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Illes Espalmador, Nr Formentera
8.3.2000
38deg 46.83 North 1Deg 25.78 East
15.24 Hrs
18.2C
62% Humidity
Baro 1033
Wind Variable 2
A Day trip.
There is a huge high pressure over the Med centered on Italy and stationary and it is a perfect day spring day. We left at 08.30 hrs for the short trip to Espalmador to brush off the last of the weed and barnacles that have attempted to join us to Greece. We are still covered in the Micro Antifouling we put on at Culatra in June 1999. So far it's lasting. As we move it will polish and renew it's effectiveness but I hope to get it to last until April 2001.Yesterday was a major success. Juan Mavans and Toni Pins, the boss of Nautical Pins (the major and best stocked chandlers in Formantera who are also main Yamaha agents), turned up to give our two 9.9hp Yamahas a full service. They worked under the boat in not ideal conditions, due to the cramped room, replaced the gear and engine oils, replaced all the spark plugs, tested the timing chains and greased all the relevant “bits”. Juan very observantly noticed a small split in one of the fuel pipes. It was a job well done. In addition two separate long awaited parcels of post arrived from England having taken 10 days.
Today we ran the engines for an hour or so on the trip
here,
after
working
all
day
cleaning
the
hull
and
topsides.
Above
is
Photo
of
Juan
and
Toni .
Above
is
Photo
of
Tirla close ashore in Espalmador to clean off
barnacles.
We walked ashore on the deserted beach of
Espalmador. We collected a plastic crate for holding 12 X 2 litre plastic coke bottles labled in Greek letters, a piece of wood to replace a deck support for the outside table, an octopus lure, a Taiwanese anchor float and a small plastic ball which comes apart to make a puzzle. The latter is apart but we haven't solved how it goes back together yet!
In the same bay was a boat from Belgium, and during the months of July and August there will be over one hundred and twenty other craft!
The day was still, very warm and wonderfully quiet. Something I value having lived so long in cities. I also notice the quality of the clear skies here, which are almost pollution free, both from artificial light and commercial smog.
Robert and Varena are expected to arrive this Friday via Denia and a stay on their own Pahi 26 which is moored in San Antonio harbour in Ibiza.
Sabina Harbour
10.3.2000
38deg 44.10 North 1Deg 25.01 East
12.03 Hrs
18.1C
69% Humidity
Baro 1029
Wind SW 3
The forecast looks great for possible departure tomorrow morning. We put up the “Blue Peter” flag and phoned both Jan in Ibiza and Robert and Verena in San Antonio. By tonight all three will be aboard. I must get our petrol today. I need 100 litres to fill all the spare tanks. We took on extra stores yesterday, mainly long life and powdered milk. Filled all our normal water tanks (400litres) and I've been test running our on board
watermaker. All looks good for the off.
Before every longer trip there comes a time when one ponders the huge breaking seas of winter and remembers that the ship might be setting off in good weather but … well, everything sensible has been done and in the preparing one forgets that foreboding , which I'm sure all Skippers get before the long voyage.
At sea 20 nm SE of Ibiza
11.3.2000
38deg 53.60 North 1Deg 46.03 East
13.24 Hrs
18.8C
69% Humidity
Baro 1025
Wind SE 8knts True
Boat speed 6knts
Aboard are John,
Fae, Robert and Jan
We left Formentera happy to go and yet sad to leave, at 09.00hrs on the very day our 6 month mooring contract was at an end. I am off watch and Tirla is carrying her coaster, main and mizzen. The engines are raised, the sky clear blue and we have two “bird” rigs and one sinker line astern fishing. The wind was slow to start and we motored for the first three hours but now we have a calm sea and a long low swell from the north coming from the channel between Ibiza and
Menorca. A reminder of the gales in the Gulf de Lion. It's classic Champagne sailing with the boat showing how fast she is even with such little wind. The crew are littered about our large deck area enjoying it all.
Photo:
From left to right
Fae, Jan, and at the wheel, Robert and
Verena.
Fae saw our first swordfish which jumped clean out of the water three or four times. It's good to feel the boat moving to the sea and to hear the swish of the wake on the hulls. It has been a memorable stay and the team running the Marina de Formentera were first class.
We had the pleasure of a visit by a pair of “Puffinus mauretanicus” or Balearic Shearwaters. These can be seen even in British waters during some autumns. They fly very gracefully and sit down on the water just in front of the ship then “flutter off” with their feet paddling as they keep low to the water.
18.41 p.m.
