Ibiza City - Our first case of theft from the boat

August 1-2  2012

We managed to get up early for our short hop up to Ibiza City on the east coast. Again there was no wind so it was just a case of motoring on over. The main harbour at Ibiza City is full of very high priced marinas with no room at all to anchor out. We decided we’d try our luck just around the northern point in the next bay, Cala Talamanca, rather than pay HUGE marina fees. We actually expected it to be crowded with boats but were very surprised when we arrived to find the large bay fairly sparsely populated and had no trouble anchoring fairly close to the shore.

Being a bay in a major city, the water was nowhere as nice as we’d got used to but was still easily clear enough for Rob to snorkel and check the anchor set. Satisfied all was secure we took the dingy in to the beach then walked over the point and right around the marinas and port to visit the old walled town part of the city. It was extremely hot with no breeze at all to provide any relief and long before we actually reached the walls of the old town we’d already decided a taxi would be in order for the trip back later. We had lunch at a quiet little bar just outside the old walls and watched the world go by while we recovered after the hot walk.

It's an imposing entrance to Old Ibiza

Ibiza City existed as a significant settlement long before Roman times but although the current Old City only dates back to the 1600s it is packed with interest and charm. It covers all sides of the high headland on the southern side of the harbour and is well protected behind huge stone defensive walls. Crossing the moat and entering through the town gate gave us a real sense of the old world. From there it was up, up and up the narrow but steep streets and fairly hard work. Behind the high walls the day’s heat seemed greatly amplified. It was well worth the effort however we did pull up short of making it all the way to the big church right at the top. Rehydration was a priority and after a couple of hours wandering around in the heat, the much cooler harbour side bars were calling loudly.

Rob on the walls of Old Ibiza City

This is what you call waterfront living

Ibiza City is the epicentre of the club scene that the island is so well known for but during the day it’s much quieter as the holidaying clubbers are either sleeping the previous night’s activities off in their rooms or have headed out of town to the nearby beaches.

There's no shortage of charm in Old Ibiza

The place was certainly close to Marc’s heart though. He had come here as a 39 year old for what he described as one last, big blow out before turning old (40) and had been one of those clubbers sleeping all day and raving all night. Walking the streets of Ibiza City again stirred many happy memories for him. He was sorely tempted to hit the clubs again that night just for old times’ sake but, by the time we actually got back to the boat, the day’s exertions reminded him that he really wasn’t 39 anymore and of course there was another major hurdle, ‘What would I wear?’ Apparently the Helly Hansen sailing shorts his locker is full of aren’t exactly de rigueur in Pacha.

On our return to Alcheringa we were really disappointed to discover our first loss through theft whilst in the Med. We always lock up whenever we leave the boat even though we had previously encountered no sign of problems anywhere on our travels. Unfortunately, here, Rob had left his mask and snorkel hanging on the stern safety rail to dry after diving to check the anchor when we came in and they disappeared while we were ashore. They were his good set he uses scuba diving and far from cheap so he was very  unimpressed. The thought that someone had been on our boat was also very disconcerting.

The disappointing thing is that most thefts from yachts in the Med are actually perpetrated by other yachties. A former skipper of ours had even told us of a supposedly well known saying amongst English cruisers, 'We British equip our yachts to go cruising. The French go cruising to equip their yachts.' Apologies to our Franco friends. We personally are not so sure about the acuracy of that statement but regardless, we now leave nothing on deck whenever we leave the boat.

We had planned to spend a couple of days in the city but a low swell swept around the point into the bay all night causing the boat to roll quite uncomfortably making sleep a very interrupted affair. Next morning we decided we’d grab a few fresh food supplies from the nearby supermarket and head further up the coast to hopefully to a more comfortable anchorage before saying goodbye to Ibiza . After our extended period of windless weather, the forecasts now indicated that we may get a sailing breeze good enough to take us back across the sixty miles to Mallorca the next day but the wind was likely to be short lived. It was now or never if we wanted to sail.

