From the end of August onwards the weather in the Balearics gets more changeable: stronger winds and rain showers means you either have to spend more time in marina’s or constantly be aware of picking a suitable anchorage to be sheltered from the swell and wind. We already had decided to return to Gibraltar for the winter so we didn’t … Read More
Sandy beaches and rugged coastlines: south Mallorca
Playa d’es Carbó Compared to the east of Mallorca, the south coast was much more impressive nature-wise. Our first stop was a large bay to the east of a little town called Colònia de Sant Jordi. There were several places to anchor, but you had to look out for shallow rocks. We found a lovely spot off Playa d’es Carbó, where … Read More
What to do when the backstay breaks?
Sunday the 13th of August we left Porto Colom for the south of Mallorca. At first there wasn’t much wind so we engined. While I was inside working on my laptop, I suddenly heard some noise: Jon had caught a fish! Actually 2 at the same time, and shortly after another 3. Keeping the big ones and releasing the little … Read More
Towing a sailboat on the East coast of Mallorca
The crossing from Formentera to Mallorca started off nicely: we had left our anchorage before lunchtime and as there wasn’t much wind we were just motorsailing. As most people leave from Ibiza, further north, to go across to Mallorca, there wasn’t a lot of traffic to keep an eye on either. At the beginning of the evening a bird joined … Read More
Pink lifevests and ‘business’ on deck: Cruising with our dog
Our third crewmember is a dog. Ok, granted, she’s not bigger than a cat but she’s still canine and comes with all standard dog behaviour such as barking, wanting to lick your face and not being happy when a member from the pack is missing. Since we became liveaboards on our 35 feet bavaria and especially during the last 3 … Read More
Sailing Ibiza and Formentera: beautiful and busy
Waves higher than 2 meters are not fun. When you get them straight onto the bow, the boat surges upwards and comes down again with a loud bang – the hull slamming flat on the water. When you get them at an angle, the boat heels over one way and then – after the top of the wave – quickly … Read More
Whales and jellyfish: Cartagena and Mar Menor by sailboat
The night sail from Almerimar to Cartagena weather and sailingwise for the most part pretty uneventful: there were a few ships along the way that we had to keep an eye on but thanks to AIS you could see well in advance where they were and in which direction they are going. Just after sunrise, there was an incredible moment where … Read More
More boatjobs in Almerimar
After spending a week and half in Almerimar we were ready to move on. But Goodvibes was not, and she is the boss so we had to listen to her. The engine saga continues To begin with, there was still the engine issue: white smoke from the exhaust. Jon had chatted to an engine mechanic and he basically confirmed that … Read More
Life in the boatyard of Almerimar
Arriving in Almerimar was a big milestone as we had planned to use the marina haul out facilities in order to address some jobs below the waterline. We had no real idea of what it would be like ‘living on the hard’ and how much time the jobs were going to take. So we were quite pleased when we arrived … Read More
Sailing in the dark: Almuñecar to Almerimar
At the anchorage in Almuñecar, we were satisfied our anchor was not dragging, but the wind was considerably stronger than we expected. At 8 to 9 knots it produced a considerably swell and the boat was rocking from side to side. Combined with this being our first anchoring we didn’t anticipate a good night’s rest. In fact, we where contemplating … Read More
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