Dolphins swam across the bows and also we have seen two turtles. The wind has almost gone and Tirla is running with one engine at an economical 2 liters per hour at 5 knots. The sunset is golden brown, the pressure is dropping, Baro now 1021, forecast is still for little wind but from the south. Thirty two miles ahead are the Islands of Cabrera which we cannot enter as a permit is required to be arranged before arrival. We will pass these close to port and then head 57Deg magnetic towards
Menorca. It's a shame to have to use the engines but with no wind there is only two choices, stay where we are or motor! It will be a cold night but outside it is still 17C. I can see the high hills of Mallorca away over on our port quarter. With plenty of power from the engine generator we are using the radar on deck and below. We have done 48.5 miles since this morning, only about 110nm to go! Robert is on watch, already in his oilskin jacket. The night will be cold by Med standards.
46 nm SW of Menorca
12.3.2000
39deg 22.48 North 3Deg 29.27 East
06.57 Hrs
14.2C
77% Humidity
Baro 1020
NE 2
Due to lack of wind we have been under main, mizzen and starboard engine since 20.00 hrs last night. It's already light and the blood red clouds on the eastern horizon are reaching down to drag the sun into a new day! We are getting about 0.3 knts from the sails and 5 knts from the engine. The new weather forecast will arrive on Navtex soon. Last night as I peered into the deep water as it passed between the hulls, a thousand strange living things swam here and there lit by phosphorescence. Further down larger animals lurked as the very occasional brighter flash showed up in the depths. The stars were so clear.
Even as I write the day brings more light and the first splashes of the warming suns rays.
We have done 111 nm since yesterday at 09.00hrs.
Perhaps the smudge of cloud ahead is the hills of our destination,
Menorca.
23 nm SW of
Menorca, Point Mabres
10.45 am
A pod of “ Pseudorca crassidens “ or false Killer Whales about half a kilometer away. They are about 6 meters long. The sea is so calm we can see everything that comes to the surface for miles around. Many turtles, jellyfish, dolphins and tuna etc. If the dolphins come close we take the troll lines in.
We are still under one engine at 5
knts, no wind. Mallorca and Menorca both in view.
15.14 pm
One and a half miles off the Menorcan coast heading to pass inside Isla Del Aire and then five miles up the coast and into Mahon. The apparent wind is now NE 17 knts and we have both engines down doing some 6 kts into a slightly choppy sea. We have had the Palma to Mahon ferry pass us and one large tanker. Apart from that there are no shipping or boats. About an hour ago we were favoured with a view of a large swordfish jumping and falling back into the sea. The coast line is partly high cliffs interspersed with beaches. Many new houses dot the land and cranes for new buildings are much in evidence.
Menorca has the greatest concentration of prehistoric remains in the entire Mediterranean. Even the Romans occupied it in 123BC to AD 427.The Moors were here for 500 years. The British had it for 40 years due to the importance of Mahon as a port for the navy, but the French, Spanish, Vandals, Byzantines and Visigoths had also been here well before that!
16.57 pm picked up visitors mooring after 163 miles from Sabina.
Mohan, Menorca
13.3.2000
39deg 53.61 North 4Deg 16.39 East
16.33 Hrs
15.6C
71% Humidity
Baro 1022
Wind E 2
At 08.00hrs the nearby Spanish Navy base hoisted the flag with full honours and the sound of the National Anthem rang across the water towards us.
We are all impressed with Mahon. Robert and Verena have been here before in 1999 with their Pahi 26.The architecture is dripping with history and “ I give you joy of it” we have seen the Pigtail Steps, the Governors house and the “square with the noble trees”. (all this refers to “Master and Commander” by Patrick
O'Brian.) It's so strange to be actually here where his fictional characters walked around in the 19th century.
Ashore I cleared the ship with the port authorities and paid for our mooring, because its calculated on length times beam we are relatively expensive but not all harbours calculate it that way. Some charge catamarans twice the normal rate others twenty five percent. It is 1,860 Pts per 24 hours for us (about £6.50). On the buoys it's cheaper than the pontoons as we have no electricity from the mains or water from the shore. We can go and pick water up at a special quay and pay about 100 pts per 50 liters. The quality of the water here is said to be good.
“Ships business” was done after breakfast, usually an hour a day when we clean and do everything needed to keep the boat “bristol fashion”. At midday we all went ashore for lunch, as a treat from Jan, and enjoyed excellent food in a local restaurant. This island has many specialties including a gin distillery actually down by the quay side. This started up when the British Mediterranean fleet filled the harbour with it's square riggers and hundreds of seamen. Nelson came here as did a certain Lady Hamilton!
We are expecting to stay until at least next Sunday. Jan will return to his house in Ibiza by ferry. Tirla will then prepare for the 1,000 mile trip to Greece.
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