Cruising again! When we left the marina in Barcelona in light wind and fog, cruising seemed like a distant memory, but we quickly fell back into the lifestyle with great joy. Sailing the boat, cooking underway, fishing, night watches, picking out our next stop in the cruising guides, anchoring, diving the anchor, swimming to the beach, eating lunch at a beachfront restaurant and sleeping while swinging at anchor - this is what we were missing during our long layover in Barcelona. Still, we are all thankful for the time spent there. I think, among other things, it will help us to enjoy our long-term cruising even more.

We set a course for Cala Vadella about 175 miles to the south on the west coast of Ibiza. It is a quiet little cove with very little going on, just what we were looking for after shaking out the sailing cobwebs.

A group of our friends came to see us off while we were making our last-minute preparations. It was sad saying goodbye to so many wonderful people. We quickly forgot our sorrow, however, as we set about sailing the boat after almost six months at the dock. I hate to admit that we had to think twice about each task. Luckily, the conditions were mellow and we eased back into it with no difficulties. About three hours into our passage a huge school of dolphin came leaping over to visit us. I have never seen so many dolphins swimming in our bow wake at one time. They hung with us for a long time, as if to let us know that they missed us in our absence.

Naturally, we had the fishing rod deployed and were rewarded with a nice little tuna right around sunset. Perfect!

Actually, we could have done with a little more wind, but we managed to sail for about a third of the passage. We motored through the night and arrived at our destination under sail at about 12:30pm on Sunday. A beautiful cove, empty of cruising boats with a nice sand bottom at 15 feet. Within the hour, the kids had taken the kayak to the beach, Joe had dove into the cold water to make sure the anchor was well set, and I was soaking up the sun. How sweet it is!

Cala Vadella is a beautiful little spot, quiet and isolated, with not a whole lot to offer onshore. We did find a pretty decent pizza restaurant, and a small grocery store for bread and a few basics. We enjoyed being the only cruising boat in the harbor amongst all the local fishing boats. During high season, the place gets pretty packed, as do most places in the Balearics. We are happy to have the chance to explore these islands in the off season. Many people we have met tell us that they are the best cruising grounds in the Med. I have a feeling we will be hearing that about a lot of places, though!

Unfortunately, after our first night at anchor right off the beach, some locals came over to ask us to move. They were setting up the swimming area off of the beach and we were smack dab in the middle of it. They were laying down a bunch of mooring balls in addition to stringing up the line of buoys to cordon off the area closest to the beach, so we asked if we could just use one of the moorings. Most of the calas in the area are pretty deep with a weed bottom until right up close to shore. We hoped to save a little hassle trying to secure our anchor by grabbing a mooring. After a short hesitation, they decided to permit it, and even told us which mooring to grab, making sure it was well anchored.

On Wednesday, it was time to move on. Ibiza is famous for its wild nightlife, bars and discotheques, of which we had seen zero. We decided to check out Puerto de Ibiza, the main city on the island. It was a short four hour trip and we took off around 1pm. The coast was beautiful, although the trip was a motor, and when we pulled into the harbor, we saw a big sign stenciled on the seawall: "No Anchoring!" That must be a new rule because we had friends tell us that it was a good anchorage. Although we wanted to explore the city, we definitely weren't ready to tie up to another dock quite yet. Besides, the disco action doesn't even get started until well past our bed time, so we agreed to forgo the big night out. We investigated a little cove just down the coast, but it was shallow and not particularly attractive. We had three more hours until sunset so we decided to head back through the cut between Ibiza and Formentera and find ourselves a mooring at the beach on Espalmador. Our guide books rave about it, and the kids wanted more beach anyway.

Espalmador, Formentera.

We were not disappointed. It really was a little Bahamas-like, as everyone claims, even with pink sand. The only difference was the relative lack of sea life. The rocky reefs and white sand beaches, the low island covered in shrubbery and the beautiful blue waters were there, but the rays and huge variety of fish, the sharks and the coral were nowhere to be seen.

Nonetheless, we enjoyed a beautiful sunny day on the beach, exploring the island and flying the kite in the nice steady breeze. Both the girls are getting pretty good at it! There were only a couple of other boats there, so we had a huge section of the beach to ourselves.

Pink sands of Espalmador.

On the rocky east shore of the island, we found the body of a whale that had apparently been washed up onto the shore. Our marine reference book named it a Long Finned Pilot Whale. It had a line tied around its tale and lots of wounds in its body. We couldn't quite figure out what had happened but we spent a lot of time speculating. We decided it would be a great idea to dig out a couple of teeth from the mouth, and volunteered Joe for the grisly job.

Long Finned Pilot Whale.

Although our fantastic new wi-fi antenna was picking up the signal from the Marina in Formentera two miles away, their sign-up system for obtaining a user name and password wasn't working, so we decided to head into town to see if we could get online and to have a meal off the boat for a change. We motored over and found a perfect patch of sand for the anchor. There was a nice local place for breakfast, willing to make us omelets to order. There was also a little grocery store in town which was surprisingly well stocked. These islands get very busy during high season and you can see that they are well equipped to make the most out of the opportunity to relieve the many tourists of some of their euros.

After getting the username and password, we tooled back to our spot on Espalmador, ready to enjoy the rest of the sunny day. Checking the weather, we realized that we were in for a few days of clouds and rain. Although the conditions didn't look great for heading to Palma, Mallorca, we decided to go for it. Light headwinds and squalls weren't anything we couldn't handle! The rain stayed away until about 5am, and the wind even cooperated enough for us to sail about half the time. All in all, it wasn't a bad passage. We were meeting up with a friend from Barcelona for dinner on Saturday night and we were happy to make that appointment.

We spent Sunday taking the 100-year-old electric train from Palma to the mountain town of Soller. It was a beautiful trip and the perfect excursion for a rainy Sunday.

