do. On the way to our destination we took a quick look into Cala Llonga. Unfortunately it seemed rather bleak and there was a huge grey cloud overhead. So we finally reached the marina at Santa Eulalia. It's rather shallow coming in and we saw 2.2 metres on the chartplotter. Anyway all was well and we are here now. Unfortunately the marina has rather underwhelmed us. It's 68 euros for one night, we are berthed miles from the marina shops, bars, and services, the gate keycode doesn't work, there's no wifi, the washing we humped around to the launderette 20 minutes away got humped back again as the launderette was closed, the ferreteria (hardware store) was closed too, and our view is a brick wall, albeit painted pretty blue. The only upside was that Mercadona was open so we did some shopping, and Saffy is pleased as punch she doesn't have to go in the dinghy.
Wednesday 1st May…. Balearics Day 2 and we are anchored in yet another swimming pool. How cool is that? The sea was so calm this morning in Cala Tarida when we got up early again. We sat watching the fish swimming all around the boat I guess they know where to hang around looking for food scraps.
Fish hanging around under Thesee
We took the dinghy for a ride around the bay investigating a few secret coves and walking Saffy. There was a lovely hotel on the beach with a swimming pool almost as clear as ours!
Disused? fisherman's shacks
More boathouse shacks
Posh hotel with 'grubby' pool
More posh hotel
Thesee in the back ground
Exploring nearby coves
More exploring
About 11am we raised the anchor and motored south for 3 hours to a marvellous anchorage at Esplamador, which is a pensinsular to the north of Formentera. There’s loads of room and it’s a good job because there was a lot of boats anchored, both sail boats and motor boats of all sizes. Later on, on our second dinghy trip of the day we got ashore (just about as it was quite rocky where we decided to land) and had a very pleasant walk through some of the nature reserve. It would be lovely to get the bikes out and see more of the island but that’s difficult when you’re not in a marina.
Our new anchorage
...and again
Saffy's evening walkies with mum
Yet another ‘swimming pool’ it’s incredible. I can’t describe how beautiful the water is, and of course the sandy bottom helps. So we picked our spot and dropped the anchor. It was quite blowy but there was a fair amount of shelter from the land. It’s very rural with just one hotel and an amazing beach. Best of all there was a real quirky Chiringuito (beach shack) at the corner of the little bay. After quite a long walkabout we stopped at this Chiringuito and as it was almost past midday, ordered a half carafe of Sangria. We had heard the bars were expensive and indeed the bill for this was 18 euros. So we weren’t too surprised. You pay for the experience I suppose. It was such a perfect place and the staff were overly attentive, we even had little blue lizards running around our feet. It really couldn’t have been more perfect, so the 18 euros was feeling well worth it, especially as we havent paid out for expensive marinas for a few days now. We then went on to order two baguettes and a beer and the whole thing came to just 30 euros. Also there was no worrying over Thesee and the dinghy on the beach because everything was in our view.
Our quirky sangria shack!!
Looking down across the Cala
You can't get lost around here
Someone's house number
Picture postcard
Cheers to our first year as liveaboards
Caught in the act
Looking out to sea on top of the Chiringuito
Lizard with a new tail
Fishermen's boathouses
Another one of our little mates
Later on after a bit of snoozing and a bit of cleaning we went back ashore for Saffy’s evening walk and passing the Chiringuito the staff waved us over. Well, they had recognised us and were waving Saffy’s water bowl at us. We didn’t even know it was missing….too much Sangria. We’ve fallen in love with this place and Formentera as a whole it seems.
Friday 3rd May…. Well as much as we enjoyed Formentera we had to move on once again. The problem seems to be the wind doesn’t do the same thing from one day to the next, hence we’re always looking for a protected anchorage. However it was a calm night and yet again we slept well. So about 9am we moved north across the bay and decided upon another spot, this time called Cala Yondal (Jondal). It’s a pretty enough place, the cliffs kind of remind us of Mupe Bay in Dorset, only not as spectacular I might say. We’re near to Ibiza airport so a chance to do some plane spotting, no big stuff here though…..mainly budget airlines. But really you don’t even notice the aircraft so it’s not a nuisance. We are anchored just off a rocky beach with a couple of bars. We’ve been told they are quite noisy into the early hours, but maybe not tonight as it’s very overcast and we can see all the partygoers with blankets around their shoulders. Good news for us though. Tonight we have about five neighbours including a pirate ship (well almost).
Aircraft on final approach as we near Cala Yondal
One of our neighbours having a play with his one of his MANY toys
It's an electric powered hydrofoil surfboard....looks like real fun
Here's another of his MANY toys...
