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: