Honeymooners Part 5

After 48 hours hooked up to the marina's shore power and one sleep in a real bed, both us and our boat were feeling recharged.  We hatched a plan over breakfast at Jean Luc's to join them and Gerard on a day trip to Formentera.  We hopped in our rental car and headed back to Santa Eulalia where we dropped off the car and checked out of the marina.  By 2pm we had motored the short distance to Talamanca bay where we dropped anchor and found the others + Gerard and his speedboat just inside Marina Botafoch .

After a bit of snorkeling and sampling some fruits de mer we followed up with lobster pasta at Es Moli De Sal before motoring back to Ibiza.  It's quite amazing crossing the channel in 30mins after struggling to do the same in 6 hours on bumblebee!

After a rocky night in Talamanca Bay set set sail for the little private island of Tagomago for a swim.  Anchoring was bit tricky and there were jellyfish so soon we were off again and rounded the northern tip of Ibiza, dropping anchor at Es Canaret to chill out and swim without any jellyfish.  We managed to spot an octopus which seemed happy to let us follow him and put on quite an interesting display.

That evening we anchored in Cala Benirras -a place we remember fondly from a previous visit when we climbed the large rock in the entrance to the bay.  We were too knackered to go ashore that evening so Julia cooked up something delicious and we endeavoured to rise aerly the next day and hike to the next door cala.

On our walk the next morning to Port de San Miguel we came across some caves open to tourists so we waited for them to open and had a look around.  Cova de Can Marca were once used by smugglers but now the caves are fitted with walkways, lights and even a fake waterfall.  The humidity is kept artificially high in an attempt to preserve the cave from turning to dust.

The 6th of September was to be our last day on Ibiza.  Julia had to get back to tie up some loose ends with her old job and begin meeting the team at her new job.  I needed to get back to my studio and complete some well overdue competition entries.  The weather was also due to turn soon and if we wanted favourable winds to the mainland Saturday was the day.  We had been sailing for two and a half weeks without a care in the world and real life was calling.

The north of the island is breathtakingly beautiful and wild.  Were headed for Cala Comte to complete our circumnavigation and set us up for a convenient departure in the morning.  Jean Luc and Agata had been so kind to us over the last couple of weeks so we had to meet up one last time to thank them and say a proper goodbye.  We had some drinks at Sunset Ashram and watched a magnificent sunset over Bumblebee.  Then they took us for one last gastronomic blowout to one of their favourite restaurants.  By now we had spent a small fortune on fine food and excellent drinks -usually we are quite restrained but this was after all our honeymoon (or was it?) and no time for accounting expenses!

As soon as we woke up the next morning we checked the weather and set off on our 9 hour crossing back to Denia.  The forecast showed following winds of about 10 - 15 knots but nothing suggested what we about to come across.  About 5 hours in, the skies began to darken, soon we could barely see 100m in front of us.  Then all hell broke loose; the sky went black the wind picked up and the rain hammered down.  To our port side we saw three waterspouts tearing towards us!  We tried to outrun them and abandoned our course, instead heading towards the light and a large cargo ship.  The twisters came within a couple of hundred metres and the warm blasts of air almost knocked us down.  After the worst was over, the sea was in an unsettled state and we were thrown all over the place.  Thunder and lightning had been present the whole time but was now sounding closer.  There was a huge 'crack' and a bright flash of light as the mast received a direct strike.  Julia was down below staring up when it hit, luckily it had no adverse effect on our instruments and Bumblebee took it all in her stride.  The storm lasted about an hour and was followed by a flat, calm, sunny evening as we arrived at Denia.

The following day was spent cleaning and tidying Bumblebee.  We treated her to some heavy duty stainless steel mooring springs after the last one perished from being woefully lightweight.  Confident that she was safely secured until our next adventure we headed to the rooftop bar for a final Aperol Spritz and a swim before heading back to London and real (married!) life.