Ibiza to Spain - feeling like royalty

Title Photo: Batería de Castillitos in Murcia, Spain

From Mallorca, we headed to Playa de Cala Boix, Ibiza.

There was no internet reception. This typically means, that we have the bay overnight to ourselves.

A beautiful visitor.!

There is always so much to see.

Some girls were partying on the boat next to us, whilst the lady in the back was "feeding the fish"... not sure if the problem was seasickness or just too much partying.

Our next anchorage was a beautiful bay called Punta Grossa - (our boat can be seen on picture, although very small)

Sven exploring the caves with our Paddle board. Loved the rock formation.

Not a bad view for a morning coffee.

We paddled towards the rocks for some exploring. The rock edges were incredibly sharp and the waves pushed us towards them. We had to get off the board really quickly. We checked out an abandoned ex luxury hotel in which pretty much everything has been removed, including all the copper cables from various places. It looked really sad.

We continued to Cala Xarraca which has some interesting rocks and caves where visitors can find some welcomed shelter from the heat.

Ibiza is well known for its crazy parties and night life. That said, it has changed since Covid (we were here 2 years ago). Ibiza (including Mallorca and Menorca) have cleaned up their image and regulated the drinking and partying.

Sant Antonio is famous for its clubbing scene, with many party powerhouses. We could not believe how many visitors (mainly young people) were dressed up to the max. We felt grubby and a little old compared to these partygoers but enjoyed the vibe nonetheless.

Below picture was taken early afternoon. It is one of the many clubs next to the beach. It costs Euro 30.- to get in (this does not include a drink!).

We could hear the music from the many events and bars but were surprised how early it all went silent (no doubt due to the new rules).

An early morning trip into Ibiza town to avoid traffic and the heat. We visited the Ibiza Castle and the old town (the new town is not so nice), than drove the scooter back to St Antonio.

There are very strict rules for Sailors in regards to Posidonia / Neptune grass (anchor and chain are not allowed to touch the grass). A friendly Posidonia official checking our chain.

These underwater meadows are an important part of the ecosystem.

Crossed from Ibiza to Mainland Spain (Calpe). Perfect wind, which meant we were able to sail all the way (11 hours).

Sven's shift!

Once in mainland Spain, we headed South along the Spanish Coast towards Gibraltar, anchoring in various bays along the way.

We stayed in Calpe for a few days. The Rock "Peñón de Ifach", is a symbol of the Costa Blanca, it is a 50,000 m2 limestone rock that rises 332 m above the sea. You need to book a hike, as only 300 people are allowed up per day.

It is 32 degrees in the shade at the moment and very humid. We started the hike before sun rise to beat the crowds and ticket man (since we were unable to purchase online tickets). We were the first ones up the mountain, with locals behind us (also without tickets).

Our boat is one of the five sailing boats in the bay. We left our anchor light on as we left the boat so early.

Beach on both sides and the salt lake at the back. Being here reminded us a bit of the Gold Coast in Australia (due to high rise buildings).

The hike is quite easy up to the tunnel. Entry and exit of the Tunnel shown below

After the tunnel, the path becomes smaller and towards the end gets more difficult. Sven in the orange shirt is ahead of me. It got quite slippery further up. I (Caroline) turned around and let Sven do the steep climb up the rocks. I finally lost my first foot nail ... (hiker toes) and was happy not to push it (good excuse?).

We walked passed the salt lake on our way to the German bakery. All other breakfast places we passed were still closed at 9 am!

Bring your own umbrella vs pay for one ...

From one of our anchorages... the sun disappearing behind the mountains. We love the fact that our view is never the same (different places and rotating boat)

We stayed 3 days at the Marina in Torrevieja on the Costa Blanca.

In the evening, the families walk along the coastline promenade, sit on benches, chat or cool down in the sea. It's a nice atmosphere.

There is more late nightlife here than in Ibiza. In fact the "boom, boom" songs and flashing lights only stopped at 4 am!! There are many competing bars and it takes some getting used to (or good earplugs) when trying to get some sleep ....

The Marina in Torreviaja is very lively and attracts lots of people. Whilst we quite understand people renting donut boats (a floating donut with a BBQ in the middle), we wondered who would rent these car boats.