A flyboard powered by his jet ski
Uh oh, here come the Pirates
Saturday 4th May... May the fourth be with you, Dean says it's StarWars day today! There was no rush to move on so we took a leisurely walkies about 9am. There's not a lot here at Port Jondal, it's quite sparse infact apart from 3 bar/restaurants along the beach.
Yes i could live here
One of the bars, Club Tropicana (are the drinks free?)
Cacti on our morning walkies
Back to the beach now
Dean ready for launching us out to sea
Who put that hole there?
Pirates are still here
Even more pirates now
By 11am we were on our way east towards Santa Eulalia. We took a shortcut passage across the waters between Ibiza and Formentera. The pilot book said least depth would be 3-4 metres and infact we saw 4.5 metres. The chartplotter said it should be 8 metres. Need to be aware of that in future. It's a very busy area for shipping as it's right on Ibiza City doorstep and there are ferries galore. So on our way to our first marina in 7 days, reason being there's a blow coming through at around 6am tomorrow morning and we (well me Linda) thought we should play it safe. Besides there was shopping to do. On the way to our destination we took a quick look into Cala Llonga. Unfortunately it seemed rather bleak and there was a huge grey cloud overhead. So we finally reached the marina at Santa Eulalia. It's rather shallow coming in and we saw 2.2 metres on the chartplotter. Anyway all was well and we are here now. Unfortunately the marina has rather underwhelmed us. It's 68 euros for one night, we are berthed miles from the marina shops, bars, and services, the gate keycode doesn't work, there's no wifi, the washing we humped around to the launderette 20 minutes away got humped back again as the launderette was closed, the ferreteria (hardware store) was closed too, and our view is a brick wall, albeit painted pretty blue. The only upside was that Mercadona was open so we did some shopping, and Saffy is pleased as punch she doesn't have to go in the dinghy.
Looking into Cala Llonga
Would feel better if it was sunny
Now in Santa Eulalia
Here's the Thomas Train Stop
Sunday 5th May…. Today we moved a little up the coast to Cala Boix. It’s a nice little place but there is not as much protection as we had anticipated and it’s somewhat roly poly, and we can’t get ashore. Still, we did manage to cook dinner and eat it. We’ve been feeling a little frustrated the last couple of days, but trying to keep ourselves busy with one thing and another. Not champagne sailing at the moment, and no photos today either, sorry.
Monday 6th May…. Up all night with the swell rolling in. Taking it in turns to get an hours snooze. I did a jigsaw to stay awake and finished it at 6.02am, Dean read a book. A bit calmer by the morning. Getaway at 7am to another anchorage a few miles on at Cala San Vicent where we did manage to get Saffy ashore. For some reason I didn’t want to like it, but I did. Dean liked it too. A yacht here had to be rescued by the Lifeboat, we think he had trouble with his rudder because he kept going in strange directions.
Lunchtime we moved further on to Portinatx, the other side of the island, surely no swell there. Joke. Worse than ever I have seen. Extremely roly anchorage at times. No sleep again tonight. Still we did meet up with some of our old friends from last year on Elos III, who are also anchored here waiting to get across to Majorca. Had a walk about but we’re rather fed up still. Meanwhile Saffy is taking it all in her stride, lol. Hopefully will be calmer weather tomorrow???? Ibiza is turning into a nightmare.
Monday 6th May…. Up all night with the swell rolling in. Taking it in turns to get an hours snooze. I did a jigsaw to stay awake and finished it at 6.02am, Dean read a book. A bit calmer by the morning. Getaway at 7am to another anchorage a few miles on at Cala San Vicent where we did manage to get Saffy ashore. For some reason I didn’t want to like it, but I did. Dean liked it too. A yacht here had to be rescued by the Lifeboat, we think he had trouble with his rudder because he kept going in strange directions.
Saffy wrapped up against the cold and damp
Sunrise, but still cold
Anchored again!
Rescue tow for the stricken yacht with steering
Lunchtime we moved further on to Portinatx, the other side of the island, surely no swell there. Joke. Worse than ever I have seen. Extremely roly anchorage at times. No sleep again tonight. Still we did meet up with some of our old friends from last year on Elos III, who are also anchored here waiting to get across to Majorca. Had a walk about but we’re rather fed up still. Meanwhile Saffy is taking it all in her stride, lol. Hopefully will be calmer weather tomorrow???? Ibiza is turning into a nightmare.
More swell breaking on the rocky shore line
Barberr shop lighthouse, nearly!
Cala Portinatx
Portinatx anchorage, looks can be deceiving!
Saffy's landing beach at Portinatx
Not sure how we're going to handle the next few days. It's getting quite dangerous now using the dinghy and trying to get Saffy ashore twice a day. We don't know if Majorca is going to be any better!
