Isla de Esplamador - more sand than you can shake a stick at

We left Moraira at 0830 and set a heading for Ibiza. Stuart, Tim's Grandfather, waved us off from the flat they were staying in overlooking the marina. The crossing was not our most pleasant trip, it was rough and lumpy the whole way, and rather lonely, with no other yachts in sight. Some relief from the monotony came just over half way across when we passed astern of a cruise liner and were very surprised to receive a VHF call from their bridge. The officer was very charming and friendly, and wanted to know where we were from, where we were going and what our nationality was. They were Portuguese, but Panama registered, with a full complement of French holidaymakers aboard bound for Lisbon and then Brazil. We assumed that in an otherwise empty sea we provided a little entertainment for the onlookers!

After eleven and a half hours we entered the stunningly pretty bay of Puerto de Espalmador. A bit of a misnomer as there is no port just a well-protected anchorage. This lies on the southwest side of Isla de Esplamador, a small piece of land between Ibiza and Formentera. One side of the anchorage is a crescent shaped ribbon of sand stretching for a mile, the other side is sheltered by some small rocky islands. There were only a handful of other yachts and we found a sheltered spot to drop the hook into five metres of clear water and watched it dig into the rippled sandy bottom.

After an unpleasant crossing we enjoyed three days of lazing around on the boat, watching other visiting yachts arrive and depart and walking on the beach. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm :-) Compared to many of the visitors, who would be swimming within minutes of dropping the anchor, we were real wimps, barely getting our toes wet in the beautiful blue water. It just did not seem warm enough!