Ibiza

Hi from Clare,                                         Saturday 6^th August 2011

When last I wrote my parting words were “At the moment it is lovely and sunny, I just wish it would stay that way”.  My wish has come true and we have enjoyed a week of sunshine and water temperature as high as 28.6 degrees.

‘BLUE BANANA’ TO THE RESCUE

We settled with “Tactical Directions” in a bay at Santa Ponca Mallorca. It is a twenty minute bus ride into the capital city of Palma.  Our intention was to buy a new hot water heater but our model has been discontinued.  The replacement model is a different shape and doesn’t fit in the spot. Andrew found a welder who put a patch over all the old cracks and now it looks like new again and we saved about 400 euro.  The new patches were not without some downside though as the welding further distorted the thread where the electric element screws in.  Andrew mentioned that he needed a Dremel.  At the next “Dragnet” sked ‘Blue Banana’ offered theirs. So after a quick bus ride into Palma with the tank on his back, Andrew sat on the dock in Palma grinding the tank until it fitted.  It is now all back together and so far producing hot water without leaking.

  
                     Santa Ponca anchorage                                        Santa Ponca Beach

LOOKING VERY SMICK

After buying a new dinner set last week I took advantage of the access to city shops and continued with the ‘Eye Candy’ make over. We now have new quilts for the cabins, new tea towels and place mats for both tables.  After seven seasons it is great to spruce things up and add a splash of colour.  I spent a whole day reorganizing the boat and generally clucking around in my nest as happy as a lark; everything looks great!

 

                      The new dinner set                                                 The new quilt 

ALL IN TOGETHER

As you can see by the photo of the anchorage, Santa Ponca is a popular place. There are power boats coming and going each day. Some of the kids enjoy racing around the anchorage in their boat’s dinghy.  I understand it’s fun but they cause so much wake.  By 8pm I’m grumpy and sick of chasing the plates around the kitchen. We start yelling at them to slow down; or better still go play around their own boat.

Fortunately we escaped daily spending time in Palma with Tony and Jacqui either shopping or catching up with Sam and Bill who are stuck in the marina having generator repairs done. So it was a pretty social week with the six of us having lunches together in the city. In the evenings, back in our bay at Santa Ponca, Andrew and I would get together with Tony and Jacqui for drinks and or dinner.

OFF TO IBIZA

We left Santa Ponca yesterday and sailed 50 miles to Ibiza. It was another great sail averaging 6 knots. I either snoozed in the sun on the deck or read my book.

We have anchored in the large bay on the north east corner of Ibiza.  There are   fewer boats here and the bay is large, so peace at last – or so I thought!

We anchored near a power boat with a husband and wife with two small children. The ten year old son spent hours racing around the anchorage in the dinghy.  Trying to relax in the cockpit and read I found myself calculating how long his fuel would last. At 9.30pm he asked Dad if he could turn on the navigation lights and continue; thankfully the answer was “No”.  However the two kids on board jumped in and out of the water squealing and giggling until around midnight.   

A SHINY NEW TOY

This morning Andrew was talking to the father and we discovered that last night was the first over-night on their new boat. What a paradigm shift – I immediately felt a bit ashamed of myself for being such a grumpy old woman.  It was lovely to see the young family having lots of fun together. First thing this morning they all went swimming then lay naked on the back deck in the early morning sun. You can see from the photo they need to do a bit more sun baking before they fit in to the Mediterranean scene. 



The new toy



I guess the boy would have loved to go for another spin in the dinghy, but Dad’s desire to have a spin in his new toy was greater. So they disappeared from the anchorage all waving goodbye with Dad at the helm with a big grin on his face.

SO WHAT’S NEXT

We plan to be in Ibiza for about two weeks and we will circumnavigate the island.

The weather is perfect and the water is crystal clear and cozy warm for swimming. We are looking forward to a two week summer holiday – woo hoo!

Love Candy xx