[KensBlog] Welcome to Ibiza

We were up at 6am for our 60 mile run from the island of Mallorca to the smaller island of Ibiza.

Wikipedia has this to say about Ibiza:



Ibiza is best known as a party island. Young people, predominantly British, come here to dance all night and tan all day. Our nightclubbing days are long past. Once, a very long time ago, we did try to check out the nightclub scene on Ibiza, arriving at an enormous disco at 10pm. We were about the only ones there. At 1am when people started trickling in we were already way past our bedtime and gave up. I have no doubt that thousands of people did show up, but we were long gone by then.

Tonight we will probably see and hear more of “the action” than we really want to, as we anchor off San Antonio, one of Ibiza’s nightlife towns. Weather kept us on the boat for several days in Mallorca. We want to be able to go into town for a nice dinner tonight.

Ibiza, and the nearby island of Formentera, have many options for anchoring, but where we anchor is dictated by the wind. As the wind shifts, so do the boats. The wind is now coming from the south so our options are limited to anchorages on the north side of the island.

We’re not complaining. We had planned to go to San Antonio yesterday but as we were cruising we were looking at pictures of the anchorages we would be passing and couldn’t resist stopping at one.

We dropped anchor at one of the first ones we passed; Cala Xarraca. As you’ll see in the pictures it is incredibly beautiful.

I have absolutely nothing to report from our day yesterday, except that we had a wonderful time. Days at anchor like yesterday make all the tougher days worthwhile. We were lazy, accomplished nothing, and loved it. We never left the boat other than to jump in the water. Instead of dinner Roberta made popcorn, and we watched the old movie Braveheart with the doggies.

So … given that I have nothing to talk about, I’ll finish off today’s entry with my favorite email which I received as a result of yesterday’s blog entry:

Cala Xarraca, Ibiza, Spain

Our first view of Ibiza. Our run here was exceptionally smooth. It took about seven hours but was so smooth, and we were so excited about being underway, that we hardly noticed it.

We dropped anchor in a bay called Cala Xarraca — I dropped anchor on a patch of sand (amidst seaweed) in 38 feet of crystal clear, 82 degree, very swimmable water

We prefer large bays with plenty of room to swing. They don’t get much larger (or prettier) than this one.

The shoreline is VERY interesting. Stalagmites? (is that what they call them?) and caves all around us

Scattered amongst the caves are people enjoying the sunshine and working on their tans

Interesting geography along the shore. The scale of this does not come through in the picture. The little slice of shoreline you see here is probably 70 feet tall!

I wish the light had been better for picture taking. The beautiful blue color of the water does not come through.

I was worried that we were exposed enough that there would be swell, and even spent the night setting a timer for every 30 minutes to check on the anchor. But … there was no wind, no swell, and no excitement. A perfect run followed by a perfect day and perfect evening. Some days we win. Other days the weather gods win. It was our turn.

Cala Xarraca, Ibiza Spain