Majorca to Barcelona

Well the days have been getting shorter, it’s getting dark at about 1700 now and not really warming up till 1000 in the mornings. Also the weather forecasts have become a lot less stable. A check in the morning shows a forecast for the next day as light Southerly, and a check later in the day shows 20k Northerlies. I guess its getting toward the time of year they can’t predict the weather so well and since our daily  lives depend so much on the weather, its time to head back to Barcelona to prepare Sephina for her Winter hibernation.

We have had a fantastic time aboard Sephina this year and I don’t want to try push our luck with the conditions deteriorating. We have a good forecast for tonight and tomorrow to make the 100M crossing to Barcelona so if we leave around midnight we should arrive around lunchtime tomorrow. We prepared for the crossing and layed down to catch a couple of hours sleep. At midnight Jen and I retrieved the anchor and headed out into the pitch black night. I had to trust the chartplotter as there wasn’t even enough light to make out the cliffs either side of the bay. Jen stood on the bow with a torch to make sure we cleared the mooring boys and small fishing boats. Some flashes of lightening out to sea and not much wind. We motored on into the darkness without the forecast 10k Southerlies, but hoped they would kick in later. As we continued it was a strange night, very dark with a lot of cloud, but as we reached about 40M offshore all hell broke loose with the lightening we had seen from Majorca. Arno and I were keeping watch while Jen slept in the saloon. We discussed the best way around the wall of lightening that was descending on us and had full sail and both engines on max revs to move along at 8 knots or so while we beared away slightly East to try flank the storms. Lightening a yacht is best avoided, it can fry electronics and leave you without navigation lights or power to run anything and also cost a lot of boat dollars to repair. We had this scene of fork lightening striking the water to our West and North and it was bearing down on top of us at an estimated 10 knots. The thunder was intense and followed the lightening by a few seconds, definitely too close for comfort.

Maybe the weather gods had decided we have had it too easy and were sending a little extra our way. Arno asked a few times if it was safe and of course I assured him everything is fine….

Finally after a couple of hours we flanked what seemed to be the worst of the storm and adjusted our course up to Barcelona, only to see another electrical storm directly ahead. By this time there seemed no escape from it so we maintained course directly for it, hoping to be in and out the other side without any carnage. Fortunately it subsided as we approached and to top it off the first rays of dawn started to give us some visibility. Finally we began to enjoy the sail. The wind increased and we took in a reef in the main. It increased more to over 20 knots. It must have been a stormy night in Barcelona because a little Sparrow had blown out to sea and was trying to find refuge on Sephina.

 

Jen gave him some water and bread. He was a bit scared and not very steady on his perch. I managed to get a weather update and was surprised to see a Gale warning now in force for Barcelona and still 4 or 5 hours till we arrive. We made haste as the wind continued to fill in over 25 knots now. Maybe the weather gods have some more fun in store before we reach our final port for 2012…

Unfortunately it was too much for the little  bird and he blew off the lifelines. He tried to catch us but the wind and Sephina’s speed made it a bit too difficult for the little guy. Jen wanted to turn around for him but my thoughts were on reaching Barcelona before the gale (sorry Jenijane and little bird). I reassured her that I saw a ship on the plotter about 5m astern and that he would find refuge there…

We eventually reached Barcelona  15 hours after departing Majorca at about 1500 and motored in to Marina Port Vell in the centre of the town. This marina is in a great location, you step outside and you are right in the middle of the city. Its a really nice place and I have to say I was extremely happy to have survived the night in tact when we finally tied up. We did make sure Sephina was well secured in the stern to berth as the forecast Gale was yet to arrive.

Definitely tome for a celebratory drink that we have safely sailed over 1500M since we launched Sephina in Les Sables D’olonne and spent every night and day aboard and discovered some of the most amazing places, beautiful sights and met some fantastic people along the way. Thankyou Jenijane and Balrog. I love you ! J’taime, J’taime

More on Majorca

After Soller we headed along the North coast to torre de la Calobra. This is a big tourist attraction on the island, Dramatic cliffs with a narrow opening to a sandy beach. We had a quick look and decided it wasn’t the best place to anchor for the night and headed back a mile to Torre de Tuent. Much nicer. We had the bay to ourselves and anchored 50m off the beach in 3m of water. Next day was warm and we spent the day swimming to the beach and back and snorkelling. One of the nicest places we have Anchored and would love to stay for longer.

yep we really had it to ourselves !

 

This is the kind of place we could stay a week or more, unfortunately the days are becoming shorter, and the weather forecasts less stable so its time to think about heading to the mainland for the Winter..

Majorca

Sailed to Soler, 6 hrs, 23M on the North coast of Majorca. We checked into the Marina here
and found a place on the dock to make a BBQ and eat some burnt chicken. The next day jen and I decided to head into the capital of Majorca, Palma, for some sightseeing. We caught the Tram and Train. Its a really nice day and the train is like puffing billy travelling through lots of tunnels and over old bridges through the mountains.

Jen had her first taste  of Indian food and we sat and watched some really cool street musicians while we had a coffee. Did some shopping and headed back to Soller late in the day.

Soller is a beautiful town and the only protected harbour on the North coast of Majorca. There are a couple of anchorages but all open to the North.

