Two weeks in Ibiza

Greetings from Ibiza where the weather is glorious! Actually, it’s not. I think London and Leipzig have seen more sun in the last few weeks than we have in Spain! The latest downpour has just let up leaving behind a decent coating of red Sahara sand on the deck. On the plus side though it’s lovely and quiet here as the holiday season isn’t yet in full swing. 

Aside from the iffy weather which will cheer up soon enough, we’re having a fantastic time. After two months we are once again fully acclimatised to living back onboard Bon Bini and used to the symphony of rattles, twangs, and bangs that the old girl makes. She’s 22 years old this year! We’ve had a lot of fun rediscovering our rhythm and remembering how things work on board. We’re back in the swing of having cold showers, only being able to charge electronics when it’s sunny, obsessing about the weather, stalking people on Marina Traffic, and coming up with all sorts of crazy theories about what everyone in the anchorage is up to and where they’re going. Sleeping at anchor has also taken some getting used to again but in the last couple of weeks we’ve slept more soundly (also thanks to our old friend, the anchor alarm).

Before setting off this year we reflected on our last two seasons and chatted about whether there was anything we wanted to do differently. After reading back through our old blog posts there was one thing that really stood out. Especially in our first season we motored, a lot. So this year is all about less motoring and more sailing. In reality, though that’s easier said than done as the wind in the Med is notoriously fickle. There’s either none, far too much, or if it _is_ decent you can be sure of one thing: it’ll be coming from exactly where you want to go in. So sailing more means we’re having to learn to be patient (yes, especially me!) and resist the urge to keep moving. It’s served us really well so far as we’ve had some fabulous sails and visited places we would have missed if we’d been intent on pressing on. Using the engine less also includes the outboard on our dinghy. We’ve taken to rowing to shore, much to the amusement of our neighbors. With Tom on one side and me on the other paddling with an oar each we must look a bit ridiculous. Still, it’s fun and decent exercise too!

Another worthwhile optimisation is our new Rainman watermaker. This means that instead of having to go into a marina to fill up with water or go ashore with water bottles in search of a tap, we can now make our own fresh water from seawater. 120 litres an hour in fact which means that in just two hours we have enough water in our tanks to last us a couple of weeks. So happy with that! Now all we really have to think about is fuel but with our trusty canisters that’s not a big deal.

After spending two lovely weeks in Ibiza, the plan is to sail to Mallorca tomorrow. It’s just over 50NM so should take about 10 hours or so. We’ll be sad to say goodbye to this island as we’ve had a great time. We’ve anchored in secluded bays, in towns with an abundance of bars and restaurants, and also right next to Ibiza Town which was a must-see. At the moment we’re in Santa Eulària des Riu (still no clue how you’re supposed to pronounce it) where we’ve been for almost a week. We anchored for two nights then nipped into the marina when the easterly winds arrived as they made the anchorage rolly and uncomfortable. It’s been nice being in a marina again as it’s just so easy to get on and off the boat (and we can make coffee in the Nespresso machine!) but we’re looking forward to the tranquility of being at anchor again, as is our bank account 🙂