Tuesday 7th May 2019
We woke about 8.30am today after another sleepless night at anchor. The boat pitched and rolled all night until we finally got to sleep in the early hours. The swell here is relentless as always. Anyway when we woke most of the boats had gone, maybe sunk under the strain! The day started bright and calm and the swell had stopped, yes I said the swell had stopped! We took Saffy ashore and had a walk about, stopped for a coffee and cake and then walked to the east bay to have a look there, quite nice.
We then headed back to the boat for a snooze before lunch and some sunbathing. I said it was bright. The temperature today was 30 degrees, for those of you working in the old and outdated F that's quite hot....at last!...And no swell.
We then tried to book our next stop on line using some special Spanish website thing! Great. I finally gave up and called the marina in Majorca. Can you reserve a space for Thesee please "no senor you can only book online" but your online booking doesn't work!
"Si senor we know" no I said it doesn't work...kaput! " Si senor we know" can I book with you please. "No senor you can only book online" But...dear Lisa theirs a hole in my bucket etc etc....... and so it goes on. Welcome to the Balearics!
Hopefully we can be up early, take Saffy ashore and be on our way to Majorca tomorrow as the wind is favourable.
Wednesday 8th May 2019
Well we were early to bed and the alarm set for 6am. It gets light about 6.30 ish now so we took Saffy as soon as we could see where to go. We were on our way to Mallorca by 8am. People keep saying that the weather is unusual this year. We motored in a very uncomfortable and confused sea for over three hours and we tried lots of different sail plans to try and make life easier but in the end I had to admit defeat and we turned back. I read a book a while ago that said once in the Mediterranean the swell disappears and apart from some gusty winds the sailing is great....what a load of bollocks! The swell is relentless and is now becoming dangerous to cope with. Anyway we're anchored in a small cove: Port de Sant Miguel. The wind is forecast to blow 30 knots tonight so I hope we are protected a little in here.
Tuesday 7th May 2019
We woke about 8.30am today after another sleepless night at anchor. The boat pitched and rolled all night until we finally got to sleep in the early hours. The swell here is relentless as always. Anyway when we woke most of the boats had gone, maybe sunk under the strain! The day started bright and calm and the swell had stopped, yes I said the swell had stopped! We took Saffy ashore and had a walk about, stopped for a coffee and cake and then walked to the east bay to have a look there, quite nice.
We then headed back to the boat for a snooze before lunch and some sunbathing. I said it was bright. The temperature today was 30 degrees, for those of you working in the old and outdated F that's quite hot....at last!...And no swell.
To the beach
At the beach
Another beach
Usual shot!
And again
Nice!
We then tried to book our next stop on line using some special Spanish website thing! Great. I finally gave up and called the marina in Majorca. Can you reserve a space for Thesee please "no senor you can only book online" but your online booking doesn't work!
"Si senor we know" no I said it doesn't work...kaput! " Si senor we know" can I book with you please. "No senor you can only book online" But...dear Lisa theirs a hole in my bucket etc etc....... and so it goes on. Welcome to the Balearics!
Had to be careful during my swim
Trying my homemade hammock, seat thing
Anyway I had a bit of a swim about and then we took Saffy ashore again for an afternoon pee. A you do! I exchanged a couple of books at the exchange a book store and we stopped for a cheeky wine on the way back. The waiter was good, very good. He chose to walk past with somebody else's food wafting the aroma our way....we ended up with half chicken and chips and pork chop and chips.. yummy. 
Cheeky wine!
Cheeky wineo's
Cheeky lizard
Walking along the sea front
You guessed it..another beach
Anchor on the wall of a resturant
Hopefully we can be up early, take Saffy ashore and be on our way to Majorca tomorrow as the wind is favourable.
Wednesday 8th May 2019
Well we were early to bed and the alarm set for 6am. It gets light about 6.30 ish now so we took Saffy as soon as we could see where to go. We were on our way to Mallorca by 8am. People keep saying that the weather is unusual this year. We motored in a very uncomfortable and confused sea for over three hours and we tried lots of different sail plans to try and make life easier but in the end I had to admit defeat and we turned back. I read a book a while ago that said once in the Mediterranean the swell disappears and apart from some gusty winds the sailing is great....what a load of bollocks! The swell is relentless and is now becoming dangerous to cope with. Anyway we're anchored in a small cove: Port de Sant Miguel. The wind is forecast to blow 30 knots tonight so I hope we are protected a little in here.
Looking out to sea
Looking towards the small beach between the island
Down the port side
And starboard side
The good news is that we are safe and Saffy has three beaches where we can land for her walkies, of course she has to be carried from the dinghy across the beach because there are no perro's allowed on the beaches. We're currently anchored in 10 metres of water with just over 40 metres of chain out and the anchor is dug in well. I think we will stay here for a couple of days and then move onto to Sant Antoni and have a look there. It looks like we've missed our weather window to move onto Mallorca now so we'll have to try again next week.