With the galley reprovisioned we motored on up the coast and made as short stop in a marina at Puerto de Sta Eulalia to visit the fuel dock and fill up our 200 litre diesel tank and then moved on to nice little bay between steep headlands, Cala Boix. We arrived in plenty of time to enjoy a good snorkel around the rocky cliffs and into the beach which was comprised of very dark sand. It was obviously some sort of mineral base and we watched many people sit along the waters edge and literally  coat themselves in a thick layer of the wet sand. They would then let it bake on in the sun before washing off in the sea.

Cala Boix - Our final anchorage on Ibiza

A moderate wind blew through the night but came straight over the cliffs so we were well protected from any swell and enjoyed a well needed sleep because we were heading to sea early in the morning.

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Formentera and the story of the Anchor Nazi

July 30-31 2012

On Monday July 30 we finally pulled up our anchor and left beautiful Cala Bassa. It was time to make our way around the south western corner of Ibiza and on to our next stop. The island of Formentera and the adjoining small island of Espalmador to its north, lie just two miles off the most southerly tip of Ibiza. Formentera is only ten miles long and eight miles across at its widest point but its narrow, northern peninsula that links with Esplamador via a long sandy spit is reputed to have some of the best beaches in the Mediterranean. It had gone on our must visit list very quickly.

No wind doesn't mean no fun. Motoring in flat seas isn't too bad sometimes.

With absolutely no wind at all in morning we motored away from our happy home of the last week and set off down west coast in near glass flat seas. While these conditions are far from ideal for people like us who prefer actually sailing, we have to admit it was extremely relaxing cruising along and taking in all of the wonders of this very picturesque coastline and its offshore islands.

Just a glimpse of the spectacular coast of Ibiza

Our trusty cruising guide informed us that one of these island we were going to pass, Isla Vedra, is actually the third most magnetic spot on earth. When we first started reading up on Ibiza, Marc had spotted this and had been looking forward to going there for weeks just to see if our compass spun in circles or whatever. It’s amazing the trivia you discover when the sails are furled with the engine and autopilot doing all the work. You suddenly have all the time in the world on your hands. If this was the third most magnetic spot, we really should find out where are numbers one and two. Well we didn’t all have nothing to do. Karen was keeping watch on the bow (ie: working on her tan) and Marc was ensuring we didn’t become hermits cut off from the outside world (ie: reading the London newspapers he’d just downloaded onto his I-Pad) so it was left to Rob to trawl google for more information about this intriguing subject.

Karen keeping watch on the bow as we approach Isla Vedra and Isla Vedranell

After extensive research the best explanation he found was this ‘The magnetic field of the Earth goes from one pole to the other so the magnetic field is strongest near the poles. However, it is still not fully understand what gives the Earth its magnetic field. Many claim its to do with the rotation of the iron core and molten core above. But regardless, the magnetic field varies over time and so the actual 'most' magnetic places will depend on when you ask the question!’

Mmmmm! So is Isla Vedra really the third most magnetic spot or not? Back to google.

‘Many myths and legends are told about Isla Vedrà The claim of being a "special magnetic place" is a mere urban legend without any scientific geological base. The myth reads that this island has mystical powers, therefore it is the inspiration for many artists around the world.’

Marc was so devastated when Rob gave him the news he struggled to be able to concentrate on the Times crossword, for about six and a half seconds at least.

However the good news was that the island and its neighbour are actually pretty special anyway. ‘With a height of 380 meters, the magnificent Isla Vedrà is towering high above sea level and dwarfs everything around it, including her smaller sister Isla Vedranell which is 127 meters high. The island is a nature reserve and is uninhabited. Although it is well known thanks to both popular legend and the goat populations that live there, the reason for protecting these islands in fact resides in their endemic botanical species, their lizards and their colonies of Eleonora’s falcons (Falcon Eleonorae). This falcon is a rare bird counting merely around 600 couples in the world.’

 OK! So now you know it is actually possible to find yourself bored on the odd occasion whilst cruising the seven seas.

