Sunday 12 – Saturday 18 July
While Mate then spent an unscheduled but delightful few days with a much happier daughter, and a brief but very enjoyable pub lunch, appropriately socially distanced, with a pleasantly relaxed son and girlfriend, on English soil, Skipper amused himself trying his hand at a little single-handed sailing, making new acquaintances along the way. On the Monday morning, he set second reef and staysail to cruise around the Northwest corner of the island to Cala Saona, where he spent a couple of nights on essential paperwork, many frustrated attempts to send e-mails from the first area of poor signal we’ve found in many months, and by way of relief, a little light boat maintenance on an intermittent fault with the radar system.
On Wednesday 15th he motored back to the beachside anchorage near La Savina for lunch and shopping, before relocating again, North to the quiet and calm anchorage off the South end of Espalmador. Unfortunately this was still busy and bumpy with the wash of motorboats and jet skis, so on Thursday he cruised with the genoa back to Porroig on Ibiza, a reasonable pick-up point for Mate, who was returning to the nearby airport that evening. Much to Mate’s entertainment, the landing area for the dinghy was a rusty rail for local fishermen to haul their boat up to the shelter shack, reached by a steep sandy track from the unpaved car park above. The taxi driver from the airport showed some consternation when she didn’t give the name of a hotel, but was obviously relieved to return the cheerful wave of the chap puttering across the water in a small rubber boat.
After a refreshing swim and shower to slough off a straightforward but unpleasant flight amidst a planeful of overexcited overgrown schoolkids bound for Party Island, a quiet Friday was enjoyed in this pretty anchorage. On Saturday morning we set off early for Formentera once again, making water on the way, and before lunchtime were anchored once more off La Savina to go ashore for some provisions. The village has a selection of restaurants and tourist shops, along with a small supermarket , expensive as you might expect on a small island. Later in the afternoon we returned to Cala Saona, five miles around the corner on the West coast, typically busy on a summer weekend. A little before sunset we were able to relocate under the cliffs nearer the beach, where it was calmer and more sheltered.