Balearic Islands to Corsica (5 Aug - 4 Sept 2013)

Gibraltar to Formentera We hollered farewell to Larry our American neighbour, left our anchorage in La Linea, Spain and motored over to Gibraltar to fill up on cheap disel fuel. At 0.85€/liter it was a steal compared to 1.50 per liter in Barbate, Spain...so we rightfully filled up our tanks and all of our jerry cans. Our next destination...The Balearic Islands...Ibiza...the best parties in the world... We made two overnight stops before reaching the islands. After our sail from Gibraltar we dropped anchor in the evening in front of Almeria harbour, but we were too tired to inflate the dinghy and go on shore, and the next morning we were too cheap to pay to stay in the harbour so we continued towards the Balearic Islands. The next night we anchored at La Isleta and again didn't have the energy to go on shore. There is way too much energy and effort involved with putting our feet on land sometimes. We hit the open seas, unfortunatley we used the engine for huge chunk of the time, and after three days and three nights we arrived in the afternoon on August 11th in Formentera. We went for six straight days without setting foot on land!!

Holy bronze skin batman!!! Paul and I hadn't changed but our surroundings sure did. Arbutus looked like a small dinghy next to these 20-30 meter long luxury sailboats. There were yachts a plenty, each with their own scantily clad hot mama sunbathing on the front deck. I asked Paul to strip down and go to the bow of the boat so we would fit in...he refused. But I really felt over dressed...there was a dramatic change in the crews attire. I didn't see any jackets or long sleeved shirts and it was a nice change.

Formentera So many boats anchored!!!! But like in a Kenyan matatu there is always room for one more :) We lifted the keel and went as close to the shore as possible in front of all of the other boats. The water was like glass. You could see Arbutus's shadow on the white sand bellow. We jumped in the water...not for pleasure...but for work. Paul scrubbed away at the build up of grime on the bottom of the hull and I did my best to clean our new (used) dinghy.

In the evening after visiting the town we saw hundreds of stars on the horizon!!! But alas!! They were not stars but the anchoring lights of all of the boats. It took my breath away when I realized what these lights were. It was utterly amazing...and beautiful.

Bye bye dinghy floor...putain! The next day we sailed to Ibiza...welcome to Ibiza. There was a lot of traffic during the short sail and I was content just watching them speed by us...but Paul...he can't sit still. He always has to be occupied. So announced he wanted to repair the floor of the dinghy. I asked him to wait until we are anchored...he temporarily lost his hearing and his response to my request was “help me take out the floor”. The floor is inflatable and removable so we brought it on deck, Paul pumped it full of air, and realized there was no hole...the last time we used it we never screwed the cap on tight enough.

An hour later we had a bit of wind in our back so we decided to set up the spinnaker. While setting up the spinnaker the boat was heeling slightly to starboard side...just enough for the dinghy floor to slide off the deck and into the water!!! F**k. We left the floor sitting behind the cockpit...out of sight out of mind. We turned the boat around after we eventually set down the spinnaker but the dinghy floor was lost forever. He didn't even answer when we called his name....

There were no parties had in Ibiza. Instead of paying for a harbour in Ibiza, we opted to anchor for free in the North of the island at Cala Portinatx in front of a small resort town where the wildest parties involved drunk British people singing karaoke. Not my cup of English tea. But the cala was beautiful. I swam while Paul cleaned the hull :)

Mallorca There was very little wind when we sailed to Mallorca just the afternoon sea breezes. So when we arrived the sun had already set and we headed for the closest anchorage. It was our first time anchoring at night...in the dark...blackness...except for the light house and the anchoring light of another boat in the bay. We turned on our radar to help us find a suitable spot to drop the anchor and in the morning when we looked around the boat we found that we did a pretty good job. The next morning we entered into Port de Soller in the North West of the island. Our plan was to drive to the fuel station, fill up our tanks, then anchor in the bay. The plans changed when while filling up our tanks Piet, a friendly German started chatting with us because he was drawn to Arbutus. He could tell we were a travelling boat. Piet is a boat builder who has been working on Mallorca for ten years now and who coincidentally is planning to move to Vancouver!!! The world is so small.

Piet and his two friends kindly invited us to a BBQ at their place in Palermo and we were able to keep Arbutus tied along side the fuel station for the night. We just had to leave by 8am the next morning. Piet showed us around the marinas in Palermo where we saw gargantuan yachts. Why the hell does someone need a private yacht the size of a small cruise ship???!?!

Piet and his friends were so kind and welcoming we invited them to have dinner with us the next night on Arubutus. Piet and his puppy Leica were the only ones who were able to come. The evening started off great but it ended with us being kicked out of the open bar at the harbour...long story...Despite this rather unfortunate ending will never forget our time in Mallorca and the people we met there.

Back to France There is always NO wind or TOO MUCH wind in the Med!! We used up the fuel we bought in Mallorca to drive to Les Calanques (between Marseille and Cassis). It took us two days and two nights. We left Mallorca early because of the Mistral which was forecasted to blow in the late afternoon on the 19th and last for a few days. So we planned our arrival for the morning of the 19th. We called the Calanque de Port-Miou to reserve a mooring buoy so we would have a safe place to be during the Mistral.

Les Calanques are stunningly beautiful.

Our first experience mooring Mediterranean style was stressful. We prepared Arbutus to be moored to a buoy, which we had a lot of experience with in the English Channel. However, at Port-Miou we also had to secure the stern of the boat to the cliff behind us. Luckily...or unluckily the harbour staff were there to help us in their dinghy. I say unluckily because they bloody stressed us out because they felt the need to scream directions to us!!! Welcome back to France I said to myself. We quickly did as instructed and put our buoys on port and starboard and Paul attached a long stern line which the friendly French staff would pull through the line already attached to the cliff. Because of the wind, because of the screaming, because it was our first time, for whatever reasons the stern line got caught in the propeller!!! Paul dove. There was no damage to the propeller but the anode at the end of the propeller detached...After chatting with our neighbours we were relieved to learn that they had an even harder time than us. Hello Family!!! and Hello amazing rock climbing!!! Paul's dad and step mom Michele were on their Summer vacation, like the entire French population in August, and they met us the same day :) It was so nice to see familiar faces. We spent the evening with them and the next day took them out on the boat to visit Les Calanques! It was a perfect day and I'm glad Michele enjoyed herself despite being apprehensive about going on the boat beforehand.

Omg we spent the next four days rock climbing Les Calanques, in this amazing location with Arbutus anchored at the bottom of the cliffs. In the early morning, before the blazing hot afternoon sun, we climbed for a few hours, rowed the dinghy back to the boat, had an afternoon swim, then in the evening climbed in a different area. Really, really, really great.

Paul's uncle Thierry and family came to Cassis for the day and we took them for a sail in Les Calanques. With two young girls, four adults, and the two of us the boat was full. The wind was pretty strong that day so the boat was a moving and some adults got seasick. I was passing out the sea sick pills. Still I think everyone had a good time :)

Let's go to Corsica!!! After Les Calanques we anchored in Embiez for one night before going to Toulon to pick up our new automatic pilot. Oh yah our old one broke from Mallorca to France....Paul probably wrote a long story about it...so check out his post in French! We ended up staying in Toulon for three nights because of the auto pilot installation, buying much needed provisions, and something about me loosing a credit card.

We visited Porquerolles and Port-Cros...both equally beautiful and relaxing islands with interesting history.

We were excited to go to Corsica to meet our new crew member...Paul's mom Cendrine :)