Passage to Formentera

On Saturday morning we left Algeciras.

We motored around Europa Point...

...to the East into Mediterranean. We left The Rock behind us...

...and on the other side Africa.

A bit further away dolphins were waiting for us...

...and they came to play around our bow.

They kept looking up at me, as if they wanted me to watch them.

A little later wind picked up and we set sails - full main and gennacker, and were sailing fast over flat sea.

In the afternoon wind got stronger and we replaced gennacker with flock, that is much easier to handle, especially at night. Whole afternoon we had good wind and a current in our favour, and in the evening I was able to sail for over an hour with speed between 8 and 9,5 knots. No doubt, at least two knots were contributed by current.

Towards the nigh wind slowed down. We had a beautiful sunset, all the sky was lit. This is the view to the North to Andalucian mountains...

...and this to the West after the sun went down.

Later the wind died completely, but the waves remained. I was motoring and tried to keep the main sail to stabilise us. Around midnight main was just flapping noisily, so Captain came up to help take it down.

In the night there was a lot of bioluminescence in the sea and we saw couple of dolphins swim up to our boat for a minute and then swim away. We actually didn't see the dolphins, just the water glowing around them as they were swimming. It was incredible. Seven years ago, at almost the same time of year and in the same stretch of sea I already saw the same miracle, but I'm glad this time Captain got to see it as well. I think it was worth it for him to get up and help with the sails.

Night was quite rolly and we motored all the time, and the whole morning as well. At about noon we sailed around Cabo del Gato with its white rock.

We nearly ran over the Sunfish (Mola mola or Mesečeva riba). I saw a fin sticking out of the water just in front of our boat and thought how dolphins never wait for a boat so motionless. And then I saw some half a meter big Sunfish franticly swim away, it must have been sleeping or sun bathing at the surface. I was sorry that I didn't have the time to grab my camera. Sunfish are the funniest fish of all, taller than longer, with only two fins, one at the back and one at the belly, and in such a contrast to the sleek shapes of dolphins and tunas. Whoever designed them must have had a wicked sense of humour.

Luckily wind picked up and we could sail again. As we were so close to the shore, we quickly downloaded the newest weather report. Our original plan was to stop somewhere near Cartagena and then wait for the suitable weather for sailing to Ibiza. After studying the weather forecast we decided to sail straight on to Ibiza, since it looked like there would be wind mostly against us later in the week.

We were sailing till the sunset, and then the story of previous evening repeated itself - wind died, just the  waves were a bit smaller than the night before. Night was still not very comfortable. In the morning Captain had a lot of work to avoid colliding with fishing boats, there were some eight of them, sailing with changing speed in different directions and making circles. It was very hard to see who is going where.

In the morning there was very little wind, but since we were in no hurry and the sea was flat, we were sailing anyway.

Day was very warm and sunny, only in the afternoon wind got stronger and it got colder. We had to start the engine again in the evening, when wind died. There was a beautiful sunset again.

I was motoring trough my entire watch, but Captain even managed to sail in the night.

In the morning we reached Formentera, and island south of Ibiza. We sailed through the pass between the two islands, by on lighthouse on Formentera to the South...

...and left the other one on Ibiza to the North...

...and anchored in beautiful turquoise water on the NE coast of Formentera. After cloudy morning sun came out and the colours were really shining.

After three days and three nights of sailing we were pretty tired and didn't do much that day but sleep, rest and eat. And I managed to have a dip in the sea in the evening.

We slept quite well and long, despite the NE wind that brought some small waves into the anchorage.

Next day, after the breakfast, we put our dinghy in the sea and rowed to the island.

We anchored the dinghy a bit off the rocks. There were plenty of sand beaches on the coast as well, just we would have to row a bit further.

After 16 days on boat this was my first going on shore. We enjoyed the walk and I enjoyed the flowers that were growing in that dry stretch of sand and rocks.

Heron with SE part of Formentera in the back.

The view to NW to West part of Ibiza.

While we were walking we noticed the firefighter plane, practising taking and dumping the water.

It took water just behind Heron.

When we got back we both went for a swim. Since it is such a rare occasion for Captain to swim in the sea, I have to take a photo for evidence.

While he was in the water he took some photos of Heron to check on it. At the lowest point, when wind turned us closer towards the shore, there must have been less than one meter water under our keel. It almost looks like we are touching the bottom. But the stretch of sand was rather narrow and we had to anchor close to the shore, since we didn't wan to damage the Posidonia grass, that is protected here in Baleares.

In the afternoon we sailed along the narrow North stretch of the island, and anchored two and half miles to the South, closer to the small town of El Pujols.

In the evening we rowed to the shore again. We hoped to do some shopping and maybe get a bite to eat, but the town was pretty deserted, restaurants closed, so we just got some meat and groceries in shops and rowed back to boat. After consulting weather forecast again we decided to sail to Mallorca the next day and then sail to Sardinia from there.

The evening was quite rolly, but luckily the sea calmed down a bit in the night. We got up quite early on Thursday morning, because there are more than 80 miles to Mallorca. After couple of minutes I went back to sleep. Captain was sailing for couple of hours, then we had to motor sail. We had too far to go to be slow. We motor sailed whole day over the flat sea. We saw no dolphins and no whales and no turtles, just couple of birds. In the evening wind picked up, fortunately after our dinner. It was pretty much on the nose, so we were sailing hard into the wind, and after a while wind created the waves and the ride was quite bumpy. But it was fast, and after good three hours of sporty sailing we anchored in Ensenada de la Rapita, just few moments after the sun went down. Luckily we could just still see where the patches of Posidonia grass were and managed to throw the anchor in the sand. After a double rum we had a long night sleep, although a bit rolly.

We will probably sail on to Sardinia tomorrow, looks like the weather could be most suitable for that for entire next week. We'll decide after checking the wether forecast tomorrow morning.