Homeward Bound

Unfortunately, rather than a chronicling of interesting happenings and events this blog seems to have turned into more of a “log” of our passages lately. Well, that can’t really be helped since that is what we have been doing. Once we left Corfu, Greece we decided that we could no longer afford the luxury of being tourists along the way to the Canaries, time had grown too short with all of the delays for repairs, the Greeks taking August as a vacation month, side trips to Albania to renew our Visa’s, and all other manner of glitches and gremlins that often invade the best laid plans. So, yes we have been making passages of several days at sea at a time, eating up miles in gulps and then taking a day or two to re-provision, and recharge our personal batteries, not very interesting stuff to write about and probably even less so to read about but there it is.
To catch you up, we left Mahon, Menorca in the Balearics late on the afternoon of the 28th of September after the repairs to the water pump and refrigerator were completed. Arriving at the Santa Eulalia Marina on Ibiza, Spain on the 29th about 7:15 PM we checked in and got the shock of the Marina fee, $198 US for two nights berthing, WOW! That is the highest we have ever paid and the Marina offered nothing more than any other Marina. We were beat and there was no where else to go but out into the bay and anchor and we needed water so that wasn't an option. The town was nice enough although pretty much catering to tourists.
Our passage making has become routine. We work together (I sail, Cris reads) during the day and then after dinner we split watches starting from my first one from nine to twelve PM, Cris does midnight to three AM, and I do three to six, though I usually let Cris sleep until seven or eight before she comes on again and I crash. This seems to be a workable schedule for us and after a few days a rhythm develops quite nicely (although tempers tend to develop a short fuze when you feel sleep deprived).
I left my driver license at the Vodaphone shop in Mahon I think, we emailed and are waiting a reply about it from them.
From Santa Eulalia on Ibiza we sailed out on 1 October about 11:45 AM and began the passage to the Spanish coast finally stopping on the morning of the 3d, today, at Almerimar Marina. What a treat! This Marina is part of a development similar to Tala Bay in Aqaba where we used to keep the boat. There are flats, hotels, shops, and a huge marina where lots of people live aboard and winter over, and with the prices it is remarkable how high quality the facilities are. For us with our 11.35 meter boat for two days and nights including tax, electricity, water, internet service, and berth it was 28 euros, super super super. We were too tired to go exploring today but tomorrow we will see all that the place has to offer in shops, chandlers, even 3 launderettes!
Our next passage will be to just north of the Gibraltar Airport at a new marina called La Linea. This will actually be in Spain since the border is all but the Northern boundary of the Airport, so technically I suppose we won’t be in Gibraltar but rather still in Spain. I expect it will be a two day passage as it appears to be about 160 nautical miles.
My staff photographer (Cris) has been remiss in her responsibilities of late. Though in her defense, she does turn to me often and says; “Darn! I forgot to bring the camera and this would have been a great shot”. So, today’s picture is scenery, looking out the back of the boat as we traveled out of the estuary at Mahon Menorca. Not much of a shot but hey, at least on the boat she knows where the camera is right?