There is every kind of food and too many restaurants to choose from... decisions, decisions.

The lake in Torrevieja is pink in colour due to a variety of microorganisms. The colour of the water changes, becoming intensely pink in the European summer (August and September) when the microbes increase. Since it is very hot, I was lucky to see them pink in July (of course nothing close to the colour enhanced photos on the internet....).

Sven is not into pink and stayed at home.

"Our" marina can be seen on the aerial picture. The salt lakes are 1 hour by foot / 15 minutes by city tram)

After 2 nights we couldn't stand the Marina noise and partying any longer and went to anchor in the bay and watched the fireworks.

Love the reflection of fireworks on our boat hull.

Free fried Eggs anyone?

I took these pictures with our iphone from the boat. So pleased how they turned out. There are so many of these large jellyfish and could not believe that people were swimming in the midst of them. A local scooped one out to show us, that they are not hurting anyone..... But when I googled this type of Jellyfish it stated:

Scientifically named Cotylorhiza tuberculata, the anatomy of this type of jellyfish resembles a fried egg. And although bathers won't enjoy spotting one of them, it should be noted that their sting has little or no effect on humans. Effects mainly consist of a mild burning sensation and irritation of the skin

Faro de Portman, was another lovely bay we had just for us (no phone reception..) There were a few restaurants on the other side of the rocks.

Cala Cerrada, there is a small entrance into this enclosed bay. We stayed here 2 years ago and were all alone. This time we were 2 boats overnight. There is space for 3 boats (3 buoys),

We rarely watch movies in summer, since it gets dark so late. However, with the current heat wave, we did end up watching some outside.

We passed 19 tankers on the way to our next bay. They were waiting in a queue for hours (some for days) to unload grains and oil.

Poza de la Avispa, Wow the colours of the Rocks are amazing! Purple and yellow rocks next to each other.

The beach and mountains were covered with beautiful colourful rocks.

We hiked to the other side of the mountain which took us 2 hours. It felt like walking into no man's land. We were surprised that a restaurant (which we did call in advance), could actually exist out here. It was a beautiful place with a great ambiance and food. After spending 2 hours there for lunch, we walked again 2 hours back. Tuff way to fill our days!

Back on the boat: Eating peanuts on the bow and entertaining ourselves. Sven is such a bad influence on me !

Batería de Castillitos

We saw a mysterious castle on top of the mountain and decided to hike up to it, despite the 33 degrees heat and feeling lazy. We jumped into the refreshing water first, took some water and headed up to the mountain ridge. It was so worthwhile.

There was no sign explaining what this actually is. It looked like an abandoned Harry Potter filmset, something from Disneyland or maybe something from a fairy tale? We had to turn to “Google” afterwards to find out more.

Our boat can be seen in the bay.

Seems this place was a defensive anti-navy gun battery base which was built in 1926-1933 to protect the important port of Cartagena and its military arsenal. The cannons were used only once during the Spanish Civil War, in 1937 against Franco’s Nationalist fleet with devastating efficiency. Seems knowing its presence was more than enough to scare enemies away. The guns were abandoned by the military in 1994 and the mysterious site was left alone ever after.

We still have no idea why the Castle/fort was built more like a Disneyland rather than a military base.

The entire site includes the Batería de Castillitos and the smaller Batería de el Jorel at the very tip of the cape. The batteries are built within 1,5km range. We truly enjoyed this hike and visiting these sites.

Bateria del Jorel

Batería del Jorel was built between 1929 and 1933 and was armed with four 1923 model Vickers 152.5 mm 45 caliber anti shipping guns.. With the passing of time the guns became outdated and they fired their last practice shots in 1992. In 1994 the battery was decommissioned, subsequently stripped and abandoned.

Back at the Paddle board, ready to head back to the boat..

Spent a day/night in Playa de la Azohia and Cala de Las Canalicas then 3 nights in Puerto de Levante (a bigger town with bigger grocery shops including Lidl and Aldi).

We bought water/juice and a few other items to cover us for the next 4 weeks. Since it was 36 degrees we could not buy anything which needed refrigeration.

At anchor in Puerto de Levante - Our lovely evening view onto the castle / fort.