Our compass did not even twitch but the best thing about passing Isla Vedra and her sister was that between them and Ibiza the wind came up and we were able to set sails and turn the engine off. Definitely a much more pleasant way to travel. There’s simply nothing better than getting along nicely under sail.

Marc was almost finished his crossword by the time we raised the sails and left  the islands of  Vedra, Vedranell and Ibiza behind.

Due to the wind direction we weren’t able to steer directly towards Formentera but that never worries us any way. It’s no problem to sail a course to suit the wind and then tack back to your destination at the appropriate time. However, sometimes the wind gods like to play games with sailors and this was one of those occasions. As we were getting close to where we estimated we could tack and head straight in to our planned anchorage the wind direction swung. Of course it was now blowing directly from where we wanted to go. No problem,  so we were going to have to tack back and forwards all the way. We had plenty of time. But the wind then had another trick for us. It simply knocked off work for the day and left us bobbing on a flat sea again so we ended up motoring anyway.

We intended to anchor in a nice protected bay on the south western side of Isla Espalmador. There was a photo of it on the front cover of our pilot guide and it looked great. The guide book advised that the government had put down a number of moorings in the bay, ostensibly to protect the sea grasses. These could be booked in advance online however anchoring was also permitted in clear water areas away from the weed.

You can actually just make out the sand patch at the north end of the bay we
anchored in at Isla Espalmador in our pilot guide photo.

As we approached we could see there were a lot of yachts and big motorboats already there but we figured we should still be able find a place and would do our normal, slow meander around and through the anchorage to locate potential spots. We’d just begun our recognisance when an official looking rib sped toward us. Unlike Cala Basa where Robert’s rib meant a free ride to the beach or the delivery of another round of drinks, here in Formentera the rib was manned by a floating version of a parking inspector. In very broken English he indicated that we could not anchor near here. OK. No problem and we asked politely where could we anchor. ‘Clear water. Clear water. There. There’ he said pointing to the northern end of the bay before powering off leaving us to rock wildly in his wake.

So we headed to the northern end as directed and moseyed around until we found a spot where we dropped the anchor right in the middle off a patch of sand on the bottom. As always we were letting the boat settle in the wind to make sure we hung clear of any nearby boats before Rob snorkels down to check the anchor set. We never got to that stage though because the Anchor Nazi reappeared at great speed and began screaming at us, ‘No anchor, no anchor, no anchor’.

Now we were confused. We’d gone where he said to go. We’d anchored in sand, not weed and we were clear of other boats around us, which by the way were not on moorings but also anchored. When Rob asked why we couldn’t anchor here we simply copped a broadside in Spanish. We obviously weren’t going to win this one so we again tried to ask where we were allowed to anchor which only spurred Fredrico the Fascist into another burst of vitriol ending with ‘You no anchor. No anchor anywhere. You go. You go. You go now or I report.. Big fine.’

We have no idea what we actually did wrong. As pointed out, we dropped in sand and were surrounded by other boats at anchor but we clearly had no choice but to up anchor and clear out. By this time the SS Storm Trooper was frothing at the mouth and doing high speed circuits around our boat making things very uncomfortable. Marc went forward and winched up the anchor but as Rob steered us away from the shore under close escort by our jackbooted mate, he couldn’t resist one parting shot across the rubber ducky version of the Bismark’s bow with ‘Thank you so much for all you assistance arsehole. We love our welcome to your country.’

We’re currently still waiting to receive our fine in the mail.

We now had a bigger problem than our Apprentice Adolf though. When Marc had raised the anchor the electric windlass (anchor winch) had not stopped when he lifted his finger off the up button but had kept running until the electrical safety switch below had tripped when the motor began to strain against taut chain. As we headed south in search of somewhere to anchor off Formentera, we tried it a number of times. It was definitely jammed in the up position. Rob pulled the hand control apart and could find nothing wrong there but gave everything a squirt of WD40 magic spray just for good measure. Nope that didn’t help which only left the electrical relay beneath the deck at the motor itself. Having a look at that would have to wait.

