Thursday 2 May 2019

We have been recommended to visit the island of Formentera, just south of Ibiza, and today was going to be the day.  Knowing that we had short distances to cover, we did not rush to get going this morning, but were slipping off the mooring buoy at about 10:00. Leaving a mooring like this is the easiest departure that we make. There are only one or two lines to remove and then you drift back away from the buoy until you are comfortable that there is manoeuvring room and before engaging the motor to drive away. There are no complicated sidewinds or other boats very close by to deal with, no fenders to put away and a minimum of lines.

Initially we had to pass inside two small islands, Vedra and Vedranell. The gap was half a mile or so wide, but we chose not to set the sails until we were in more open water and away from the wind bends and accelerations that islands and headlands cause. We were being followed by a large catamaran, also using his engine. He was gradually closing on us until we put the sails up and our motor off. Once we had got clean wind, we shot away from him, which was most satisfying.

One of the sites on our list of recommendations was Playa Trocados on the island of Espalmador. We broke our usual procedure and stopped here for lunch, carefully dropping our anchor in sand, away from where we could see meadows of sea grass, through the crystal clear turquoise water. It was beautiful.  There had been a steady stream of ferries going between Ibiza Town and Porta de sa Savina on Formentura, and we had to pick our moment to duck through the gap between them. Not long after our arrival, a rib came up to us, and my heart sank, expecting that we would be told either that we could not stay where we were, or that a payment would be demanded. Neither proved to be correct. The guy on board asked if we would like to order anything from the restaurant on the land, he would deliver it. If we had been staying longer and not already prepared most of our lunch, we would probably have ordered something just for the novelty of it.

While we ate, we were entertained by kite surfers blasting up and down. They were very skilful and managed to wave while going past.

Soon enough it was time to up anchor and move on to our overnight stop. We had barely left our anchorage when a large motor cruiser came up and headed directly for the place we had just vacated.  He was probably delighted that we had moved at exactly the right time for him.

We only had go another a few miles south to get to Cala Sahona on Formentera. We had chosen this bay because it was supposedly sheltered from the north easterly wind that was due to freshen in the afternoon.  This it duly did, and we were soon flying downwind, with just the foresail set. By the time we rounded the last headland, the wind was about 22 knots, and we were questioning whether there would be sufficient shelter to anchor, but we found a spot close enough to the modest cliffs to give a bit of protection and by early evening the wind had died away enough for us the be more comfortable about staying.  Initially we shared the anchorage with a reasonable number of boats, but a good proportion went away as the evening has approached, and we have just half a dozen boats of comparable size to ourselves, and one 55 metre superyacht, for me to stare at.

This guy was enjoying the conditions at our anchorage.

 

Distance covered today	20	nautical miles
Trip distance covered	303	nautical miles
Distance covered 2019	303	nautical miles
Steve (and Tricia )