Isla Espalmador 38:46.84N 01:25.53E
Red Skies
David Alexander
Fri 13 May 2011 07:24
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Monday 9th May. 08:30 start for our voyage to
Denia - we have 46 miles to go - no wind to speak of, so we are motoring. We
motored all the way!
We ared berthed in the Marina de Denia, a
delightful spot under the headland separating Denia from Javea.
As A's wristwatch had failed, we walked into town
to find a jewellers for a new battery. We were informed that it was no problem
and thaey would have it ready in 15 minutes, so allow 20 minutes to be safe. So,
being a warm sunny afternoon, we took the opportunity to sit at a pavement cafe,
watch the world go by and have our SADs (Safe Arrival Drinks).When the proposed
20 minutes and some more had passed, we returned to the jewellers to be told
that they weren't quite ready and would need another 10 minutes. Our confidence
was beginning to wane. So we went off to find the tourist office and acquired a
map and returned to the jewellers half an hour later. Still no repaired watch.
We decided to leave it and return the following morning and, by now, fully
expecting to be handed a bag of bits.
Tuesday 10th May. Found a local supermarket
for victualling before our departure for the Islands tomorrow. We then returned
to the jewellers and to our delight recovered a working watch and a bill of just
5 euros.
We spent a most enjoyable afternoon with friends
Linda and Kevan, who live in Orba in the hills behind Denia. Linda was David's
PA in his Three Valleys Water days and they moved out here 5 years ago. They met
us at the marina and we had an excellent Menu del Dia at one of the restaurants
on site and caught up with their news. As last year both of them had suffered
from health problems, it was really good to see them both very fit and well,
thoroughly enjoying their lifestyle in Spain and full of praise for the Spanish
medical facilities that they had experienced.
We much enjoyed Denia and intend to revisit in the
future.
Wednesday 11th May. 60 miles to go to get to
Formentura and very little wind - so a long motor. By the afternoon the wind had
picked up a bit, but from the East and that was the way we were headed, so the
motor stayed on. 9 3/4 hours later we arrived in the delightful anchorage of
Puerto El Espalmador. Puerto in Spanish can mean any place to accomodate a
vessel, even an anchorage off a beach, and that it just what this place is. Isla
Espalmador is a private island almost connected to, but not quite, the North of
Formentera, with a lovely bay with palm trees and white sand on the beach. It is
said to be capable of accomodating 100 yachts at anchor but we understand that
these days, during the season, they install about 40 mooring buoys and prohibit
anchoring to protect the seagrass etc. We are ahead of the season and
there only ten or so boats here. It is idyllic.
Something that we found strange were the very large
numbers of fat ferries that we can see ploughing between Ibiza Town and
Formentera - perhaps the island isn't so unspoilt as the pilot book makes out -
we shall have to see.
Thursday 12th May. Alovely peaceful
night at anchor and a quiet day forecast, so we will spend another day here in
the sunshine. The Nestaway dinghy has been launched and D has been sailing her
around the bay.
 David in the Nestaway dinghy
 General view of Puerto Espalmador
 The only property on Espalmador
After lunch David rowed ashore for a walk along the
beach to the East side of the Island and we followed a trail to a small lake,
but there was little to explore there as movement was rtestricted due to it
being a nature reserve. After returning to Red Skies David took his first swim
of the season and reported that the temperature was 'fine' - I think a few more
weeks of sunshine would be better before I take the
plunge.
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