It was getting late in the afternoon by the time we eased the anchor down by hand near a small islet just off one of Formentera’s long beachs. It may sound like a broken record but the water was as clean and clear as any we’ve seen anywhere in the world. When Rob got in to snorkel down to check the set of the anchor he really didn’t want to get out. The sea bottom was fine white sand and schools of small fish were plentiful. Other than a very large motor boat about a hundred metres away we even had this spot to ourselves. We quickly decided that the Fuhrer had actually done us a favour because it was much nicer here than back in his Stalag.

Alcheringa and our neighbor at Formentera. It was so big we actually watched a crew member ride a bicycle along the deck from the stern up to the bow.

We may not of had neighbors that night but next morning a steady stream of boats began arriving that never seemed to stop. With absolutely not one word of exaggeration there would have been well over a thousand boats of all shapes and sizes anchored off the beaches of Formentera’s west coast by lunchtime. It was incredible. We all agreed that one huge ‘thing’ that arrived was without doubt the ugliest craft afloat any of us had ever seen and dramatic evidence that obscene wealth does not equal good taste.

Just a small section of 1000+ boats along a five mile stretch of Formentera

Our nominee for world's ugliest boat. Check out the 'dingy' garages at the stern.
If we dropped our mast we'd fit Alcheringa in there without a problem.

Rob spent the morning squirming around in an awkward spot on his back removing the relay box from the windless. Inside he discovered a set of burnt points welded together which needed to be separated and cleaned up. Not having a points file in the tool kit he asked Karen for her nail file to do the job which generated a quick, spitfire reply ‘Nail file? What the hell makes you think I’ve got a nail file? Have you looked at my finger nails lately?’ Mmm. Apparently not. Otherwise he would have noticed that Karen had forsaken the finely manicured girly look for the far more practical closely clipped nails to go with her calloused hands from pulling on ropes etc. She really is a yachtie now.

Luckily Marc discovered an emery board in one of those little bags of goodies he’d kept from a hotel stay somewhere. This did the job admirably. Unfortunately the end result was still a dead windless as an electrical coil had also burnt out when the points stuck. We would be pulling the anchor up by hand until we could get a new relay box. Time to harden up boys.

We then all went ashore and had a great wander along the beautiful white sand beaches and a couple of swims before a light lunch at one of the cafes. This place was very, very nice. It was not surprising that so many people head over here from Ibiza every day.

Karen in for another cooling swim. It doesn't get much better than this.

Despite the number of boats the beaches weren't over crowded.

Back on the boat Rob went off for a long snorkel around the islet while Marc caught some sun laying out on the bow. As we seem to be constantly surrounded by people showing off their all over tans, the boys have decided they don’t really like having lily white backsides that contrast so starkly with their now deep brown tans. As a result they are trying to even things up so to speak by getting some “bum time” tanning. Rob’s strategy is to snorkel naked (because his bum is always on top of the water facing the sun) while Marc goes for a good book some extended bow time away from Karen. Results so far – Marc with a mild case of cherry arse sun burn after staying out too long one afternoon and Rob with only the faintest hint of any colour at all at this stage. With both bums having been hidden from the sun for over half a century this could take a while.

West coast meets east at the northern tip of Formentera

Formentera was another place we could have easily stayed a week or longer but we all reluctantly agreed we really did need to move on the next day. The calendar pages were turning and we still had plenty of places we wanted to sail to this summer before the weather turned cold and and the seas turned rough. This was only ever going to be a short stop just to see what it was like. We now knew the answer to that question, absolutely beautiful.

Sunrise over Formentera on the morning we left.

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Cala Basa, Ibiza - Where the beautiful people go.

July 24-29 2012

We had identified two possible anchorages on the western side of the large San Antonio Bay, far away from the city itself. We edged Alcheringa out of her tight confines in the marina and made our way towards the first, Port del Torrent, but found it a little too small to offer any real protection so we move on further to Cala Basa at the far end of the bay. We arrived in the early afternoon to find a very attractive bay with a long beach packed with people.

