Being of an age when clubbing is well and truly behind me, I do not find the hedonistic way of living something I can or ever have relished. You walk the streets of some towns to the smells of unlawful smoking substances – very strong and highly open. On more than one occasion have we come across cannabis being rolled into a paper at our side, not what I want the girls to experience in any way shape or form. If you have to use such a substance to experience life to the fullest then there is something seriously wrong with your eyesight in my opinion. Pausing to watch a sunset or ants working to get food are things that the girls and we do on a daily basis. Opening your eyes to what is around you rather than just walking through life without really experiencing what you can see if you just look is all part of our new way of living. Beautiful bays, turquoise sea with white sand beaches and old towns are part of our daily routine. Waking in a small Calla, after being anchored alone for the night is a wonderful way to start the day.  Fish bob lazily around the boat, an octopus ambles along the bottom to hook itself onto our chain for a moments rest, things like this are a regular day for us, a far cry from the hum drum monotony of “normal life” undertaken by those less fortunate than us. What a life we are living. Does it have a flip side, Yup sure does. The wind can pick up stronger than predicted, the anchor drags, you try to reset on more than one occasion….its pouring with rain as the front come through, your wet through to parts only you and your better half see, your hands are like lumps of ice as the rain cools them down all too quickly, the calm hits as you try to reset yet again. Holding, holding, here comes the second part of the front…..heavier wind and rain than the 1^st hit, now your totally sodden and very cold. The anchor seems to have bitten, the boat behind is not as far away as you’d like it to  be but its far enough away that you won’t hit as you all swing in the same way…….Survived. All good fun, but I still hate anchoring. I find it stressful and worrying, but the fact we are saving money by being on the hook helps to make it palatable.

A rainbow cloud – we have never seen one of those before.

Some great dance moves here…

This guy was sitting near our anchor… we see these and squid regularly..

Most of the places we are visiting are only just getting ready for the season of holiday makers that will soon fill up their beaches and cafes.

We have extra crew. Tim – a lifelong friend of Howards is with us for the week. A non sailor who did his first ever trip as a full night sail from Cartagena to Ibiza – some 150 miles. Well done Tim – no incidents and you were good entertainment on the long night watch too.

16 -18 April –Cala LLonga – Ibiza

A fabulous setting in a long thin cala. Busy by day but come 16:00 all the day trippers up and leave and we have the cala all to ourselves. Crystal clear water, fish in abundance – fabulous….Oh and its free as we are on anchor!. A long white sandy beach stretches the width of the calas end so the girls use Tim as their entertainment system for several hours.

18-20 April – Portinaix – Ibiza

Another great cala until the wind changed direction then all hell broke loose. We had so much swell on the 2^nd night here that you had to hold onto the ceiling to stop yourself being thrown against the sides of the boat. Having said that, it’s a lovely spot, large sandy deep beach, it shelves really quickly off to deep water. A little town with some shops to provision, beach bars and nice walks. Tim and I wandered off to the coastline to get some pictures looking into the cala. Whilst concentrating on the views, Tim got rather drenched when a freak wave washed completely over the top of him and his Ipad. It was a little comical if not a bit scary too as the power of the wave was pretty immense.

There is a buoy field on the port side as you come into the cala but there were still loads of spaces to anchor. There was only 1 other boat in here with us and they dragged anchor on the night of hell. I informed Howard that no matter what the sea was like I was not happy to spend another night being thrown around like I was a piece of laundry in a tumble dryer, I would prefer to take the sea state without the rocks looming nearby. It was a little fun getting out of the cala, huge swell funnelling into the entrance with large rocky outcrops either side but Arctic did what she does best and out we popped.

20 April – 6 May – San Antonia Bay – Ibiza

Stopped in this really big bay for a few reasons.

1. To drop off our visitor Tim who had to return back to the hum drum of life in the UK. A little sad but also pleased that he had been to visit. He bought the girls a lovely swing to use off the halyard, he re-provisioned our T bag and gravy stocks, he took us out for several meals and I think he had a really nice time. Probably not the relaxing one he thought it would be but a nice time anyway. We will be more than happy to have him on board again – hopefully he is still practising his bow line – it was his homework from the girls for when he next comes to stay, Well are you Tim?.
2. To await the arrival of our long time sailing partners – Maritha and Rainer on Albatross. We had to leave them in Cartagena as Maritha was at home when Tim arrived and the weather window to get Tim to Ibiza was the same day he stepped foot on Spanish soil so no time to waste.

