Ibiza old town….

 

 

 

 

 

Knowing that Windekind was safe and sound, we took a bus into Ibiza town today. It was a hot day, but we managed to make it to the top of the old town and look out to sea towards Formentera. It was a great feeling to be able to walk away from the boat for a while and not worry about her getting caught out by a wind change/shift…

Here are just a few photos of our walk...



[caption id="attachment_2109" align="aligncenter" width="427"] Flowers at the market...[/caption]





[caption id="attachment_2106" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Looking down from the top towards the marina...[/caption]





[caption id="attachment_2102" align="aligncenter" width="480"] I love this door…the layers of paint have been rubbed back to leave this fantastic effect...[/caption]



[caption id="attachment_2101" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Formentera in the background….[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2100" align="aligncenter" width="480"] A climb to the top...[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2099" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Cactus shadows...[/caption]



[caption id="attachment_2097" align="aligncenter" width="480"] A quiet place to sit and contemplate...[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2096" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Love the blues on this door….[/caption]



[caption id="attachment_2094" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Somehow, the old and rusty always looks so good out here…it must be the light….[/caption]

San Antonio...

Monday 25th August 2014

Early morning photos of Cala Torrent….

[caption id="attachment_2079" align="aligncenter" width="640"] The beach...[/caption]





 

 

[caption id="attachment_2082" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Morning sun on the gorgeous fishermen's huts[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2083" align="aligncenter" width="427"] As you can tell I love the reflections...[/caption]





 

Having seen the sun come up we made our way to San Antonio…this is our least favourite place. It's noisy and grubby, but we have planned to pick Abbie and Harriet from here on Wednesday. Also, with a little patience we have managed to book into the local port marina for three nights. Next door, there is an amazing marina where all the super yachts go….we met someone who has a 15m boat  who was quoted 450 Euros for one nights!!! We have just paid 88 Euros for 3 nights in the local government funded port…it has hot showers and proper toilets…what more can we ask! We can now fill up with water, wash the boat down, make repairs and prepare Windekind for the girls arrival.

Cala Torrent

Sunday 24th August 2014

The sun is up and warming the red cliffs around us ....time for breakfast followed by a swim...the snorkeling here is fabulous....I have never seen so many fish all together in one place....big ones, small ones, flat ones and fat ones!! Fish with feelers used to swish away the sand to look for food and small silver bullets darting in unison from side to side with the sun glistening on their backs. They swam between us, over us and round us...hardly blinking an eyelid at us...just magical. We tried to find our octopus again today and think we may have spotted him, but he was definitely playing hard to get today!

Hammock time was enjoyed this morning.....

[caption id="attachment_2068" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Hammock time….[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2072" align="aligncenter" width="640"] View from the back deck this morning...[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2073" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Just love the reflections...[/caption]



[caption id="attachment_2075" align="aligncenter" width="365"] This is Ibiza...[/caption]

After a wonderfully relaxing day, we sailed across the huge bay that is San Antonio to anchor in Cala Torrent. Time ashore was spent sampling the local beer...

[caption id="attachment_2069" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Beer time…bar 1![/caption]

I mean bars...and cocktails...

[caption id="attachment_2070" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Cocktail time…bar2![/caption]

as you can see...Billy can’t handle her drink!!!!

[caption id="attachment_2071" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Zonked!!![/caption]

Don’t worry though...it’s nothing that a snorkel won’t sort out...just look at the treasure BT found this time!....

[caption id="attachment_2076" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Beautiful sea urchin...[/caption]

As the beach quietened down we moved Windekind nearer to the shore... a more protected place for the night.

Cala Salada

Saturday 23rd August

If I could write wind noise down I would but, suffice to say, we woke to wind howling through the entrance of the cala and on to the shore....not what was forecast at all...we had been expecting and hoping for an offshore wind which would have meant a much more pleasant end to our stay here...instead, the wind was increasing...from 5am...and the waves were growing.

[caption id="attachment_2062" align="aligncenter" width="427"] Not the calm scene we went to bed with…we really can't show how big the waves were with a photo, but you get the idea….[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2064" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Crashing waves….[/caption]

 

Being a horseshoe shape, the entrance to the cala is narrow and surrounded by high cliff faces...making our exit treacherous at the very least. All of BT’s skill was needed to assess the situation and make a decision as to what to do. Initially, we decided to sit it out hoping that the wind might die down or at the very least change direction....as it was supposed to...BUT...we started to sustain damage to the anchor chain and the bow roller, so we made the decision to try and leave. The anchor was well embedded between two rocks and we had to manoevre Windekind to release it...not easy for Billy (at the helm) when BT asked her to head for the nearest rock with the waves crashing around us...but, of course, it was the right thing to do as it released the anchor and we were off..... For me, the worst part was making our way out of the cala...the waves were enormous and we were tilting right over from side to side with water gushing down the side decks as we went.....I was very scared, but BT was fantastic and brought us through safely.