Cala Basa proved to be our longest and most enjoyable stop so far.

There were a fairly large number of boats already at anchor but once more most had avoided going close inshore. We could see that further out much of the bottom was covered in thick weed that is hopeless getting an anchor to hook in. By going inside most of the other boats we were able to drop our anchor not too far from the swim line in about five metres of water and were quickly nicely dug into the sand and secure. High cliffs adjacent to our spot also provided us with good protection from the predicted northerly winds.

Alcheringa anchored just off the beach at Cala Basa. The crowds and most of the boats disappeared each night.

After the foul murk in the marina it was fantastic to again be able to look down at the sea bed through very clear water. This was going to be a great place to snorkel. There were a number of sea caves visible on the far side of the bay and we quickly decided we’d be exploring those before long. A number of obviously upmarket restaurants stretched along behind the beach and right in the centre a DJ was pumping out the dance music across the beach.

This was the Cala Basa Beach Club packed with the ‘beautiful people’. We’d only had the anchor down five minutes when a young Spanish guy came over to us in a big rib to let us know his name was Robert and if we wanted to go ashore to the bars or restaurants we could just radio him and he would run us to the beach. It was a free shuttle service for all the boats in the bay provided by the beach club. In fact we could even order drinks by radio and he'd deliver them to the boat. It was incredible watching him manoeuvre alongside a yacht one handed as his other was occupied balancing a tray of cocktails. How civilised. We were beginning to like this place already.

Cala Basa Beach Club - where the beautiful people come to be seen

By the time the sun was setting the beach was almost deserted and most of the boats had also departed the bay back to where ever they came from leaving us to have a nice peaceful evening.

We do it tough on Alcheringa - another of Karen's masterchef meals

Next morning a constant stream of tourist boats ferried beach goers across from San Antonio depositing them on the rocky point right beside us. Before long the sand was packed again and another day of beach partying well underway.  We spent the morning on a long snorkel across the bay to the caves. Again we had a fantastic time and got a very good workout in the process.. Swimming far into one of the caves we could see lots of light towards its end where we found the roof had collapsed and it was now open to the sky. Very cool.

Not having an outboard we lazily made use of Robert’s services to go in and check out the beach club that afternoon. The centre of the beach in front of the main bar and DJ was THE spot for the beautiful people. The sun lounges were much more luxurious, linen table clothes adorned the beach tables with super attentive waiter service running around the sand all day topping up crystal champagne glasses or mixing more cocktails.

This is how to really enjoy a day at the beach

For us this was a spectator sport. With a beer costing five euros ($6.00) compared to the 50c per can our supplies on the boat had cost us, and a glass of wine priced simarly, this was definitely a place to people watch rather than be one of the watched. We treated ourselves to a drink each and enjoyed watching the world go by.

Away from the centre VIP area though, the beach was packed with overseas tourists and local families alike, all soaking up the sunshine and very obviously enjoying themselves. There were also more than enough bare breasted pretty young things to give the boys eye strain while Karen pretended not to be staring at the hordes of, tanned, very fit, six pack equipped young blokes that were parading like peacocks vying for the attention of those pretty young things.

Eye candy for all at Cala Basa

With the music pumping, the whole place just had a great atmosphere and we quickly congratulated ourselves on picking an excellent location to sit out a couple of days until the outboard was ready. The one mistake we had made was neglecting to get the phone number of the place we’d left it for repair so we couldn’t ring to check if it was ready. It was supposed to be done on the Tuesday but we decided not to push the issue and we’d wait a couple of days before going in for it.

Rather than taking Alcheringa back across the bay and hoping we could stay on the fuel dock long enough to pick up the outboard, Rob and Marc caught the ferry back into San Antonio on Thursday morning to fetch it. On arrival we were reminded this is indeed Spain and things happen slowly. 'The mechanic has been very busy, engine not done yet, will fix it tomorrow morning'  the man said. So we left, with a phone number this time and caught the next ferry back. Time for more swimming with the beautiful people.

Friday July 27 and a peaceful sunrise over Cala Basa with no hint of what was to come that afternoon

We rang at lunch time on Friday, 'mechanic has been very busy, engine not done yet, will fix it this afternoon; the man said.  Late that afternoon a totally unexpected storm suddenly appeared over the headland and almost instantly gusts blowing 30+ knots created havoc in the bay. Ashore beach umbrellas, sun beds and all sorts of beach gear was blowing everywhere and people were running for any shelter they could find.

Out on the water boats were dragging towards each other all over the place. Every morning we’d watched people drop anchor in the thick weed and others put down almost no anchor chain. Many dragged and required multiple attempts before holding  even in the calm conditions. We had not worried about it too much because we knew they were not going to be staying overnight. But now the potential for serious collisions was very real. One good thing appeared to be that very few people had left their boats unattended so crews were getting underway and managing to avoid each other reasonably well.

Fortunately most of the mayhem was occurring further out from the shore and away from us. Alcheringa’s anchor was dug in rock solid and we were holding very nicely. The two yachts closest to us had been in place overnight and Rob had actually snorkelled around and checked the set of their anchors the previous afternoon just so we knew they didn’t pose any risk to us. There was an older live aboard Spanish couple on board the nearest who obviously knew what they were doing and had been quite friendly since they’d arrived despite all our limited language skills.

We were actually feeling reasonably secure and were being entertained by the range of flying beach toys etc heading hell, west and crooked. Boy those blow up air mattresses can sure get airborne.

But that all changed in a flash as we heard a very loud crack sound and the Spanish boat was suddenly bearing down on us very quickly  bow first . It had clean snapped its anchor chain less than half a meter from their bow roller and was now adrift. The shocked Spaniard, who we should mention at this point was not a fan of clothing, was racing stark naked to his bow to see what had happened, all the while heading straight at us at fairly high rate of knots. Halfway to the bow he looked over to us and Karen pointed and called out to him that his chain was broken and he only had this much hanging down, indicating about a foot with her hands. 

There being a significant language barrier, momentarily a very confused look came over his face until he realised Karen was referring to the length of anchor chain hanging from his bow and not what was dangling between his legs. He then reacted extremely quickly, racing back, getting the engine started and reversing away from us at full revs with only about three metres to spare before heading out to sea. Well done naked Spanish man. Great job.

The storm was gone almost as fast as it arrived. The wind dropped to nothing, the sun returned and within twenty minutes the beach looked like nothing had ever happened with everything set back up, the music pumping again and champagne flowing. After our short but intense excitement we also settled in for a couple of sundowners to relax  while watching Robert and his Rib, redeployed from their normal duties for a while and now towing a motorboat out from where it ended up tangled in the swim line after dragging its anchor in the storm.  

Robert and his rib tow a motorboat out of the swim line. The weed clumped on the anchor may just explain why it dragged.

Saturday was Karen’s birthday and time to celebrate. When in San Antonio Rob had considered buying her a nice game fishing rod and reel he spotted at the chandlery for her birthday present but wisely reconsidered. A real splurge was in order so instead she was in for some luxurious indulgence with a looonnnngggg birthday lunch ashore at the Cala Basa Beach Club. It was time for us to be the beautiful people being waited on with champagne, awesome food, more champagne and even Gin & Tonic Sorbets for desert. We had an absolutely fantastic afternoon that stretched into the evening and remarkably Karen did not seem the least bit upset about not getting a fishing rod.

Karen fielding bithday calls on the I-Phone and facebook birthday wishes on the I-pad before having a great I-Spoilt party at the Cala Basa Beach Club

Outstanding birthday lunch in the centre of the action.

