Countdown to the Balearics

Countdown to the Balearics

Tuesday 23rd April….  After 11 nights at Santa Pola, Thésée is on the move again. We did well to get away by 9.30am, on our way north across Bahia de Alicante and to our Plan A destination Villajoyosa. We had about 6 plans today all in all, we were pleased that Plan A came to fruition.  Mind you this marina at Villajoyosa has quite a surge running through it and Thésée keeps snatching on his lines to and fro. There’s nothing we can really do about it. It reminds me a little of Town Quay, Southampton where you get the same kind of thing happen. 
It sounds easy to call up the marina and ask for a berth for the night. It would be but of course Villajoyosa is pronounced Bea ho yosa. Good job I'm fluent in Spanish speak!

It took four hours to get here, and although the swell was fairly large the further north we got, there was little wind, so it wasn’t really that uncomfortable.  One thing we did try out on our journey was getting the Chartplotter to steer Thésée to a waypoint we had set. We always use waypoints because it’s easy to see where you want to aim for, but we’ve never set the plotter to steer the route by itself before. 

Castell de la Santa Barbara at Alicante (upon the hill)

A very big mountain in the background at Villajoyosa

So we arrived by 1.30pm ish and had a walk around town. Dean had heard that there was an area with lots of brightly painted houses, so we set off to find it.  After that we stopped for refreshments before the rain started. Back on Thésée, Dean found there was a small leak on the aft heads since he fitted the new pump, so he spent a little time putting it right. 

Rio Amadoria at Villajoyosa

Dean & Saffy find the brightly painted houses

Some in need of TLC

A bit further on

That's a nice street

A little crooked down this one

Linda at the Rio's edge

Dean's favourite....yellow of course

We took another short walk later on, this time in the Benidorm direction. We are only a few miles away from this very famous resort, it’s just around the next headland. Maybe tomorrow we will get a close up as we sail past. 

Checking out the sea state this evening

Look, we found a rock fish

Wednesday 24th April...

We left 'Bea ho yosa' at 10 o'clock after walking Saffy. In the end we had quite a reasonable sleep considering the amount of noise from the lines caused by the surging back and forth. We sailed up the coast so we could have a good view on our way. Benidorm is huge with big tall new looking buildings. 

Bye Bye Villajoyosa

Hello Benidorm

 

New-age style buildings

We made quite good progress and once around the northern headland we had a look around a large but sheltered bay called Punta del Albir.

 Three waterfalls making their way through the rocky headland

The headland forms part of a nature reserve and to save the bottom condition from anchors they place some buoys for boats to use free of charge. Yes I said free of charge! in Spain. 

Thésée on a buoy for the night

This anchorage is one of the most scenic we've found so far
Beautiful blue waters

Not long after we had settled in our Swedish friends arrived with their boat Sofia. They called us on the radio while they were still outside the bay to ask what it was like. Before too long they had also picked up a buoy and were enjoying a quick beer aboard Thésée.

 There's a buoy waiting for you Sofia

Nearly there

Tiina's ready with the boathook

Sofia in the buoyed bay

We tried to take Saffy ashore for a pee a little later but there is no beach and only rocks. We did manage to get ashore but not before getting our wellies full! We joined Magnus and Tiina on Sofia for a BBQ as the sun was setting which was great, only after all the wine, and a large shot of Laphroaig, is was a nervous row back to Thésée in the dark.

Thursday 25th April....

Well the bay was not quite a peaceful as we thought. With little wind in the night we drifted around the buoy which kept knocking against the hull. Then the swell started to roll in. So I was up four times in the night swapping lines around.

We left at 10am saying our goodbyes to Sofia and crew, they will catch us up soon in the Balearics. It was only a short sail further north past the headland at Calpe. Once again there was quite a swell rolling along which made the journey a little uncomfortable.

Once past the headland we tucked ourselves in and dropped the anchor. We will wait here for a few hours and hopefully leave for Ibiza just after midnight.

You might have noticed the simple detail missed out of our morning ritual.... Saffy's walk. We didn't want to take the dinghy in over the rocks again so decided to take here for a pee once we were safely anchored. Anyway, before we could get the dinghy down and the outboard on she had a pee on the deck. What a good girl. Lots of treats for that!

Friday 26th April....  We're so tired. We were up three times in the night with Saffy wanting a pee. It was really quite perilous going on deck with her being as Thesee was being rocked about in that godforsaken swell again. The third time we were up was about 3.30pm and at that point we kind of decided that our planned Ibiza trip was off for now. At 5pm the anchor alarm went off and we were up again, but not Saffy this time....she was fast asleep in the land of nod. What to do now?  After our deliberations and at 7am it was too late to catch the wind to Ibiza, so we let our heads rule our hearts and thought the most sensible thing to do was stay here in Calpe and get Saffy to a vets.

By this time the swell was considerably less and it was turning into a lovely morning. Dean had a snooze and then tried fixing the leaky heads again.