Unfortunately, this meant that, because of the wind direction and the state of the sea, we were unable to stop at the next cala along where we had planned to spend tonight and take a long walk to Saint Mateo and a ruined Moorish village. Instead, we found ourselves in Cala Salada...the last cala before San Antonio.

[caption id="attachment_2056" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Well deserved sangria[/caption]

It was busy, but we expected that being a Saturday in August. We found a little slot for Windekind and took a breather...thankful to have escaped Cala Portixol with our lives and without too much damage to Windekind.

[caption id="attachment_2055" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Cala Salada[/caption]

As a treat, when we went snorkeling later, we saw an octopus feeding over a reef...it was an awesome sight...I was just mesmerized by the way that it slid gently over reef, stopping every now and then to spread open the web between it’s many legs and embrace some weed, tuck its tentacles underneath and wheedle out some tasty morsel....many fish were hovering nearby hoping for a remnant!! I can now cross that off my list of ‘must see’ whilst we are aboard Windekind... the other thing on my list are dolphins...we are surprised that in nearly two months aboard we still haven’t seen any....I am very disappointed, but still hoping!

[caption id="attachment_2058" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Feeding octopus...[/caption]



Tonight we moved Windekind to a cosy corner of the cala giving us a much more settled night.

Still waters….

Friday 22nd August

San Miguel is not one of our favourite places in Ibiza. It has large hotel/apartment buildings on one side of the beach...playing terrible music, very loud until the early hours of the morning...and a beach littered with reclining chairs to hire, fluttering umbrellas and numerous little booths trying to tempt the holiday makers to part with their hard earned cash to take a ride on a ‘donut‘ or ‘banana’...being pulled at speed through the anchored boats by a noisy speed boat .... but it’s a useful stop as it has a couple of supermarkets and a bar with wifi....breakfast and blogging!!

[caption id="attachment_2042" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Windekind anchored at San Miguel[/caption]

After stocking up at enormous cost...hugely inflated prices at the supermarkets as there is nowhere else to shop...and having a drink at the little beach bar next to where we had anchored Windekind...

[caption id="attachment_2045" align="aligncenter" width="427"] Cool beach bar[/caption]

we pulled up our anchors and set off on our way.



 

[caption id="attachment_2044" align="aligncenter" width="427"] This amazing flower seems to grow from nothing…it's leaves are all brown and dead…truly amazing...[/caption]

One of our favourite places is Cala Portixol...you will remember we were here a week or so back. It’s a horseshoe shaped cala with many gorgeous little fishermen's huts surrounding it. Anchoring is a little tricky, made more difficult this time by the fact that there were already two boats in the cala...but because BT is such an expert, and because having been before we have a fair idea of where is not good to anchor, we beetled in very slowly and quietly and without any dramas, anchored in a perfect spot!

[caption id="attachment_2041" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Mango Tango settled happily in Cala Portixol[/caption]

Time for a swim....oh no!!...look what were happily swimming about in the water...

[caption id="attachment_2037" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Fried Egg jellyfish[/caption]

at least half a dozen of these amazing creatures. At this time we were unaware of whether they were stingers or not, but they look like they could be nasty, so we assessed the situation and gave swimming a miss for a while....we did brave it later...keeping an eye out for the little space invaders....don’t you think they look like space ships? We later found out that they are commonly known as the ‘Fried Egg Jellyfish’ and are completely harmless!!!



The cala completely emptied out by 7pm and we were left to ourselves...it was bliss! The wind dropped completely and the water became glass.....just beautiful....we sat on deck talking about how amazing it was to be here in such weather and with hope in our hearts for a calm morning...as forecast...enabling us to go ashore and take a walk up the hill to take a look at ruins of an old town and enjoy the cala some more.

[caption id="attachment_2039" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Looking down at the rudder through the crystal clear water...[/caption]



[caption id="attachment_2048" align="aligncenter" width="640"] The view out towards the sea...[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2049" align="aligncenter" width="427"] Sunkissed fishermen's huts...[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2046" align="aligncenter" width="427"] The starfish was dead when we retrieved it from the seabed…no animals were harmed in the making of this photo![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2047" align="aligncenter" width="427"] New treasure….[/caption]