Gin and Tonic Sorbet - what a genius idea for a desert

Oh! Rob did squeeze in time to ring about the outboard and ‘mechanic has been very busy, engine not done yet, will fix it this afternoon’ the man said. Oh! and Karen did slip away from the table briefly to greet some people arriving on the beach in Robert’s rib. After having just narrowly avoided colliding with our boat as they anchored theirs, it was still swinging perilously close. After the words ‘Hello, do you speak English’ answered by a nod of the head, the rest was not so much a welcome but more a ‘What the hell are you thinking anchoring so close to my boat. Go and move.’ We’d already watched them fail to set properly and drag almost hitting other boats twice in previous attempts to anchor and were far from confident they’d got it right this third time. As Karen had stormed down the beach to protect her baby, Alcheringa, a concerned Marc asked whether she would be alright or should we all go down. Rob just replied ‘Don’t worry about Karen. Worry about the poor bastard that’s going to be on the receiving end.’  

The  macho skipper of Jabato didn't feel he'd anchored too close to our Alcheringa but Karen pointed out the error of his thinking.

The gentleman concerned seemed a bit taken a back at having his seamanship questioned in front of people and by, of all things, a woman. His efforts to patronisingly explain to the little lady that she needn’t worry her pretty little head about these things, he was a very experienced captain and her boat was in no danger weren’t going down to well but were then totally undermined when the resort’s boat staff stepped in and expressed the opinion that he was indeed too close. They’d be keeping a very sharp eye on it and would take action themselves if need be. The scorecard then read Birthday Girl 1 vs Male Ego 0. Time for more champagne.

Amazingly we did manage to rise reasonably early on Sunday morning and right on nine Rob made our now daily phone call about the outboard, all the while expecting the standard reply but instead ‘Yes no problem is fixed’ the man said. He and Marc then jumped the first ferry over to San Antonio and hot footed it to the charter office. Sure enough the motor was ready to pickup but there was a small problem. The guy in the office was only filling in and had no idea what the bill was.  ‘It didn’t take him long’ he said. ‘Just leave what you think is OK for the mechanic.’ Not having a clue what was a fair figure we really tried to push for some sort of guidance but in the end left a crisp Fifty Euro note for the very busy mechanic. As we headed out the door Rob turned and asked the obvious question, ‘Do you know what was wrong with it?’ and Marc almost choked when he replied ‘Spark plug all dirty.’

Back on the boat the trusty Yamaha was quickly on the dingy and, of course, started first pull again. Of we went over to the far headland for a test drive and to checkout a huge sea cave we’d seen on our way into the bay the previous Tuesday. The motor never missed a beat and the cave was very impressive. A nice finish to the day.

Have outboard will explore. Here we're deep in a huge sea cave

Definately a banana tube ride with a difference for these tourists

Rob’s slip of the hand in Cala Grazio may have cost us a spark plug spanner, an expensive 153 Euro marina stop in the awful Club Nautico San Antonio, a 50 Euro repair and a week hanging around waiting for the mechanic to spend ten minutes cleaning the spark plug. But it had been a  fantastic week spent in the glorious Cala Basa so maybe it was all worth it anyway. We still needed to find a new spark plug spanner though.

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San Antonio, Ibiza - Rip-off in a rat shit marina

July 23 2012

After two very nice nights in Cala Grazio we were on the move again. Right from the start of our planning for the Med we’d decided we would avoid staying in marinas as much as possible. Not only is it much nicer to be anchored in a lovely bay somewhere, but marinas in this part of the world have a reputation for being very expensive. We want to spend our meagre funds on cruising, not making marina owners even more wealthy.

Unfortunately a visit to a marina every now and then is a necessary evil as we have to fill our tanks with water. Although not at a critical level, we were running a little low by now and as we wanted to find somewhere to get the non-starting outboard fixed we decided to head into the marina in San Antonio for just Monday night. We planned to get the most out of of our time in port by topping up our water, putting the outboard in for repair, doing our washing, having some long hot showers, replenishing our fresh food supplies and making the most of the marina’s wfi to skype family and friends. With this great plan in place we motored the short distance around the point and arrived in San Antonio harbour by 9.30am only to be told over the radio  that we’d have to wait to be called into the marina and it would not be before mid-day. We found a spot amongst the masses of moored boats and anchored to wait, kissing goodbye to the productive morning we’d planned.

