Sunriser

The Pitiusas are a group of islands in the Balearics consisting of Ibiza, Formentera and numerous uninhabited smaller islands. Formentera, south of Ibiza, is a small, elongated and flat island, a popular day trip destination from Ibiza only 30 minutes away on one of the numerous ferries which leave from the town of Ibiza. We sail on Sunriser to the west coast and anchor at the small island of S’Espalmador, S’Alga beach. At the sight of the pink sand and turquoise waters one would think we have arrived to the Caribbean. 

The following days we will remember as one of the most enjoyable of our trip until now. The beauty of the islands, the excellent weather and the company of good friends make our time at the Pitiusas unforgettable. We sail around with Dreamreacher and Silver Lining sharing sunset drinks, BBQs, excursions and many dinghy adventures. 

As the winds start to calm down we can finally anchor in secluded coves for the night instead of going to marinas. However, this is easier said than done… enter the Posidonia. This is a protected sea grass crucial for the local sea life and further helping to reduce microplastic pollution as it traps plastic particles and cleans the water. When anchoring it must be avoided dropping the anchor on the Posidonia fields, not always easy as it is overall abundant. Dead Posidonia collects itself in the beaches forming enormous hills of dried grass and forms balls in the rolling waves looking like coconuts called Neptune’s balls. Quite an odd sight. We had a small incident when landing on the beach, some breaking waves of posedonia from a passing ferry dropped quite an amount of these plants in our dinghy. After turning the dinghhy upside down, let it dry, vacuum the dinghy, washed the dinghy…there is still posidonia in the dinghy.

After some relaxing days around Formentera we move back to Ibiza to explore the West and North coast. After Cala Vedella our first encounter with the Ibiza Beach Club phenomenon is at Cala Bassa. An oyster display restaurant annex trendy bar, populated by the tiniest bikinis. The surroundings are beautiful though, specially the cliffs where we make a walk on a moonlike landscape.

Apart from enjoying ourselves the boat also needs some love and care. This time the zink anodes of the driveshaft needed replacement. Anodes are there to protect the other metals from rusting. Fortunately Dreamreacher had a ‘divebuddy’ (battery powers compressor) which made the job a lot easier.

The result in de video below.

Time for some town life and much needed provisioning! We visit the towns of Sant Antoni de Portmany and Ibiza (by bus from Sant Antoni) during some days with a bit unstable winds.

However, as soon as possible we proceed along the coast visiting empty coves and beaches said to be completely packed in the summer. What a luxury to be able to enjoy these islands out of the high season! One of the most beautiful places is Portinatx which we have one night all for ourselves. From there we will cross to Mallorca following our friends of Dreamreacher. We also had to bid farewell to Silver Lining headed back to her home port, hoping to see them soon again for more dinghy adventures.