Zia's crew onboard the train for Soller, Mallorca.

A little shopping at the local CarreFour supermarket, an extremely spicy Indian meal for dinner, and we were ready to move on! Our next destination was to the Isla de Cabrera National Park. Our free permit allowed us to stay for four nights on a mooring buoy; there is no anchoring allowed.

Moonrise in Isla Cabrera.

When we stuck our noses out from behind the protective seawall in Palma, we found ourselves facing 8-foot seas that were hitting us right on the beam. The winds hovered near 25 knots, but the sea state made the trip a bit uncomfortable. We followed a gorgeous 120-foot sloop for a while and even thought we were hitting speeds in the low teens, we couldn't catch him. Both girls were a little green, and our youngest crew member, Hobie (the cat), also seems to be somewhat susceptible to seasickness. He had a little episode as we left Espalmador for Palma, which we were just blaming on some food that had gone bad or something, when Hobie started the same sort of strident meowing that proceeded his heaving the first time. Luckily, his poor little tummy hardly holds any food and he fully recovers after just one occurrence. It only happens when the seas are rough. I'm betting that he outgrows it completely.

The trip was blissfully quick as Zia took the waves in stride, surging ahead in the strong breeze on the beam. We were rewarded with a little sunshine as we took up one of the fifty mooring balls that are so ardently administered by the Spanish National Park Service. They never actually asked to see our paperwork, although we dutifully took it ashore with us the following day as we dinghied in to the only designated disembarkation area in front of the administration buildings. Visitors are allowed to follow the road up to the castle unsupervised, and can also get a permit to hike out to the lighthouse on the opposite side of the island on their own. Unfortunately, the office was closed by the time we got back from the castle, so our plans for the longer excursion were dashed. By the time the office reopened at 4pm, Joe was up to his elbows in the engine room, replacing a defective water pump on our generator. By the time he finished up with that, we were talking about moving on already. The limited activities that were permitted onshore, the lack of beach, and the cold and cloudy weather had all conspired to dampen our enthusiasm for Isla de Cabrera. In the end, our sojourn there was a little shorter lived than we anticipated. It was a lovely place, full of rugged natural beauty and unspoiled landscapes.


Besides, the breeze was perfect for an overnight sail to Mahon, Menorca. We put in a reef to slow down in order to be sure we arrived in Mahon after sunrise. The 12-hour trip was an easy passage for us. The kids are so much happier when we spend the nights traveling rather than wasting a whole day underway. Joe and I are content to accommodate. Night watch can be boring and cold and exhausting, but that is nothing compared to having a couple of cranky kids. Actually, I love night watch. It's a great time to think, out there alone with the moon, if you are lucky, and the sound of the waves and the boat riding through the water. Under sail it is a whole lot more fun, but even motoring can be amazingly peaceful. Plus, to keep you on your toes, there is always the exciting diversion of the occasional huge freighter bearing down on your position. Deciphering the lights to figure out which way this huge menace is heading, calculating its course vis-à-vis your own, and second guessing your answers until the danger has clearly passed, can really wake up the sleepy watch stander.

Collisions with freighters handily avoided, we pulled into Mahon at sunup. We spent a while trying to figure out where to anchor (it's a very deep harbor) and finally decided to try one of the yellow moorings that are laid for visiting yachts. By the time we were hooked up, we had already scoped out the available wi-fi signals and determined that we were going to have to pay for our connectivity. No sweat. Mahon looked like a really nice city, so we figured we would stay for a few days at least. It was either one day for 10 Euros or one week for 20, so we opted for the 20 Euro plan. You can never have enough connectivity.

Our first chore was to check the weather. The weather grib files that we used reliably throughout the Caribbean and the Atlantic, and are still using here in the Med (although with a larger degree of skepticism - based on reported unreliability) had been showing a nasty weather pattern starting next week, the dreaded Mistral. With guests arriving in Alghero, Sardegna on May 12th, we needed to make sure we left ourselves enough time to get there without running into the heavy winds and seas that were forecasted. Although the file only offers predictions up to a week out, the picture was not pretty. Thirty to forty knots of wind between Menorca and Sardegna, blasting down towards us from the Gulf of Leon threatened to keep us away from our rendezvous.


It is a 180-mile trip, which we should allow about 24 hours to complete. Our weather predictions went as far as May 10th, still showing 30 knots out of the northwest, with higher wind speeds further north. With the winds beginning on the morning of the 5th and lasting through the 10th, blowing up big waves the whole time, chances are the conditions would still be ugly on the 11th, the very last day we could leave Menorca and be assured of making our deadline.

Although we had already paid our 20 Euros for a week's worth of Internet, we had not yet paid for our mooring. Within an hour we had headed back out to sea, hoping to continue to ride the perfect breeze for another 24 hours onto Sardegna. It's a shame that we missed Mahon, and the rest of Menorca for that matter. I hear there are some really great little spots and that of all the Balearic Islands, it is the least touristy.

On the other hand, we are excited to be heading to Italy finally. It is hard to believe we have been in the Med for half a year and haven't been to Italy yet. Joe can't stop thinking about the pastas and the pizzas. We have had some negative reports from other cruising friends about their experiences in Italy, which really surprised us. I think my Italian, such as it is, will be a big help. Most of the negative comments we've heard came from experiences in the big cities. I can understand that. Although we always value other cruisers' comments and feedback on the places they visit, we have learned to take it all with a grain of salt. Everyone's perceptions are based on a huge variety of factors that might, or might not, have anything to do with one's own experience. I can't tell you how many times we have been someplace, on someone's recommendation, and been disappointed, or loved a spot that we were warned against. I guess the lesson is: Go to Isla de Cabrera and let us know what YOU think about it.