Playing catch up with Blogg.
Off again
Mark+Barbara
Sun 1 Nov 2009 14:10
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24th August onwards
Chance waded across to 'Sculpture Island' to finish
off our sculpture with Samantha it will be interesting if it is still there in 5
years time!
In the afternoon we got the windsurfer out and the
girls had fun trying to keep upright,grand finale was swimming over to the beach
with a bottle of "bubbly" and having a sundowner on the beach.
25th
Winds turning north easterly so will need to think
about heading to mooring buoys off Formentera,decided to spend the morning
perfecting techniques on the windsurfer.Rang Trinity and she sounds much better
it is a shame she is not with us, that would complete the family!
26th
Over to Mooring buoys where the controller was much
more amicable, he obviously suffers from mood swings! Later caught bus to Moli
to take a look at the 'Hippie Market".Not really as we expected but interesting
all the same, had to get a taxi back as buses not very frequent and we needed to
meet Mark on the beach with the dinghy to take us back to "Rafiki".
27th
Motor sailed and anchored in bay in San Antonio so
that Chance would be able to get airport bus on Friday night to catch her flight
to the UK.
Girls decided that they MUST go out to a club in
Ibiza so took them ashore so that they could find somewhere.
Early hours of the morning got a call from the
girls wanting to know how to get back to the boat,they appeared to be lost!!
After quite a lot of confusion we were able to find them and get them back on
board, needless to say the next day was spent recovering from the effects of the
club "Amnesia", aptly named!
28th+29th
Said farewell to Chance,it is always sad to see
them depart.
Early start saw us heading for the Spanish mainland
and Denia,managed to sail for about 2hrs then needed to put motors
on.
Denia marina is very nice but very expensive so we
will only spend the one night.On arrival the marina had a pool party in full
swing complete with a great Jazz band,Chance would have loved it here still
Samantha had a great time.
30th
Departed at around 11.40 to find as usual the
wind on the nose as we sailed towards Valencia, the plan was to anchor in
Cullera but we found on our arrival that the bay was too exposed so
heading straight for Valencia ,arrived Port Americas Cup at 18.40
hrs.
We found that "Escaper" was still moored here so
will catch up with them later.
Port Americas cup quite nice,good facilities and a
reasonable price although it is a little distance from the town facilities but
to compensate we have quite a nice beach on our doorstep!
31st
Started a quick clean up of the boat and never
ending laundry duties and then Samantha and I did a recce of the surrounding
area on our bikes.Samantha wanted to find a hairdresser and a fishing shop to
buy her Dad a birthday present. Found loads of means hairdressers,obviously the
men are quite vain here, but very few Ladies hairdressers.We eventually found
one down a dodgy back street,the saloon itself appeared quite clean and the
people there were very friendly so made an appointment for later in the
week.
Out in the evening we went for a stroll along the
very pleasant promenade and had a drink in a little Tapas bar.
2nd September
Samantha is adamant that she wants to keep fit so
she has started an exercise routine of getting up early in the morning and
running along the promenade to the end which is about 2miles long and then using
these exercise stations that they have dotted at various intervals along the
promenade.We have decided to join her as she says she needs
encouragement!
Well the first time we did this we were quite
exhausted and are not sure how long we can keep this up for as the rest of the
day is spent reviving ourselves!!
Had a champagne picnic on the beach as Samantha will be leaving us soon as she heads out to
Afghanistan for her first tour of duty.
Went out in the evening to the oldest beer
establishment on the beach in Valencia,it was quite an amusing evening as the
waiter was in a strop with his boss, it was a bit like Fawlty
Towers!!
3rd September
Valencia has a very good cheap transport system and
the Metro is conveniently situated just outside the marina and takes into
town and or to the airport.We decided to take the Metro for a visit to one
of the oldest and largest indoor markets in Europe.The market is housed in
a beautiful building with stained glass windows and is very light and
airy.Strolled around the old city and tried some Valencia tapas..We then headed
back to the marina as hair appointments were at 5.30pm.We cycled over to the
saloon and were securing our bikes outside when an old man watching us from
across the street beckoned to us to come, over where he then
informed us that is what not a good idea to leave our bikes there despite our
locks he then went on to suggest he keep an eye on them whilst we were in the
hairdressers.Initially we were a bit dubious but then we thought well actually
he lives here and was actually trying to be helpful, Valencia it seems
has a high incidence of bicycle theft as we later found
out. After coming out of the hairdressers it was quite funny as the old boy
didn't recognise us and wouldn't at first give us our bikes back after a bit of
persuading that we were the same two people he eventually let us have our bikes
back.
The Valencian people are generally very helpful and
enjoy meeting tourists
Samantha decided that she would like to take us out
for her last supper and we went to a lovely old fish restaurant dating back
100yrs which Samantha had found along the promenade where we had steak and
lobster,yum,yum.The funny thing was though that when the bill came Samantha had
forgotten to pick up her wallet on leaving the boat so Dad ended up paying,she
was most embarrassed as it was her treat to us but she made a big point
about paying her Dad back as soon as she got back to the UK.We all had a good
laugh.
4th September
Lilly decided that she would seek refuge on the
Rescue boat that was moored alongside and it took quite a bit of coaxing to ge
her off.
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