It's hard to get internet here - we didn't realise how much we were addicted to it until we couldn't get it (actually we did have a fair idea!!) Thanks to Cath's mum chatting to someone at a wedding who had a mooring buoy in D'Andratx, we are now here which is on the West Coast of Mallorca. We couldn't go straight away as the owner said it was not very sheltered on a Westerly wind which was what it was most of last week, but on Thursday we decided to go. We learnt a few lessons about the trip. Firstly, we thought it was a little jaunt around the corner, but it took us 6 hours and we arrived in dark. However, we were really pleased that our navigational skills were put to the test at night and we succeeded in coming into a harbour using lights to guide us and we found the mooring buoy first time (well, actually it's two buoys down, but none of them are being used and this one seems a safer one!)
Apart from the fact that there is an uncanny number of 'dead' tenders half floating in the harbour (and a ship wrecked yacht) it's pretty here and we are getting a taste of what it is like to be out at anchor rather than in the shelter of a marina. It's fine, the wind generator is whizzing around and if we are careful, we can keep the fridge going and use lights/have music etc with just wind and solar panel - cool!!
So, tomorrow we are heading to Ibiza - it should take between 11 and 14 hours and we have decided to leave at midnight tomorrow so the kids will be asleep for some of it and the winds will be best. We will probably be in Ibiza main town on the East coast, again on mooring buoy.
The kids have been excited about the nature here - Lochy set up a bird hide - we spotted a Grey heron, Small egret and cormorant. Also, we saw loads of jellyfish of which we managed to catch one and the kids enjoyed inspecting it, writing about it and drawing it. We later found out it was a Mauve stinger, so pleased that we didn't let Lochy touch it when he asked to prod it with his finger!!
I cut Mark and the kids' hair today and none of them will need a trip to the hairdressers to rectify the damage, so that's a success, although Mark was not instilled with confidence when my first comment was "oh **** I didn't realise it would be that short!!" Mia's was the easiest, straight cut across the back.
After Ibiza for a couple of days, we will head along the coast of Spain, hopping as we go, but if the winds are good, we will head asap to Gib as we really need to avoid Westerlys which would be on our nose, so if we get anything else, we will go as far as we can.
We'll probably be in Gib for a while from 28nd November, and then we are really hoping to be Madeira for Christmas and New Year as it is supposed to be lovely there.
So, that's our plan for the time being - as you know, it may well change, but we need to push on so won't be staying in Ibiza for long.