IBIZA BOUND
After our second visitor, Sharlene left we farewelled Palma for the short term and headed towards an anchorage near the headland of the big bay of Palma. We got there pretty early which as the morning wore on it became clear how busy this anchorage gets, with good reason. There are three small beaches dotted between the cliffs, and the boats vie for the clear sand patches to anchor safely. There are a lot of day boats so during the course of the day you can be quite cosy with your neighbours but at nighttime there is more room. We paddled in on the SUP to go for a walk through the caves on one side of the bay. We stayed for two nights before heading back to another bay we had anchored in before to do a shop and wait for the next day to travel the 50nm to Ibiza.
We managed to sail the whole way to Ibiza, and it was cloudy and overcast and the waves were bigger than I would have liked but they were coming from behind which is more comfortable than bashing into it. We stopped at the first bay we came across and anchored for the night.
Next morning we took off along the northern coast to Portinax, a lovely looking town in a very small anchorage. Our perception of how much space our boat needs for anchoring has changed during our time in the Med. We have discovered that we don’t need as much space as we used to or maybe it’s because other boats don’t think we need all that space and get closer. (See earlier post re Boating in the Med V Boating in Aust.) By the end of the day there were 6 extra sailboats squeezed into the same bay. We anchored and went ashore for dinner and the next morning had a walk around the town. It was full of tourists worshipping on their sun loungers and drinking at the bars but had a very relaxed vibe.
The next bay of note was a few days later when we discovered the bluest, clearest water we had seen for quite some time. There was a beach club set upon the shore and music was pumping from the bar and the place was packed. We went for a snorkel, and I spotted a pair of sunglasses on the seabed so Tony dove down to get them and they were a pair of Prada sunnies. Score! Tony was getting restless and wanted to go ashore. There was no where to land the dinghy, so we paddled into the crowded beach on the SUP and went and sat in the bar overlooking the beach. It was a strange thing because sitting on the boat looking onto the beach with all those people you felt isolated from the action. But sitting in the bar looking out at the boats looked like it would be better out on the boat. I guess you want what you don’t have. The sunsets from this bay were also outstanding and obviously what the crowds on the beach had stayed to see.
The next bay was only 2.5nm on from where we were but it had a supermarket onshore. We anchored and went ashore leaving our dinghy on the very small beach allowed for tenders. We were in the process of shifting our dinghy up the beach when a bigger tender came along and at that moment our dinghy was at an angle across most of the space. He started yelling at us about not leaving the dinghy there and getting pretty hot-headed, talking loudly in Spanish before he stormed off. We continued to move our dinghy out of the way, secured it and went to the shop. On arriving back to the beach, what we saw was the angry guy’s tender taking up the whole beach and we couldn’t get our dinghy back in the water. Not long after, the angry guy returned and we helped him move his boat, karma is a bitch I say. No apologies but also no shouting either.
The weather had turned grey and rainy which wasn’t much fun, but we hung out for another night before another huge motor of 4nm to the next anchorage.
Another scenic bay with 3 restaurants spread across the bay. The bay was surrounded by cliffs and had a backdrop of a massive rock/island which continued to make the sunsets amazing. We went ashore one night for dinner at the seafood restaurant and also got to watch the sunset from the balcony. The next morning there was some weather brewing, and we could see dark clouds over the cliffs and also out to sea. Looking up the weather sites, none of this had really been predicted but that doesn’t stop it coming so we prepared ourselves for rain and wind and hopefully no lightening. The rain came and a bit of thunder and then the wind, pretty strong at times but mainly gusting and it blew for around 30 minutes before it moved along, and the sun came out again. We took the opportunity to do a walk along the cliff path and got amazing views of the bay.
Next stop was Ibiza town! I can’t say that the place looked very appealing from the water during the day. Maybe, when the lights come out at night the town begins to sparkle but we weren’t hanging around long enough to find out. We did a quick stop before heading back to the first bay we had anchored in, awaiting the following morning to cross back to Mallorca.
