Archiv

CW30 2001

22.07.2001 - 28.07.2001

Today is Sunday, July 22 and we're in Ibiza and it's almost like in that movie where one day repeats itself over and over. And it's time to run away again. Like every Sunday!
Swell and surge have been rocking us around all night long and their still getting stronger, therefore we weigh anchor and leave Cala Talamanca shortly after 9 am. Sleepless nights are definitely not unusual in Ibiza, but not like this!
Actually we also wanted to experience the nightlife on Ibiza and join the big party for a while. But … no such luck.
It already became obvious on Saturday evening that, as far as the weather was concerned, something was coming along, so it seemed better to stay aboard.
So, once again, we drive around the corner to the bay at the harbour entrance, to at least get some breakfast. And that will also create the opportunity to get the daily newspaper.
After hauling up and securing the dinghy we take off to Formentera. Finding the way to Formentera is very easy, you really can't miss it. Simply follow the crowd, or simply join the crowd. It's unbelievable what going on on the way. One ship next to and behind the other wander and race in the same direction - towards Formentera.
Arriving there after only 11 N.M. it's not surprising any more, that everybody comes here. Cala Espalmador! Beautiful beaches and huge bays, fantastic water and totally over-crowded.
It's hard to describe, you have to see it! It's also hard to describe what a Hippie-colony left behind here a few years ago. A whole beach-segment is filled with "pieces of art" from those days, made out of waste. Some little stone piles look quite funny. The stones were piled on top of each other and arranged in such a way, that, from far it seems like people were standing there.
Only in the evening one can see how very beautiful the water really is. That is, after those many ships and boats, and not to forget the yachts, have disappeared again. We also weigh anchor again, but only to change sides in the bay; to go there, where everything was full in the afternoon. It seems to be a little securer here and that will be of an advantage in the coming night since it is supposed to get pretty windy. It's 2 o'clock at night and we're drifting through the bay. Our anchor slipped. We're still very drowsy, but we have to move quickly now. We weigh anchor and drop it again. And that in pitch-black night with winds of up to 35 kts howling around us. Dropping anchor doesn't work out the first time, but the second.
I can't say it's really relaxing to see that we are not the only ones who were drifting around in bay. Two other ones are still drifting. Having to watch how one of the two drifts directly towards us gets the adrenaline level right back up. Oh oh! In the meantime the crew has noticed what is going on though, and therefore they just manage to drive by our stern. Quite an experience!
After this adventure we finally dare to go back to sleep. But not for long, hardly one hour later violent gusts hit us.


After this night we take the Monday slowly. In the afternoon we take off to Formentera with the dinghy and stroll through the streets for a while and go look at a beautiful lagoon. Quite a nice little island.
Since the smells of a barbecue already tickled our noses on Sunday evening, we've decided to go where the smell came from. From a small stand on the beach. Arriving there we're quite surprised … everything under German control.


Apparently people sit here all day and drink. As a consequence something nice from the grill isn't happening; the grill went out. At this time only drinking is on. But we do get a little snack. The view from this beach-shop over the ocean is beautiful. Under this aspect it becomes more understandable that some people stay here all day. They even have a kind of shuttle service, which we found quite funny. Only a few guests were still there, but at least 4 dinghies who's owners apparently weren't "fit for driving" any more and were brought back to their boats by some other means. Even though we're still sober, we're rather tired and therefore we set out for home.


A few more miles are planned for today, Tuesday. We turn our backs on the Balears and set course for the Spanish East Coast. Therefore our anchor is weighed at 7.30 am and we're on our way. Since the winds like to exhaust themselves during the night it's really calm for the first few miles. So we have to motor cruise for the first two hours. But then we set sail and travel comfortably yet quite fast until late afternoon. Once again we "bathed" some bait, but the fish aren't biting. Since the bitter loss of our super-bait there's no anglers luck. But success is with the persistent, so don't give up!
Nevertheless we're making a fish recipe today and here we are, at our culinary expedition. Today we're having fish-balls.
You need:
2/3 pre-cooked rice and 1/3 raw white fish. Left over rice from the day before works best. Spice it quite hot with Cayenne pepper, curry and a little salt. Dice the fish, sour it and add salt and pepper.
Mix everything, if necessary add more hot spices, add freshly cut parsley and mix with enough flour and an egg (or 2) so that you can roll little balls out of the dough. Roll these little balls in breadcrumbs and deep-fry them in hot oil. That's it!
By themselves they're a nice snack or starter, but with a salad they'll surely do as main course.
Just try and enjoy. Good luck and good appetite!
We're not quite there yet. 20 miles from our destination the wind dies again. Well, then we'll have to use the Diesel.
This part of the coast is beautiful to look at. Plenty of green, beautiful vegetation and pretty houses in between. Right next to that really high and impressive cliffs. Beneath one of those cliffs we discover a good diving spot which we want to visit tomorrow. Since this spot isn't good enough to spend the night we sail around another cape and drop anchor in a small bay close to Javea. The only things around are a small pebble beach and a fort all the way on top of a mountain. There is another catamaran here besides us, but they leave as night falls and we have the bay to ourselves. Now the night can come. Along with the night rain comes, but not for long.


