Sailing in the Meditteranean 2017

The winter break took longer than expected and the boat stayed in Valencia and in the water. Evidently the water was not so clean in Valencia and Wizard acquired quite a few crustaceans near the waterline. Left Valencia on the 12th June and sailed for Ibiza,then on to Mallorca,Menorca and over the water to Sardinia.

Daniella arrived for two weeks in late September and I left for Malta afterwards arriving ca on the 15th October. Wizard was hauled out of the water and put on the hard at Kalkara Boatyard,Kalkara,Malta.

Wizard will now be given some love and attention.New teak deck (the most expensive part !),motor will be fully serviced, three new batteries , hull to be polished and a new coat of coppertone plus a new anchor and a host of smaller things-

Madrid and Valencia

The pictures are a mixture of both cities on a trip with Ruth in June 2017.

Valencia to Ibiza - middle of June 2017

The trip over from Valencia was uneventful, marked by light winds. After a few false starts I sailed anti-clockwise around the island. The town of Ibiza was quite interesting and anchoring in the bay was very convenient. Sailed up the east coast and stopped in Santa Eulalia at anchor for about 5 days. Left Santa Eulalia and sailed to Mallorca , to the SE coast. Headed to Menorca from Ratjda and anchored for two nights on the south coast before heading for Ciutadella.e

Ibiza to Mallorca - July 2017

Left Santa Eulalia (Menorca) and sailed to Mallorca , to the SE coast.

Headed to Menorca from Ratjda on the NE coast.

Mallorca to Menorca

Left the NE coast of Mallorca in a moderate North Westerly which got stronger as the day went on. Reached the south coast of Menorca at ca 15.00 and started looking for a suitable anchoring place. Looked at a few of the narrow coves formed between the cliffs but was put off by very narrow entrances and the number of boats in there . Motored west along the coast and found a nice anchoring place where I stayed for two nights before heading for Ciutadella. Arrived in Ciutadella where the anchorage is close by the town but also very close to the large ferries. You have to anchor behind a certain line between the lighthouse and another marker. Quite a few boats were obviously not reading the pilot book and after anchoring were moved on by the pilot boat.Met Eleanor (Richard and Carolyn's daughter) in town for a meal and drinks. The weather changed in the next days so had to stay in Ciutadella at anchor. It was stormy at night and a Frenchman on a 65foot boat dragged and fell right back on Wizard. That was ,of course, at 03.00!! Left Ciutadella for Sardinia.

Menorca to Sardinia

I had been waiting for some very strong NW winds to die down before setting out. It took me four days to reach the west coast as the wind continually died on me. Still, a very pleasant journey and I stayed overnight about 15 nm from Alghero and then went in as soon as it got light and reached the anchorage outside the harbour at about 11.00. The anchorage had very poor anchoring indeed but as the weather was very mild it was just sufficient to hold the boat. Daniella flew out for two weeks and we hired a car for the first two days as the wind was too strong to leave Olba Marina.

Gozo

From Olba Marina I sailed (motored) down the east coast until the small marina at Villasimis. The marina is quite big but basically deserted. No facilities in October and the weather turned very bad so I was stuck here for 5 days waiting for the coming westerly. Left directly for Malta. Actually stopped in Gozo first to visit Richard. Gozo marina is quite expensive - Euro 45 in October! - and the facilities are only just okay. Richard's daughter Ellie was also over visiting.