Hopefully some protection here from a nasty northwesterly that's forecast.
So far being in Ibiza has been extremely stressful, I hope things improve when we get to the other Balearic islands.
Thursday 9th May…. What a difference a day makes, and what a lovely day today, yes I mean it. A break from route planning and weather watching to some degree anyway. We spent the day here in San Miguel, taking a mini ramble around the bay, up the hills, and through the woods to the Tower and passing two lovely beach bar chiringuitos along the way. The second one we stopped at for Sangria and lunch... yes in that order. The Sangria was amazing, with shots of Rum, Vodka, Cointreau, Martini, topped up with red wine and lemonade. Then we took the water taxi back across the bay to pick up our own dinghy which we had left on the main beach. It was a bit of a treat and quite exciting. Saffy got the ride for free.
At the start of the mini ramble
Looking out to sea
Saffy having a whale of a time today...tail wagging
Quite spectacular views
....and down there too
Dean inside the tower treading carefully
Meanwhile the girls waiting outside
Thesee anchored in a nice clear blue sandy patch
Lunch stop
Both mine??
Waiting for the water taxi
Thanks for the Sangria
In the water taxi, Dean a passenger for a change
I think Saffy had a great time being on land and off lead for the main part of the day. Freedom in a country that doesn’t seem to be very dog friendly. It was so hot this afternoon lounging around in the cockpit. The teak deck in the cockpit gets too hot to walk on, and we lift half of the table to give Saffy some shade, but she hasn’t really got the hang of it yet and likes to go up front on the deck in the sunshine.
Dean took a swim late afternoon and scrubbed the starboard hull as it was showing signs of growth already. He had some fishy friends helping him. He also snorkelled to check our anchor and found our neighbours anchor too. A few boats have left and some new ones arrived. We’ll be here tonight again as it seems calm enough.
Looking down at Dean in the water working hard
Here's the fishy helpers
Now time for a homemade cider ice-lolly
And finally celebrating a lovely day with a cheeky San Miguel, in San Miguel!!
Friday 10th May… Happy 5th Anniversary to us! So to celebrate we walked up to the caves here in San Miguel. Of course we weren’t allowed in with Saffy Perro, but we just sat and had a coffee at the viewpoint near the entrance. We can see the lookout from Thesee and were intrigued to see a reverse view. It was quite a walk for Saffy and she was a little exhausted at times. It took a bit of exploring to find our way there and as we did we came across a laundry on the outside of one of the hotels so tonight we did some washing. You don’t know how exciting that is for us.
The reverse view, looking down at Thesee from the Caves cafe
Happy Anniversary to us!
This afternoon Dean took a swim and cleaned Thesee’s portside hull this time. It was another hot sunny day, so nice infact that I surprised Dean by suggesting I take a dip too. I’ve never swam from the back of the boat before so he was shocked when I suggested it. In fact I don’t think he believed me. Well it is our Anniversary so a good day to go for it I thought.
Oh my God, i'm really going to do it
This is a big day for me
We’ve had to start the generator tonight because the batteries are low, even after two days of pure sunshine. This will be our third night here at anchor. I don’t think we’ve ever stayed in the same anchorage for so long before. It’s so lovely here, but tomorrow we’ll be on the move it seems.
Calm and tranquil at sunset, except for our noisy generator
Saturday 11th May... We had to say cheerio to lovely San Miguel today because of a wind shift the the North East this afternoon. So where to hide next?? San Antonio area looked a good bet and it was only a couple of hours down the coast. So off we went. The coastline was spectacular, high cliffs and offshore rocks. It was a good journey, nice and calm, and the batteries got a good charge at least. It blew up a little as we passed the last headland and turned southwards towards a couple of bays north of San Antonio harbour, where we dropped the hook. We were close inshore just outside a nice looking chiringuito. However, when Dean went to check the anchor he said we were hooked on a mooring line, so he had to swim down to attach a tripping line so we could motor forwards and pull the anchor out backwards (kind of). We got in a bit of a muddle at first, but it wasn't long before we had it released and chose a new spot a little further out.
It's a bit noisy with pleasure boats and jet-skis but you have to expect that i suppose. They're only tourists like us after all, sharing the waters with each other. It's not the prettiest place we've ever been but it will be alright for tonight. Fortunately we remembered that it was the weekend and the shops would be shut, hence not going into the marina like last Saturday.
Quite a bit of cloud forming on the headlands
Now look at that strange layer of cloud above the water
Looking to shore from the boat this afternoon
....and looking to the boat from ashore
with San Antonio in the distance
This blog post has been going on a bit longer than expected so we'll start a new one tomorrow called 'More Ibiza Adventures'.