More on Ibiza

Continuing around Ibiza with Arno aboard with the weather forecast from the South at 20k plus we headed North to Portinatx. Another beautiful location and perfect weather for a swim and snorkel. We swam to the beach and Arno paddled the inflatable lilo we found during the crossing from Spain. Jen was stung by a jellyfish here (mauve stinger) on her back and had a bit of a burn after. She said it wasn’t too bad after all. We caught some fish along the way, it must have worked when Arno and Jenijane spoke to the lure in fish language. One of the mackerel we caught had 6 smaller mackerel in its stomach…greedy boy ! We used them for bait and caught a nice bream when we were anchored. Ok enough fishing stories..

The North coast of Ibiza is just as beautiful as the South and as its very late in the season there are very few other yachts around which suits us fine.

We headed to Cala Portitexol for the day and it was definitely one of the most beautiful bays (and smallest) we have been to. We had it to ourselves with just a couple of locals on the beach. Unfortunately there were a few jelly fish blown in but still it was amazing.

yep its tiny and beautiful !

We tied Sephina to the rocks to keep her from swinging around her anchor, a bit of a mission to accomplish but a first time for everything.

Back to San Miquel for a bit more protected anchorage for the night and Arno is off to the beach on sunset to party with the locals. He paddled the lilo about 30 minutes in a less than sober state to the beach and probably more like an hour to return after dark, too funny, he fell over coming back on board and Jen tried to help him but he fell over again..ahh captain haddock strikes again

Ibiza, Ibiza, Cala Talamanca

We collected Arno Today for a few weeks sail with us. Our first Mediterranean moor experience went well at the Ibiza Marina, squashed between a couple of other yachts. Pricey ! The most expensive marina we have stayed in at 130 euro’s/night as its still high season rates till the end of September.

Jen and I dressed up and taxied to the airport to meet Arno, then we all headed out for a night on the town. I gave up early..2am, and Jen and Arno partied on with a guy from another yacht till dawn..

We decided to anchor in the next bay for the night before heading North. Cala Talamanca is a nice protected anchorage and we had a good night before heading of in 20k Easterlies to Portinax.

Cala De Sal Rosa

We had a nice sail up from Espalmador. The wind is turning west and we are picking up Arno from the airport so this is a stop off anchorage before Ibiza City. A nice small Cala, well protected but unfortunately we ( I ) picked the wrong spot  to drop the anchor…

Around 2am I felt the wind shift to the North and thought I better check things out seeing as I had expected Westerlies overnight. Hmm 25kn from the North and we are in 1.5m water and getting shallower. We decided to up anchor and move out a bit. Its a pain in the ass in the middle of the night with no lights to get bearings from the shore, but we trusted the chartplotter and reset the anchor. It wasn’t so easy in the conditions, but better safe than sorry. Its always a challenge to pick the right place to anchor. Anyway, we  stayed here 2 nights and decided to book into the marina in Ibiza too make picking up Arno simple.

Formentera – Espalmador

Had a nice 8M sail from Port Roig to Formentera. We booked a buoy online to tie up to for 2 nights at Punta De La Pedrere as well as Espalmador after that.

Formentera is a small island just South of Ibiza. It was our first time on a mooring and after a couple of attempts we managed to tie up Sephina safely.

Its a nice protected bay and a short dinghy ride into the town of La Savina for supplies and sightseeing. We headed into town and bought groceries and ate in one of the marina side restaurants. You can leave your dinghy in the lagoon right by the supermarket. Its too shallow to take Sephina in but its filled with local fishing and pleasure boats as well.

We met some other cruisers there, Tony and Di from Tiger, and Ana and Nicolas, both skippers on privately owner Lagoon 440’s.

Ana and Nicholas invited us for a drink and we had a look around the 440 as well. Nice boat! We liked the upper bridgedeck as well as the spacious seating and the wet bar. Ana and Nicholas have been busy all Summer with charter guests and just now its come to an end for them. They will head back to Barcelona and probably to the Caribbean for their Summer. Not a bad lifestyle! They are both artists and Ana showed us some of her natural fish creations, very beautiful..

Tony and Di are skippers on an owners yacht. Basically they sail where they like and occasionally the owner and some guests fly down to join them. The owner wasn’t on board so they were enjoying cruising and slowly making there way back to Gibraltar for the Winter.

After a couple of nights we headed 5m North to the smaller island of Espalmador. Its a beautiful protected harbour as well and once again we picked up a mooring buoy. We ended up staying more than we had booked for, but there were plenty of spare buoys to choose from. We just had to move once or twice.

We swam to the beach with Balrog, but Jen stopped halfway when she saw a jellyfish! I saw him too, the only one ! grrrrr…

The next day we spent some time on the beach and walked around the island. Found the hot mud baths but didn’t go in as it didn’t look (or smell) too beneficial for our health! We did see lots of other tourists caked in the grey green mud walking along the beach though.

I had a couple of Kite surfs, but the wind wasn’t quite strong enough to kite for very long. Still fun though! Balrog and Jen watched from the beach…

The sand in the beach is squeaky white with a pink tinge on the shoreline. The water is clear aqua blue, like I would imagine the Caribbean. It sure beats Point Wilson..

A couple had dropped anchor from there dinghy to enjoy the view…funny ! Behind is one of the party cats that makes daily trips to the Island from Ibiza. Their lunch menu sounded yummy.

 

The weather is forecast to change a bit and we are planning on picking up our friend Arno from Ibiza so its time to leave Espalmador for now and head toward Ibiza..