We arrived in Palma last Sunday, around 7 pm after a 13 hour sail and motor from Ibiza. We knew anchoring wasn't allowed within the harbour so we dropped the hook outside the breakwater. We were just finishing supper when a port authority boat arrived to tell us we couldn't anchor there! We explained we had just arrived and were very tired, so they agreed we could stay the night (it was already 8.30 pm!) but would need to move a mile further down in the morning! Next day we moved and tried to launch the dinghy in a huge swell with Sunflower doing the rock and roll she does so well:)
We had a very wet dinghy ride (with me hidden under a tarp, trying to keep dry) as waves slurped over the bow and side, for the several mile trip into the harbour. We really had to be here for 2 reasons; we had ordered some spare parts for our fridge and we needed immigration to enter the EU. (more of both of those sagas later) The harbour was massive, several miles across and a solid forest of masts and lumps of expensive white plastic, there must have been more than 5000 yachts in there amongst the 9 marinas! We puttered around looking for somewhere to land the dinghy and finally found a ladder on the wall at one of the smaller marinas. Alan went ashore to make enquirires.
We had previously made email requests to a couple of the marinas about a berth for a night or two, but quotes of 200 Euros a night (!!) had rather put us off! This marina offered a berth for 49! Even though it was more than double the rate we have ever paid before we decided it was probably worth it for a few nights. They let us leave the dinghy there while we stretched our legs ashore and found some lunch, then it was back ot Sunflower to restow the dinghy on deck and prepare to come into the marina, always a nerve racking experience and this time was no different! Again, more of that later... but for now we are snug in a marina and no rolling out of bed with the swell.
Thursday 7 July 2011
Saturday 2 July 2011
Let's Party.......
We had a 2hr motor sail over to the party island, Ibiza.
We spent a week in a beautiful anchorage on the south coast, called Cala d'Hort. There were stunning views of Isla Vedra a massive rocky outcrop, which doubled for a south pacific atoll in the film South pacific! We went ashore for the first time since we had left Gib about 2 weeks previously. The beach wasn't as nice close up as it looked from afar, more rocks, less sand. But that didn't seem to deter the hundreds of white,pink and red people lying in the hot sun! Mental! We heard lots of English and German as well as Spanish being spoken all around us. There were 3 restaurants, 2 on the beach and one on a rocky promontory which looked too hard to get to. So we picked one which was very full even at 2.45 pm. Paella featured strongly on the menu, with about 6 different types on offer. We had the 'Spanish' one which was chicken and shell fish and the type I like to make.
Topless sunbathing seems to be the norm here and in some cases bottomless as well, nobody seems very bothered. However we did get a bit of a surprise one day when we were busy reading in the cockpit and I heard lots of yelling nearby. I peeked out from under the sunshade and there was a young couple waving at us from the water, asking if they could rest on the back of our boat, having swum out from the beach. I said sure, expecting them to hang off the swim platform for a breather. Alan went back to chat to them and when I joined them a few minutes later was most surprised to see a gorgeous young couple standing on the swim platform as naked as the day they were born wearing only their jewellery and tattoos! They seemed completely at ease, and chatted on about coming over from Uruguay for a week of meditation and communing with nature. After about 10 minutes they were rested enough to dive back into the sea and head back to the beach leaving Alan with a big smile on his face:)
We are really enjoying being back on anchor, although during the day from about 1 pm onwards we have to share with many expensive power boats and charter yachts, who make poor Sunflower look a bit shabby to say the least as they are usually bright and shiny but probably haven't crossed many oceans! But then by about 7-8 pm they all head back to their marinas and we are left in peace until next day. It doesn't get dark here until after 10 pm so we are eating, going to bed and getting up much later than usual.
