Balearic Islands

It’s very exciting being at Ibiza marina with Regal tied up opposite ‘Below Decks’ style superyachts. The commercial units next to the marina office are full of Louis Vuitton, Tag Heuer and Bvlgari. We are in the ‘steerage’ part of the marina - Pontoon ‘L’ beyond the boat storage unit, a 15 minute walk to the office. They keep the likes of us, who hang their laundry above deck and go shopping with granny trolleys, well hidden. Ronan enquires from the marina office about laundry facilities and they direct him to the concierge service. 6 euros to launder a t-shirt they tell him - We don’t even try to calculate how much 2 black bags full would cost.
There are plenty of ordinary people in Ibiza too as well as a nice sprinkling of the quirky and crusty. So we don’t feel out of place here and and it’s enjoyable to watch the ‘beautiful’ people in their lovely clothes, cars and boats.

The island is just waking up after winter - the nightclubs don’t open for another week. It will be interesting to see if the dynamic changes once it is open season.

The town is very pretty, its skyline dominated by the old walls surrounding the upper town with its cathedral perched on top. We go through the gates and walk up into the narrow streets of the old town and enjoy tapas for dinner. Prices are expensive, a soft drink is 3.50 and a homemade lemonade is six euro - of course Ruby and Colm opted for the homemade lemonade!
The lower part of town at the waterfront is also lovely to walk around with pretty squares, funky shops and cafes as well as high street brands we are delighted to peruse.
In all honesty we spend very little time touristing over the 4 days we are here. Regal needs attention for a myriad of reasons - the regular chores needing our time; shopping, laundry and little repairs but what dominates these days is minding our dotey boaty in this weather. The wind is strong and changeable and our lines ashore need to be changed around a few times. We are stern-to with one mooring line at the bow. One day she being blown onto the marina and we have to pull her out to prevent her bashing into it. The next day the wind is blowing her off so much that its nearly impossible to reach the pontoon safely. The homemade passerelle we had constructed in Cartagena is not up for the task. We go straight to the nearby industrial estate and walk back carrying a new 2 meter ladder - this is not the image I had in mind when I dreamed of sailing in Ibiza.
We copy a design for gang planks we had seen on other boats; plastic decking screwed into the ladder and then a rope with a snatch block to raise and lower it. It proves very effective and we can now get on and off the boat again.
The wind is very strong for these few days and the boat rocks and pulls constantly no matter how many lines and snubbers we have ashore. The pontoon we are on is very exposed to the swell, the wash from the ferries and the wind. We have disturbed sleep every night and on the worst night of wind everyone on the pontoon is up at 4am. We are sleep deprived and in this sense at least we are having the real Ibiza experience.Read more