Somebody called Pedro posted a photo of our boat online at the same location.

Well, we are obviously following the location of the "problem" Orcas. They have, for the first time this month (July 2023), chosen to interact with boats in the Med sea (along the Spanish coast). So whilst we are still a bit away from where they currently are, we were a little concerned when many Whales (Sven said 10, I said 20), surrounded our boat and also swam under it. The alarm went off indicating that they swam less than 1 1/2 metres below our hull! We both stayed very calm.

Initially we were wondering if they are Orcas and therefore our rudder would be "removed" by them. Later we realised, that they were a group of social Pilot Whales, proudly presenting their offspring to us.

We should have been able to enjoy them coming to say hallo, rather than thinking of the worst.

Sven gathered sand after our encounter with the Pilot whales.

Cruisers are being advised to stow bags of sand to protect themselves since it confuses the Orca's sonar during an interaction.

Thanks to Sven's sister Silvia for organising 10 L empty ex Milk buckets for us. They have now come to good use. Hopefully we will never have to use the sand.

We are used to have little blue fish under our boat, so we obviously prefer that size to the larger variety discussed above....

This big fish is okay too.

Sailing close to the coast is pretty too. The current advice is stay in max 20 m depth when sailing through a known "Orca Problem area" (we use GT Orcas app)

Cala de Agua Amarga

Pretty anchorage in front of white Rock cliffs.

You can see the old coal store. Mine supplies were landed by ship and lifted up to the railway that pulled small wagons up the very steep ramp using cables

Lovely fishing village with many restaurants and shops.

Cala San Pedro (we have been here 2 years ago)

is an isolated beach and the only way to reach it is on foot or by sea.

The cove has a community of people who live there all year. This hippie community lives primarily of the manufacture of handcrafts made of leather, shells or other materials. The "hippy community" has built their homes with local materials and live disconnected from modernity and in harmony with the environment.

Some have Palms in front of their hut or cave, others also have some marijuana added (see 2nd picture)

Walk to the next village

The Pirate bar is owned by some hippies. You can see Sven in the yellow shirt waiting to be served at the "bar".

A young kid joined us for a drink, and the owners dog obviously had its eyes on his sandwich.

One of the more luxury hippy huts.

There is a water well.

El Playazo

Castillo de San Ramon .. Anyone interested to buy this Fort for Euro 3,3 Million? It has been on the market for many years already ....

We stayed in the last 5 bays with another Catamaran, finally meeting its owner Guenter The water in the bay was so calm and the full moon was out. It was a magic night.

Calla do los Amarillos

Sven first ordered "una cerveza " but than used hand language to show he would like a bigger second one! Obviously with success.

Almeria

Picked up Jacqueline (Caroline's sister) from the bus station and explored the old town together.

The Alcazaba of Almería

The Cathedral of Almeria

Enjoying an amzing Supermoon.

Roquetas de Mar

Bullfighting ring. Bullfighting is a sport responsible for still taking many bull lives every year.

We hired a car to drive to Sierra Nevada. We started our hike at 2,300m, with the 6 hours climb leading up to 3350m (my sister Jacqueline and I turned back before we got halfway). It was 13 ! degrees when we arrived and 39 degrees when we stopped for lunch at the bottom of the mountain.

What is this shark doing at the top of the mountain with SHEEP in its mouth?

Well it is a snow skiing lift for kids in winter!!!

Sven arrived at the top. No snow!

Back at the restaurant. Gazpacho soup and meat cooked by ourselves on hot stone plates.

We had a big day. Left the Boat at 5 am using our Paddle board to go on shore (had hiking bags, hiking shoes etc with us), drove 2 hours each way, hiked, had a great lunch, drove to Grenada to see the Alhambra fortress (must see but could not get tickets, you need to book weeks in advance in summer) then arrived back at the beach before sunset.

Our Paddle board and paddle had been stolen! So we walked up and down the beach to check if it was dumped somewhere but had no luck. Sven asked if someone could give him a Paddle board lift to our boat. He then picked us up by dinghy in a close by marina (you are not allowed to land the dinghy at the beach here). Anyhow, Sven and I drove with Binoculars and dinghy to continue our search. The engine stopped abruptly. Yep, just what we needed after a hard day and being far away from the Boat.... Row, row, row the dinghy against the rip (which was slow and painful, each of us holding one paddle and telling the other to row faster). Some lovely, helpful Spanish guys towed us back to the boat with their jetski.