After a couple of weeks, fresh supplies were running low so we came around to the west side of the island to San Antonio, 1 of the 3 main towns on the island. It used to be a small fishing harbour but in the 60's underwent massive development to cater to the tourist boom. It is a big bay surrounded by hundreds of high rise and sprawling ugly square box hotels as well as some of the huge clubs Ibiza is famous for. Little is left of the original village except for a church and a few narrow streets. We found several supermarkets and managed to resupply very well. We had dinner out at one of the many waterfront restaurants and bars. The people watching was amazing. Hordes of guys and girls wandering around in various states of undress sporting tattoos all over the place and with an average age of about 12! Well that was how it felt to us seeing as we were about 100 years older than anyone else there! The beaches there are pretty crappy, so there are loads of tour boats taking people to all the lovely bays like the one we had just left. In the evenings there are sunset cruises often with themes. So it wasn't unusual to see big rugby player types wandering around in tutus or sporting gold body paint and feathers, the girls were also into dressing up big time. The music kept us company on the anchor until the wee small hours. 2 days were enough so we are now at a lovely secluded bay on the north coast waiting for a weather window to travel the 60 miles across to Mallorca the largest of the 4 islands in the group. We hope to leave on Sunday.
We spent a week in a beautiful anchorage on the south coast, called Cala d'Hort. There were stunning views of Isla Vedra a massive rocky outcrop, which doubled for a south pacific atoll in the film South pacific! We went ashore for the first time since we had left Gib about 2 weeks previously. The beach wasn't as nice close up as it looked from afar, more rocks, less sand. But that didn't seem to deter the hundreds of white,pink and red people lying in the hot sun! Mental! We heard lots of English and German as well as Spanish being spoken all around us. There were 3 restaurants, 2 on the beach and one on a rocky promontory which looked too hard to get to. So we picked one which was very full even at 2.45 pm. Paella featured strongly on the menu, with about 6 different types on offer. We had the 'Spanish' one which was chicken and shell fish and the type I like to make.
Topless sunbathing seems to be the norm here and in some cases bottomless as well, nobody seems very bothered. However we did get a bit of a surprise one day when we were busy reading in the cockpit and I heard lots of yelling nearby. I peeked out from under the sunshade and there was a young couple waving at us from the water, asking if they could rest on the back of our boat, having swum out from the beach. I said sure, expecting them to hang off the swim platform for a breather. Alan went back to chat to them and when I joined them a few minutes later was most surprised to see a gorgeous young couple standing on the swim platform as naked as the day they were born wearing only their jewellery and tattoos! They seemed completely at ease, and chatted on about coming over from Uruguay for a week of meditation and communing with nature. After about 10 minutes they were rested enough to dive back into the sea and head back to the beach leaving Alan with a big smile on his face:)
We are really enjoying being back on anchor, although during the day from about 1 pm onwards we have to share with many expensive power boats and charter yachts, who make poor Sunflower look a bit shabby to say the least as they are usually bright and shiny but probably haven't crossed many oceans! But then by about 7-8 pm they all head back to their marinas and we are left in peace until next day. It doesn't get dark here until after 10 pm so we are eating, going to bed and getting up much later than usual.
After a couple of weeks, fresh supplies were running low so we came around to the west side of the island to San Antonio, 1 of the 3 main towns on the island. It used to be a small fishing harbour but in the 60's underwent massive development to cater to the tourist boom. It is a big bay surrounded by hundreds of high rise and sprawling ugly square box hotels as well as some of the huge clubs Ibiza is famous for. Little is left of the original village except for a church and a few narrow streets. We found several supermarkets and managed to resupply very well. We had dinner out at one of the many waterfront restaurants and bars. The people watching was amazing. Hordes of guys and girls wandering around in various states of undress sporting tattoos all over the place and with an average age of about 12! Well that was how it felt to us seeing as we were about 100 years older than anyone else there! The beaches there are pretty crappy, so there are loads of tour boats taking people to all the lovely bays like the one we had just left. In the evenings there are sunset cruises often with themes. So it wasn't unusual to see big rugby player types wandering around in tutus or sporting gold body paint and feathers, the girls were also into dressing up big time. The music kept us company on the anchor until the wee small hours. 2 days were enough so we are now at a lovely secluded bay on the north coast waiting for a weather window to travel the 60 miles across to Mallorca the largest of the 4 islands in the group. We hope to leave on Sunday.
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