Wednesday morning, and we finally want to go scuba diving again. We sail back around the cape and look for an anchor-spot close to the diving site we saw yesterday. Isla de Portichol. After weighing anchor and double-checking it we start preparing our equipment. Unfortunately we notice that one of the BC's has a defect and can't be used for diving. And that's the end of our dive.

While we get ready to - at least - go a little snorkelling, we get visitors. A rather large squid passes our ship very closely. It's interesting to watch how it pumps itself up to get a forward thrust, and how the tentacles move around. And then it has a kind of purple trimming. Ok, but now we really go snorkelling. We were right, it is a beautiful dive-spot. A beautiful under-water world with a stone formations and deep under-water gorges, inhabited by countless fish, big ones and small ones. And corals, purple coloured corals growing in a kind of underpass, protected from the sunlight. Beautiful!

We can't stay too long though, we still have an appointment. Michael Wegmer from SWR3 will call today to tape a short interview with us - and it would be good if we were on board. So back to the ship we go.
With the anchor weighed we continue a bit further, heading north, to Denia. We'll go to the marina there and stay for a few days.
It's 6.30 p.m. and all ropes are securely fastened. We're in the Marina de Denia.
We bring out the gangway, connect electricity and water, and then nothing much else happens today. One more thing has to be done though - the tips of the bow need to be cleaned and the dirt from the moorings needs to be removed. Really, these moorings are a nuisance. Totally overgrown with shells who scratch everything. Very frustrating!

Even apart from that this marina isn't really a winner. It seems they have a lot of building construction planned - and that since quite a while. Everything is only half finished, the sanitary facilities are provisionally located in a kind of construction trailer, so nothing we could recommend. But since we're here now we're going to stay. Especially since the Club Nautico, another marina next to us, is full. The big mountain with the Denia at its foot is impressive though. A pretty sight. In the evening we take a stroll through the town and after a nice dinner this day also comes to an end, shortly after midnight.

Thursday is cleaning day. SILER BLUE gets a big wash. The hole program. Tom's washing the outside, I the inside.
And it is quite understandable that, in the afternoon, no one does anything besides siesta in these regions. It's much too hot for anything else. But we have to skip our siesta, we're scrubbing. After we've also taken a shower we're off to town again. We need to buy and get a few things done, but we need a car for that, so we get a hired car. We get the broken part of the diving BC fixed, run a few errands and check out the surroundings. Denia is actually quite big. And there is a really beautiful, broad and terribly long white sand beach here.
Funny enough my name is written on quite a lot of places, on streets, shops, restaurants. Which isn't surprising: Around 600 BC the Greek built a temple here in honour of their goddess Artemis (the patron saint of the Phokaer). Later the Romans named the town Dianium after their goddess Diana, the equivalent of the Greek Artemis.


It's Friday and we're going shopping again. Since we do have a car we need to make best use of it and get lots of water. That's the only thing that is quite annoying about shopping away from home: carrying all those water bottles around. So we drive to a supermarket and re-stock on water. Denia is also pretty germanised. Standing in the vegetable department I hear a woman, pushing her shopping cart past me, ask her husband in a loud voice: "brauchad mir no Tomada?" Pronounce this the way it is written. It means "do we need tomatoes?" and is spoken in the Swabian dialect. I can't help my broad grin, after all, I'm a Swabian myself.


Today's Saturday, July 28 and we're leaving Denia. We go back to the dive-spot we discovered, but the swell in the bay is too strong and we can't go diving. So we go on to the Isla de Descubridor and stay there for a few hours. In the evening we weigh anchor and drive 5 miles further south where it's more secure. After all, it's Saturday night again and we don't want another repetition. We drop anchor in El Rinconet, a bay right in front of Moraira and since the anchor holds that's it for today and this week.


To see what the next week has brought us...... see us here next week, same place same wave!

so long

Greetings
Diana + Tom