Sven has tried to fix the dinghy engine in the next bay (whilst being on anchor) and all the sudden produced a long stem Rose for me (we are out in nowhere and he has not left the boat!!!).

This of course tests my limit of magic.... and I believe that this rose must have somehow flooded in the water (I am a practical person)... but he refuses to tell me.... so it will just remain the mystery rose and I shall just enjoy it.

Sailed for 12 hours (had little wind) and arrived at sunset in La Herradura.

We have bad memories of the La Herradura bay. We spent the worst night here 2 years ago. This time around Sven got his very first jellyfish bite while cleaning the outside of the boat. Hope this sting will not temper his cleaning enthusiasm.

It was nice to make peace with this location and enjoy the warm and calm weather condition and lovely young people coming for a chat. A great atmosphere with people singing the "Viva Espana" songs and just being really happy.

Ride a unicorn and swim with mermaids!

Last time our paddle board got taken (a previous incident to the one mentioned in this post), Caroline saw the guilty party and screamed after them to come back. Surprisingly they did, explaining to her that it looked abandoned..

Caroline filmed them and sent the video to Sven who walked down from the mountain. When this couple walked back to the village they crossed Sven. Sven stopped the guy saying: "Hi, I know you". They man tried to shake Sven's hand, asking him from where.

He was horrified when Sven told him, that he saw a video gone viral of him stealing our Stand up paddle board and immediately asked him which site he saw it on. Let him sweat for a while 😅.

Caeta de Velez

Walked to a Honda dealer hoping that he has time to look at our dinghy engine, but unfortunately he had no time and we did not want to wait for days in this bay.

Enjoying Strawberry Mojitos and Strawberry Daquiri whilst looking at our boat!

Fishing boats early in the morning (tuckering past our boat while we are still in bed) and birds flying behind in the hope to get some breakfast.

Stopped in Malaga to catch up for lunch with lovely Sara (extended family member of Sven).

Cute quirky figures in the street.

The Malaga Cathedral. We also tried to see the castle but the queue was too long.

Olé!

We wanted to make sure that our brand new paddle board does not get stolen again. So, Sven took some spare anchor chain and locked the board with a lock at a security gate. The paddle was hidden behind the locked up board. Well, the board was not stolen, but the paddle was !!!

Caroline's sister Jacqueline motivated us to play games in the evening including a Monopoly card game (first for us).

We experienced heavy fog for the very first time. Was a little unsettling not seeing anything and a boat was going past us quite closely (coming out from nowhere).

It was windy when sailing into Gibraltar.

You can see the clouds on photos (moisture in the wind is forced upwards by the 426 meter rock, then cools and condenses the moisture in the wind, creating a Levanter cloud)

We are also happy to report that we made it Orca interaction free to Gibraltar. We will keep the buckets with sands for our next leg to the Canary Islands. Orcas are back in the Atlantic at the moment and we shall check where they are when we head towards the Canary Islands.

Little houseboats for rent with view of the rock of Gibraltar.

Caroline spent some quality time with her sister Jacqueline in Morocco. It was a fantastic trip. We took the ferry from Tarifa to Tangier and explored some lovely places from there.

Sven and Caroline are flying to Doha together. Caroline continues to Australia to visit her sons Jake and Dylan. Sven continues his journey to Tanzania to hike Mount Kilimanjaro with his son Mirian and Matthias (Mirian's half brother).

After the short family visits we have a long list of things to do before continuing our adventure. We will stay in the Canary Islands until Christmas. In January, the plan is to sail to Cape Verde and from there to the Caribbean!

Below is our interactive map of all anchorages and marina stops to date (road trips are not shown on the map).

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1j2hVU8cenT9-aasLyDWIAIpBTASPo44&usp=sharing

Below is our live position of our boat

https://www.marinevesseltraffic.com/vessels/KWILENA/CURRENT-POSITION/1/503113040