Welcome
back to Nimue’s adventures after having spent the last 8 months either in Sant
Carles de la Rapita, or the UK. We have both had such an enjoyable time
in Sant Carles, particularly meeting new friends, trying to learn Spanish,
enjoying terrific walks and much, much more, which I will endeavour to summarise
in a future blog.
Anyway
we’ve set off again and it is our intention to explore the Balearic Islands i.e.
Ibiza, Majorca and Menorca for a few
months.
We said
our fond farewells to friends, as we slipped from our mooring about
1000hrs. The wind was perfect when
we left Sant Carles for the small islands of The Columbretes. These are made up of four barren groups
of volcanic islets and some parts are now a marine reserve. We sailed the 40
miles under full rig with a pleasant F3/4 wind on the beam. The only problem was that the north
easterly wind direction would blow into our anchorage and mean a very rolly
night. Anyway, we decided to go for
it and picked up one of the 9 or 10 mooring buoys. As anticipated the swell meant Nimue
‘rock and rolled’ for most of the night, but we were glad we had visited these
relatively unknown islands.
Below are some pictures of the Columbretes and
our anchorage but as you can see it was rather a grey,
'murky' day!
We
departed early the next morning for the 60 mile journey to Ibiza and again for
almost half the journey had excellent sailing conditions with the wind on the
beam…..perfecto!!.
The area
around these islands are renowned for some of the best fishing in the
Mediterranean, so once again I hung my trawling line over the stern of Nimue,
but still no luck. I understand
perseverance is a virtue, so I will catch one someday!!
We
arrived in relatively low visibility into Cala Salada, Ibiza around 5’o’clock and were welcomed by Alan and Ann
on Sula Mac, our very goods friends who we met in Sant Carles. This is a very beautiful, picturesque
and small Cala on the west side of
Ibiza and was surrounded by pine trees, so you
can imagine the smell! In addition
we were just around the corner from San
Antonio (clubbers paradise), but you wouldn’t have known
it was there apart from the odd day trip boats.
Sula Mac already in situ and it was
great to meet up with Alan & Ann again!!
Nimue anchored in Salada Bay (one of many !!)
Views of Salada Bay from our
anchorage
Time to chill for a couple of days, before moving
on…………..
