So far on this journey we’ve spent the majority of our time bouncing around islands in various countries, but also a fair amount of time on the mainland. Going back and forth has forced us to pay attention to the differences between the two types of lifestyles. Whereas the islands have been more fun to visit initially, whenever we spend more than a couple of days on the same island, we begin to lose interest and get bored. The reason is because the islands aren’t “real” places – they exist only for the tourism, and there’s a noticeable superficiality in all that. Because tourists have only a short attention span and require only a few days worth of entertainment, the islands tend to deliver that and not much else. The other problem with the islands is that they effectively close when the tourists stop coming for the season, so you have to time your visit right – it’s just not as fun when the restaurants and bars are boarded up and the beaches are lifeless. As beautiful as they still are, a visit to the Balearic Islands at this time of year is a bit like going to Disneyland after the park has closed for the day.

The mainland cities are different – these are “real” cities that don’t exist solely to extract money from travelers. These cities may not be as attractive on the first day – they may seem ugly and commercial, but often when we leave these places, we feel like we didn’t have enough time. There are more things to do, more places to see, the true culture is evident, you mingle with real local people who aren’t just there to sell you something, and you can imagine actually living in some of these places year-round, rather than just visiting.

In our short time on Ibiza, we did manage to see the whole island, and we definitely hope to return here sometime. But we leave it now bruised and battered thanks to a motorscooter crash on a wet road. And the beach party we went looking for on Saturday night (supposedly the last one of the summer) was cancelled because of the rain. Although we’re not expecting any sympathy cards for all this, we can say, as we sail away from our last Mediterranean island this year, that our motion towards the mainland feels very right. We’ve seen enough of the islands for now and are looking forward to a few solid weeks exploring a more “real” part of Europe.

The Balearic Islands are best known for being summer spots where manyvEuros come to party and get sunburned (for some unknown reason most people from norhern Europe are either pasty white or totally sunburned… somehow never experiencing the step of being tanned). Like many of the Med locations, the busy season here has an unofficial but clearly defined beginning and end – August 1 through September 30. We’re here in mid-October, so the nightclubs and beach bars are mostly closed, the restaurants are empty, and the mooring bouys are being pulled out of the water for the winter.

Being here post-season is perfect for us right now because our own personal mood is also shifting away from summer mode and into the two months ahead. We are getting dangerously close to the Atlantic Ocean, a three week crossing that requires serious planning and preparation. When we get to the Caribbean in mid December, though, we will have sailed far enough south to be back in summer and our mood will switch back accordingly. We expect this may become a real annoyance for our northern hemisphere friends.

Yesterday we met Rupert Maddox, a friend of a friend who will be joining Tamarisk for the Atlantic crossing. Rupe is very experiencedvon sailboats and will be the only person aboard who has ever crossed an ocean – his last Atlantic crossing was done on a 36 footer. We’re lucky to have a guy like Rupe, and can’t wait to hear his adventuring stories (which include exploring by kayak for 30 days at a time in the most remote islands in French Polynesia).

We’ve been moving quickly for the past few days since leaving Barcelona which included two nighttime passages. We only had one day to explore Mallorca, which we did by local bus, before coming south to Formentera, where we now sit in a very quiet bay. As we sailed passed the northern tip of Ibiza yesterday morning, we had a sunrise so perfect it was nearly a religious experience. Tomorrow we’ll sail back up to Ibiza just 10 miles to our north. We’ll have some minor repairs done on the boat there and explore the island somehow. We’ll also follow up on a lead we got from Rupe for a beach party on Saturday night… apparently some people are refusing to let this summer die, and we definitely need to see that happening.

Piers has put together a new highlights video for our time in Italy, hope you enjoy: