..we sail to Puerto San Antonio, Ibiza

Timeless
Sat 20 Oct 2012 08:00
Position:    38:52.70N      01:10.80E
 

..we sail to San Antoino, Ibiza.

We left early morning for a pleasant sail to Ibiza. The sail would only be 29 miles today.

The wind was not in the most perfect direction but we had plenty of time to get to our destination and as it turned out we had a great sail in the end.  Along the way we had to pass through the ½ mile wide channel between the huge cliffs of the mainland of Ibiza and the  Isle de Valdi. The Isle de Valdi is a stunning rock towering over 200 meters high and can be seen from all over this area.

As we passed through the channel we noted quite a wind shift (as you would expect)  - but also - ominous black clouds, which were not forecast!  They say around these islands the weather can change quickly. 

We had just put the Genoa away as the wind had shifted from aft to forward of us. A wind change like this is a sign of things to come!

Then the down draft came and then the wind settled down - and we were now in 20 to 25+ knots of wind.
What a great sail!

John set up a reefed mainsail and jib - and we were flying along at 8.5 knots.
Then the sea began to swell and we were in 2-meter waves.
None of this was a problem for “Timeless”  of course. We just needed to slow her down and keep control. 
More reefing!  We sailed the last part of our journey in record time with just a handkerchief of sail and we were making 6 knots.

As we neared the marina at San Antonio on Ibiza the wind slowed and John made a perfect stern to mooring. 

We both really enjoyed this short sail.

Ibiza is known as ‘party town’ Europe. Vacations package tours are very inexpensive here and there are discos, bars, clubs, pirate binge cruises everywhere. They even have reality TV shows based upon the binge drinking vacation tourists.
But we had been told that Ibiza is more than this once you leave the main towns and not to be put off.

Hmm… we didn’t know what to expect.

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