Tracey Cole

Forget to start this app as we left 🙄 Had two lovely nights at anchor on Formentera love this location. The water was as always the bluest of blue and so clear, and thankfully no jellyfish. I’d been caught twice at Portinax, wow did they hurt but boiling hot water relieved them along with nuramol and antihistamine cream - but still, didnt want another scar. Yesterdays predictwind was not looking too good so decided we would make an eatly start to get ahead of the impending storm, according to local news they were expecting upto 140km wind 😵‍💫 so this morning we were up and away at 4am. However as these things sometimes go, the wind veered overnight and headed off towards Africa, luckily for us. The anchor came up very easily and off we set. Nice light breeze, not many other boats out there except the one that had been at anchor close by to us. The sun came up at 6:50am made a brief appearance through the clouds. Took it in turns to each have a 2 hour nap and whilst I was enjoying mine I heard loud noises above, dolphins had come to say hello. First time for James to see them at close quarters so made his day. Other than a flock of birds that I saw nothing to comment on. On a berth in Calpe marina for the night I’m and then final push back to Torrevieja. Correction - Predictwind should not have changed their minds we’re currently sitting under a thunderstorm in the pouring rain and high winds, thankfully RCNC had space for us so we can sit back and relax

Left lovely anchorage in Portanax this morning, it has been SO humid there these past few days we were glad to feel a sea breeze on our faces even if we were making it. There’s no actual wind so motor sailed round to Formentera where we’re anchoring for next two nights. The sea is so blue due to the massive sandy bay everyone comes to. It’s clearing out now of all the day boats so hopefully a quiet night ahead of us watching the stars

Our boat recorded 22knots of wind for a couple of hours and yet this app says we only got max of 11, how can it be that far out ?? The sea was a bit of a mess for most of the journey even once the wind died to nothing Mark though he’d press a button to see what it did - we went around in a big circle seeing as he’d disarmed the autopilot and he hadn’t realised 🙄🙄🙄 Anchored up in Portanax back on Ibiza for a few days

Having spent 3 lovely days in Sant Elm it was time to head back to port Andratx. It was very windy today so rather than go and explore we headed straight back to Port Andratx where we have another buoy for 4 nights. Got on the buoy no problem (as the marineras help you do the lines through the buoy as they’re so low down). Had a couple of swims and relaxed. Will be cooking my infamous spaghetti and tomato veg sauce for supper. Hopefully hiring a car for a few days to check out some of the anchorages. Bit of a rookie error, you need to book in advance for buoys there is really not much anchorage space as you’re not allowed to anchor on the grass - hefty fines are given and they police it all the time. Thankfully we’ve managed these anchorages but would love to go exploring with the knowledge we can definitely get in to some of these other calas. So next time we come we will have a plan in place. Ibiza is so much more relaxed

A very short passage this evening to our next port of call, Sant Elm, our home for the next 3 nights. Picked up our mooring buoy with the help of the marinera, they are all so helpful over here. Just be aware that if you are staying overnight you can’t get on your buoy till around 6:30pm and I think it has to be booked in advance

Having left the lovely Cala this morning we headed out and on towards Majorca. The wind picked up and we managed to get both main and gib out, increased our speed by about .5 kn’s. A couple of dolphins came to play with us for a short time but other than that nothing exciting happened. On a mooring buoy in Port Andratx for 2 nights whilst we decide where to go next. What was really cool was seeing two other boats who use this App, never seen it before, felt we weren’t alone on our adventure, albeit one was going the other way

Gosh that was a long day. Started off wasting an hour (not recorded) trying to get the self service fuel machine to accept our cards - none worked, even with the help of a local. An hour spent there whilst Mark got more & more frustrated. Decided enough was enough so set off. Very calm wind and sea with little on offer for entertainment. Did see the fighting fish again, may even have attached a video 🤞🏻. A bit of grass and waste passed us by but virtually nothing to see in all our time. Cheese & ham (chicken for me) & salad rolls for lunch. Drank so much water to keep hydrated. Felt like forever getting past San Antonio but finally made it to our anchorage. Several massive boats in here all with jet skis, paddle boards etc with garages on different levels - totally out of our league BUT there was space for us thankfully. Anchor dragged the first time, think I put too much chain down in one go but second time seemed better until we could see the anchor right next to us, it too had dragged but dug in on its way really deep so we’re nice and secure the water was that clear and still you could clearly see the bottom and all the fish darting about. Mark had a swim while I cooked up some supper (spaghetti with homemade tomato & veg sauce) delicious or I was just starving 🤪 we settled down for night expecting to watch the footie but both fell asleep. Went down to bed and I woke at 4 something to find Mark watching the last 5 minutes - we’d only gone and beaten Mexico in Mexico, well done boys I was not expecting that. Here for another night then should be heading to Majorca unless our plans change 🤞🏻

A very warm windless day got us safely to Calpe for the night. Anchored up in a fairly brisk breeze which will once again die down to nothing overnight. We saw swordfish leaping about, lots of sea birds and ‘teenage’ fish fighting in hordes (would love to know what they were actually doing) but very little else. There are 6 boats anchored around us - most we’ve seen all day 🤪