Eliza from Hamble

We were up early and left at 6.30am for the 12 hour crossing back to the mainland. There was hardly any wind so we had to motor it nearly all the way. It was a comfortable journey - which meant we could all nap and read. For once there was nothing eventful to report.

We had an evening meal out in San Vincente and a calm and comfortable night on board. The town is small with one hotel and a few resturants and shops.

We had coffee in the morning and bought some bread, had a lovely swim and spent the afternoon having a lovely sail to the south of the island. Compared to the day before it was really lovely.

When we got to Port Roig it was really busy and we had to anchor in an exposed part and tie to a rock again. I didnt feel safe there but there wasnt anywhere else to go. We had some rolling in the night which was no different to some of the other nights on this trip.

In the morning we found a sheltered spot to anchor in and spent the day relaxing on board - including swimming and fishing. David caught his first ever fish !

We had a short trip out on the rib to a nearby beach which catered for the rich -charging nearly 5 euros each for a small beer !

Overnight at Santas Ponsa we heard a noise of a bow thruster - initally we thought it was another boat. However after a minute Maurice said it was us. By the time he was up so were David and Angela as the bow thruster was under their bed and it was not quiet. He quickly disconnected the power to it and we all tried to go back to sleep.

In the morning, we planned to go ashore for coffee prior to heading the 50 miles back to Ibiza. When getting ready to go in the rib, the large power boat close to us got very near. He had drifted on his anchor as there had been strong winds overnight. We didnt want to leave Eliza in this situation so decided to go straight away.

Due to the strong winds we had an uncomfortable crossing for 3/4 of the journey to Ibiza and poor Angela was ill, partly over poor David. We did manage to sail though although the wind was not in an ideal direction which meant we had to keep adjusting our course. Instead of an 8 hour journey it ended up taking us 10 hours.

We had planned to go to Portinax, but due to the direction of the wind and swell decided to try San Vicentre instead. This turned out to be a sound decision as we all had a comfortable nights sleep.

Today was pirate day !

We all went out for breakfast and the men dressed up !

We had to say bye to Tracey and Stewart too ,as they were flying back that night after 2 weeks on board with us.

We had a good sail back to Santa Ponsa.

We then decided to go out for a menu. The good news was that Maurice now had the new part for the rib so we didnt have to row any more. The menu was good value food, the weather was too hot to really enjoy a large 3 course lunch though. On returning to the boat we all found a corner for a siesta and later a swim.

We had a final coffee ashore and set off the 12 miles along the coast to Portals Nous to wait for our new crew to arrive. We took it slow and sailed most of the way arriving early evening. After a quick look around to confirm where we were meeting David and Angela we anchored outside the marina and had dinner.

Around 10pm, they sent us a text to say they were on their way. We lifted the anchor and circled close to the fuel pontoon until they were in sight. We then quickly came alongside for them to jump on board with their luggage and we went back to anchor for the night.

We had a slight rolling over night which was no worse than other nights and once we were all up we headed back to Santa Ponsa.