Cheers everyone!!

Blog update 10^th July.

We can definitely recommend the Balearics for a cruising destination. Yes, the islands are very crowded but we have always managed to get space to anchor, even if other boats do come and anchor dangerously close to us sometimes. The other night we were up watching a boat drift onto us when the wind dropped, as it does most nights, and when we shouted to the crew to warn them they just left the anchor where it was and used their bow thruster to move sideways away from us!! Luckily they left the anchorage early the next morning. Today we’ve watched a large motorboat drag right through the bay of Soller on the north coast of Mallorca, just missing several boats. The maritime police watched its progress to the beach but luckily the owner, who was ashore at the time, was contacted and he got back just in time!!

We reached Mallorca at the beginning of July and spent time in the southwest, in Puerto de Santa Ponsa and Andraitx area, sailing around and exploring that coast with son Brian who was out on holiday, having flown into Palma airport. We had a great time swimming, snorkelling, fishing (without any luck) and sampling the local cuisine and vino in very upmarket Puerto Portals. Bri’s holiday went all too quickly and we were sorry to see him off to the airport after a very rolly night at Las Illetas in Palma Bay.

The north coast of Mallorca has very dramatic scenery and we have been doing some sightseeing inland. The town of Soller is very picturesque with narrow, shady streets and magnificent old buildings. Transport is very cheap so we may take the bus across the mountains before sailing off again to the eastern side of Mallorca.

Cave Snorkle

The beautiful Isle of Formentera.

26^th June 2008.

We thought we’d give you an update of our trip to the Balearics. We left Rota on 22^nd April and visited Gibraltar, Morocco, Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca. We have had a great time so far and the gloomy predictions of some yachting friends don’t seem that accurate!

 I’m sure it is very expensive if you stay in marinas overnight but so far we haven’t spent a night in a marina since leaving Almerimar on 30^th May. We’ve had one night at sea, 6 nights on a free mooring buoy on the Isle of Espalmador and the rest (20 nights) we have safely spent hanging off anchor. Our anchor has dragged a bit twice so we’ve had to re-anchor and we have had 3 rolly uncomfortable nights but apart from that it’s been fine.

As predicted, it is busy with boats of all descriptions, especially in the south and at week ends, but later-on every evening the anchorages thin out as the Spanish go back to their marinas. We’ve had no trouble getting supplies in the dingy – though in our dingy we often get wet. One day we went into a marina (Botafoch in Puerto Ibiza –very, very posh) for the morning to take on fuel, water and supplies and have a coffee in a café and we were only charged €10 for the water -180 gallons of it!!

Of Ibiza, we’ve so far only really covered the west (around Puerto de San Antonio), south (round the Isles of Espalmador and Formentera) and the southeast (around Puerto de Ibiza). The scenery is spectacular and the water so clear – great for diving and snorkelling. In the south it’s a nudist’s paradise. We even joined the crazy tourists and took a mud bath in a smelly, sulphurous, drying-up lagoon and lay naked in the sea to wash it off!! Pictures will follow!! We’ve seen many sailing nudists too but I do worry about all those winches etc., anchoring is difficult enough…!!

Our plan now is to stock up with food again (food is much more expensive than in mainland Spain) and set off - if the winds allow - to the north coast and sail to Mallorca, spending about 4 weeks there before going to Minorca for August.

We hope you are all ok. Keep in touch – we love to get e-mails when we get into shore. We have telephone reception most of the time so texts are good too. Best wishes and lots of love, Dave and Sue xx

Wednesday 14th May.

Yesterday we crossed from Smir to Marbella. We had good wind from the west and sailed over 7 knots most of the way! It was fun dodging the tankers in the Straits again! We were pretty tired by we reached our intended marina but they turned us away saying they were full- not that we could see! We had to go back to Marbella marina and it cost us €35.50 for the night in a 15 metre berth! We set off again this morning along the southern coast of Spain. We sailed only half a mile offshore so we could see the holiday resorts of Fuengirola, Torremolinos and Malaga. It’s a bit chilly on board and we haven’t seen any dolphins since Gibraltar.

Ah! Now we’ve seen a big shark and it’s warmer too. We can see snow on the High Sierras from here - amazing1

Thursday 15th May.

We anchored last night in Ensanada del los Berengueles – just northeast of Marina del Este. As we approached very close to the beach, I was on the helm and noticed quite a few people taking the late afternoon sun! Dave was too busy to notice it was a nudist beach! We had an interesting but quite rolly night at anchor and set off this morning for Almerimar.  Unfortunately there isn’t any wind so we’re having to motor. I had heard about the polytunnels in this area but to see acres and acres of plastic covering every available piece of flat ground is something!

Friday 16th May.

Almerimar marina is everything we expected. Everything for the yachty is here. Restaurants, supermarkets, chandlers, laundrettes etc are close at hand – we even have internet on our boat! It’s still very cheap as the ‘off’ season doesn’t end until the end of May but it’s just lacking in character and it’s not very Spanish – most of the voices we can hear are British! Still it’s a good time to stock up again, get cleaned up, and use the internet to catch up with everyone: so if you have skype, expect a call!

At last I’ve had time to update our blog. The good news is that we are on the move again. We left Rota last week after an emotional farewell to the many friends we had made over the winter. After a pleasant day sailing we reached Barbate for the night before setting off the next day with a favourable tide but very little wind, to pass through the Straits of  Gibraltar and enter the Mediterranean. Fiona was lucky enough to be blessed with an escort of a pod of dolphins for our entry into Gibraltar Bay.

We have loved our stay in Gibraltar, climbing the ‘Rock’, enjoying the wildlife, and shopping in the Main Street. Unfortunately our ancient laptop finally gave up the ghost and we have had to invest in a new one. Hopefully we will be better able to keep in touch as we have all the latest technology including webcam!

Tomorrow, if the weather is as expected we will sail to Ceuta a Spanish enclave on the Moroccan Mediterranean coast. From there we will take a trip to view some Moroccan sites and then sail to Smir Marina. We are very excited as the African coast beckons!

Hi every one. Sorry that we’ve taken so long to update our blog – but we have had such a great time here in the bay of Cadiz for winter. We are still enjoying Rota and have made many friends and had plenty to do with lots of social engagements going on. Dave has been enjoying having a few beers and watching the rugby in the local Irish bar with some of the other yachties and I have been trying my hand at some sketching and painting of the glorious sights around here.

We are getting the boat ready for setting off and watching the weather but it isn’t settled yet and it will probably be April before we set sail. In February we had some winter weather here!  It was very windy for about 12 days and then we had a couple of very wet days but now the sun is shining and we are going for tapas on the sea front to catch a bit of sun. Yesterday it was 30 degrees in the cockpit!

We are looking forward now to places new and exciting. We plan to go first to Morocco as we are so close and then make for the Balearics. We have heard so many bad stories about how expensive the marinas are there that we don’t know how long we’ll stay. We may sail to the south of France but I would like to end up in Spain for next winter as I’ve put so much effort into learning Spanish. We’ll see - a lot depends on the winds and weather!

Well - better get ready for tapas now. Let us know how you are. Keep in touch. Love and best wishes, Dave and Sue xx