The half moon still showing over Penon de Ifach

 Dean zonked out at 9am

Waters really calm and beautiful now

We waited until noon to lift the anchor and pop around the headland to the marina.  Once in the marina we were allocated a berth which turned out to be one of the trickiest we've had....reversing down a narrow fairway and into a berth stern to with lazy lines, just about big enough to take Thesee. We had it sussed and Dean reversed Thesee down the fairway and into the very tight berth with inch perfect precision. Oh my word it was just amazing! Even God could not have performed a more perfect manoevre. It's definately gone to number on the list.

The marina here is lovely, the sun was beaming down on us and everything seemed rosy. Our friend from Lira who were anchored outside the marina popped by to say hello, whilst they were on their way to walk Skipper, their puppy poodle.

 Here's Skipper looking for Saffy to come and play

I went for a mid-afternoon snooze and then at 5pm we took Saffy on the 25 minute walk to see the vet. Wow they were so thorough, mind you the price reflected that. We must have been in there for an hour and a half. We think Saffy has a urine infection but tomorrow morning we will find out for good when we have to go back again for an ultrasound scan on her bladder.

Walking back to Thesee we took the route along the esplanade. We really like it here, it's very clean and there's a good feeling about the place. And wow what a view of Penon de Ifach. It's like a mini Gibraltar rock, and we are berthed right under it....only this one's in the sunshine.

 Linda & Saffy after the vet ordeal

 Spot Thesee

Outside the Real Club Nautico Marina

....and again

Of course it was Thesee Friday and we were so desperate for a rum & coke after 3 rather sleepless nights. Need to catch up on some sleep tonight....Night Night.

Saturday 27th April...

Well another busy day today, try and keep up while reading. First we had another appointment with the vet for Saffy at 10.30am. Saffy slept all night with out needing a pee but got me up at 8am so not a bad start. I had to go and retrieve a gas cylinder from the boat shop, I left it there yesterday for filling but in the end they couldn't do it. Here in Spain they are trying to supply everyone with gas by Butsir, it's the same as Camping Gaz but no one outside of Spain will exchange the cylinder so it's not much use in the future. Anyway getting back to the topic. The vet wanted Saffy with a full bladder for an ultra sound exam, so I carried her to the vets which is about 25 mins walk. Otherwise she scent marks every tree and lamp post on the way and ends up with an empty bladder. All went well in the end and after parting with another pile of euros it looks like she's on the mend.

Saffy taking the easy option!

We then walked into the old town area of Calpe. wow! The town is lovely. We stopped for a coffee at a cafe by the mariners statue in Plaza del Mariners and then picked up the tourist route though the town. 

Mariners Plaza

 Quick coffee

Boat coffee shop

On our way back through we stopped for a light lunch, Sangria, salad, chips and bread. yummy. 

 Back streets in the old town

Flowery cross 

 Nicely decorated restaurant

 Orange tress in the square

 Perro park, Just the triangle not the whole park!

 Spanish steps

Nicely painted hotel

More nice houses

Sangria 

 Flamingos in the nearby lake

We're here!

Then onto the supermarket for a few essentials, then Lidl and finally back to Thesee. I had to carry Saffy part of the way, after her ordeal of the vet she was worn out.

Once back to the boat Linda managed to skype Summer and Isaac for a quick catch up and at the same times our friends from Lira the Swedish boat called round to see how Saffy was doing and have a quick beer. 

Then a bit of washing, another look at the leaking loo and in the shower before dinner.

I think we will try and leave here tomorrow once I've cleaned all the seagull sh1t off the boat (angry face) :-(

Sunday 28th April 2019

Well all went to plan and we left the marina without any issues at midday. The wind was very light at about 5 knots so we set the main and cruising chute and off we went.

Leaving Calpe

 Linda in charge of the cruising chute

Our destination taken from Navionics on the iPad

We were heading to a bay called Cala Sardinera about 12 miles north that has some FREE visitor buoys. We arrived safely and picked up a nice buoy that said Eslora Maxima 15m. Just after we arrived our Swedish friends on Lira and Illusion turned up. 

Lira on the left and Illusion

We took Saffy ashore for the usual, and Skipper from Lira was doing the same, but at twice the speed as he's only a couple of months old.

 Skipper and Saffy

Thomas from Lira trying to keep up with Skipper

View of the bay

...and another

This ended up with everyone gathering on Thésée for a BBQ chicken and wine feast. What a great time.

 BBQ with whole chicken inside, yummy

BBQ Thésée style

Monday 29th April….  Bit of a bad head today….so much for our alcohol ban at anchor. Although technically we aren’t at anchor if we’re attached to a buoy. Is that a good enough excuse? So this morning we took a leisurely mini ramble up the nearby hilltop and we were rewarded with some beautiful views. This area has really surprised me with its scenic coastline. 

Very posh mansions up there with superb views

At the top...now which way?

Saffy just wants to go back down....too tired

Nearly back on the shoreline

This was followed by an afternoon snooze then we were invited onboard ‘Illusion’ for another get-together which was really enjoyable. We all take a bit of food and this time I made pudding….my ledgendary cheesecake! We promised ourselves we wouldn’t stay after 9pm because we have to be up at 5.30am…..we’re off to IBIZA 💙

This will be the last blog post entitled 'Countdown to the Balearics'

The new post will be called 'Cove hopping around Ibiza'