Anyway, 7 mtrs of water over a weed/ mud bottom with lots of concrete blocks thrown in the mix too. Holding was ok once you found a good spot but it was tricky to find one. On one particular night I was unable to sleep due to the wind howling into the bay. It built to well over 30 knots and lots of boats were starting to have problems. At 02:00 a British ensigned boat had dragged across the bay and tangled its chain up with a Catamaran. There was lots of activity – the 5 crew off the Cat were working really hard to fender off the boat and to try to free the solo sailor’s vessel from their own. 2 brave souls traversed the swell in their dinghy to work from the water level to free it off. I cannot believe that they even attempted the manoeuvre in the swell and wind, but hats off to them. Watching them trying to first get the dinghy off the davits, then trying to get into it and hold it steady was a feat all of its own. My hat goes off to them, they not only managed to get to the vessel but to also free it off. It took them over 3 hours to achieve it and I can only assume they were shattered, cold but elated once it was achieved. It was a bad night – I stayed up all night but we were not moving – the Rocna was doing its job very well.

After such an eventful night we stayed on board the next day to make sure all was well, then we ventured into old Ibiza town on the bus the following day when the mill pond effect was back in the bay. It cost us €4.00 each, each way and the ride was some 45 mins. Once found, it was a delight to see. Some lovely old side streets with fabulous villas – secret secluded walled gardens held treasures akin to an English Cottage Garden – a huge change to the barren rocky outcrops you see along the coastal routes.

7 – 10 May – Cala Benirass – Ibiza

A small cala filled with four boats – us and 3 of our friends; Kealoah V, Spindrift of Hamble and Albatross. We all used a stern anchor to hold us head to sea as there was not  great deal of space to turn about. The entrance to the bay has a large rock formation slap bang in the middle and at night against the sunset it resembles Queen Victoria in her full bustled dress and headdress.

This fabulous cala had a delight which many people come to witness. On Sunday evenings the beach becomes overcrowded with hoards that come to be entertained by the locals who drum in the sunset. A truer hippy moment you would not witness unless you were at Woodstock all those years ago!. We ventured onto the beach, the girls danced with the locals to the drummers until the heavy weight of forbidden smoking fumes became too much for young lungs (and old) and we returned back to Arctic to witness the remainder of the night from there. It was a fabulous experience made all the more magical by the setting we were in.

We left our friends to make their own ways to wherever they were going as we had to make a quick detour back to San Antonio  to collect parts for the generator. Always something needing doing and there is never the part you need either on board or in the chandlery. It’s getting harder to source the bits needed in the time frame we are happy to wait around for them or the weather window available to do the longer passages. But we did have a great experience on the way back…..

Olivia loves clouds and their formations. On the way back into the bay, we saw a wonderful cloud in the sky which looked like a rainbow. Upon reading in her cloud book, it turned out to be an ice rainbow  – otherwise known as a Circumzenithal arc. The description in her book states –A Circumzenithal arc is a band of bright prismatic colours that resembles an inverted rainbow positioned immediately above the viewer’s head. Typically a quarter – circle in shape, its colours which are often brighter than those of the rainbow, run from blue near the zenith down to red near the horizon. Due to the precise angle in which the refracted light exists the sides of the horizontal ice crystals, CZAs cannot occur if the sun is more than 32.2⁰ above the horizon and the brightest arcs of all occur when the sun is exactly 22⁰ above the horizon.

Parts were duly collected and we moved onto Cotes D’es Llamp. A very small bay with us and one other boat :- Evergreen owned by John and Heather from the USA.  We had met them previously in San Antonio so it was nice to catch up with them again. Deep blue clear water, fabulous rock formations around us and a nice calm sea. We took the dinghy along the coastline to marvel at the shapes and patterns the sea had made from the rocks, we entered caves with rocks turned purple by the algae and delighted in how clear the water was so that we could see the bottom, even though it was over 11mtrs deep. A great night’s sleep was had by all ready for the crossing to Mallorca to meet back up with Albatross.