Almost all marinas here feature stern-to mooring often referred to as ‘Med Mooring’. We were a little nervous about this as we’d never actually done one yet. Sitting in the bay waiting we had plenty of time to plan our steps but unfortunately also plenty of time to worry about what could go wrong. In the end we weren’t called in until after one o’clock and found we’d been allocated a very tight spot with almost no swing room to get in between a big motorboat and another yacht. Yikes! This was going to get interesting.

It may not have been totally pretty, but we were able to manoeuvre Alcheringa into her berth with no damage to any craft or crew. We could now put a tick in the Med mooring box but the nerves were a little frazzled by it all.

With the boat now securely squeezed into her place on the finger we then headed for the office to check in only to find it closed for Siesta from 1.30 to 6.00pm. Great. No wfi password, no key to the amenities block, no one to ask for directions to find an outboard mechanic so all our plans for a super efficient marina stop were now totally out of the window. What next?

Alcheringa Med moored in Club Nautico - San Antonio
And you thought supermarket car parks were tight.

We weren’t very happy sailors when we returned to the boat and became even less so when a huge ferry berthed on the other side of the wharf directly behind our stern and almost blew us off the finger when it reversed its engines to stop. Thankfully there were a lot of fenders between the boats because we were all crashing and bashing together from the wake. The ferry was loaded to the gills with holiday makers cars and at least twenty semi trailers which made for extremely long and noisy unloading procedures.  

After almost blowing us off the dock, each ferry then took hours to unload and load

We headed out of the marina in search of an outboard mechanic and a supermarket to try to salvage something out of the day. One of the yacht charter companies along the water front said they’d be happy to have their mechanic look at our outboard when he came in the next day. As our next intended stop was an anchorage just a couple of miles away we decided it would be no real problem to come back in on the Wednesday and pick it up. Marc and Rob then got a good workout taking turns lugging the engine the half mile or so from the boat. While Karen headed off to the supermarket the boys dropped in to a ship chandlery and discovered a whole new world of good stuff to drool over. They were able to source the right spare bulbs we needed for the masthead anchor light and also bought an inverter to step up 12 volt to 220 so Rob could use his laptop on board. Unfortunately though there were no spark plug spanners to be found to replace the one laying in the bottom of Cala Grazio.

When the marina office did finally open there was a line up of crews waiting to check in so it was well after seven by the time we finally provided copies of the boats papers, insurance certificate, and our passports. When we asked for the wfi password we were told we could have it but the signal doesn’t reach to our side of the marina. We then asked about laundry and were told it was leased to a service and was only available to marina guests on Wednesdays. We could however pay an exorbitant fee to have our laundry done but the service had a 48 hour turn around.

Fantastic, can’t get in till mid-afternoon despite vacant berths around the place but MUST be out before Noon, office closed, no key for amenities until after 7.00pm, blown, bashed and crashed every few hours by the wake from huge ferries, no wfi, no laundry and how much did we have to pay for the pleasure of one night in Club Nautico San Antonio? How about 153 Euro ($190). What a rip off. The clincher though was being handed a customer satisfaction survey to fill in as we left the office.  Our advice to other cruisers,  Avoid this place like the plague!

We did finally get our hot showers though and then walked into town to get some dinner at one of the many cafes. After sunset the streets, lanes and bars of San Antonio fill with predominantly loud, young British tourists getting a skinful before they head to the big clubs such as Pacha, Eden and Es Paradis that don’t open until late but go to dawn. Now we saw glimpses of the Ibiza we’d heard about. This place was very Triple B, Brits behaving badly, all brought to you by low airfares, very low cost booze, very, very low cut clubbing outfits, and many extremely low IQ individuals parading in t-shirts emblazoned with the likes of Shit that happens in Ibiza stays in Ibiza and Fuck me I’m famous in Ibiza. No doubt their Mum’s are very proud of them.

It really is not a very attractive place and we couldn’t wait to get out of there.

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