- Mariposa Voyage -
August 2014 : Spain
Now we go to Spain. It means a lot for us after so many months (or years...) of preparation... The adventure begins !
Collioure - Cadaquès
The 1st of August we almost get stuck in Collioure...
The anchor won't come up ! It is enrolled in a big tube 10m under the water... We have no choice, we have to ask the diving club to "save" us.
We arrive in Cadaquès after one night in Puerto de La Selva. A storm surprises us (35-40 knots), so we dine inside.
The next morning, the weather is much better but we realize that the kayak is not here anymore ! Someone stole it !!! We feel bad... But it was a good lesson : we have to pay attention to our stuff !
Anyway we stay 2 more days visiting the city and the coast. We see the small fishermen village where Dali lived.
Just before leaving the small city, we walk in front of the kayak renting shop... and we see our kayak with the name Mariposa on it ! What ???!!!! Loïc goes there and picks it up... Nobody moves (except Loïc), nobody says anything... It's like in a movie, a western, where everything is frozen and only the main characters are acting ! When we go back to our boat, everybody is more than happy !!!!
Balearic Islands
August 5th we get up early to reach Menorca.More than 26 hours of navigation. The shift are organized like this for the night :(22h-2h Loïc, 2h-6h Lolo). It is our first navigation during the night, we are both stressed and excited. Nobody sleeps really well (news noises, knowing that someone is alone outside...). Around 2am, there are "bad" swells around us (deep and short), so everybody gets up several times. The end of the trip is hard, we are tired but really happy to arrive in Fornells.
The days after we enjoy several "calas" with turquoises waters on our way to Mahon (Pudenta, Sibina de Mongofre...).
We like to stop in an harbor to fill the boat with water and repair some things, salt water pump, ... In Mahon every marina is full but we find a place in Cala Longa on the other side of the harbor.
We also meet some family of our friends in Chicago. It allows us to assist to a typical "feria" with horses on their 2 back legs in the middle of the crowd.
We also taste the breakfast with local cheese over tomato bread. Yummmy !!!!!
Then we stop in several calas (cala Covas, Trebejula, Macarella, De Tale, San Saura) with some visits in kayak, by foot, in the river...
Then we go quickly to Mallorca : 15 to 20 knots with the spineaker.
In Porto Colom, we meet Big Z crew. Big Z is a beautiful new Pogo 30. Eric, Emmanuelle and their daughters are conveying it from Britanny to a port on the Mediterranean coast. The kids are happy to have new friends to play with ! And we see them doing really good climbing performances on nice cliffs over the water. We enjoy 2 days together.
A special thanks to "Lucie the photograph" for those great pictures :
Then we go south of Mallorca in order to wait for the wind to reach Ibiza (Cala Caragol and the Colonia San Jordi).
It is also the beginning of homeschooling or better, baot schooling. Not so easy because when we are sailing it is hard to study with the wind and the swells !
Also we have to organize the week schedule (or the 5 days schedule) to spend the right time with each materia. We have to download the courses for middle school and that's not so easy when you don't have often wifi connections. We have to take "long beers" to some wifi-bars!!!
Little by little the life on board begins to be easier (cooking, baking, resting time, activities...).
On our last day in Mallorca, Maël and Louise see a big octopus, Loïc goes hunting and we will have some marinated octopus for diner.
Next morning, the kids are still sleeping but we have to get up around 2:30am to do the 90 NM to reach the south of Ibiza in cala d'Hort where some friends, Pierre with his family and Patrick are waiting for us. We arrived around 5:30pm. And the kids are happy to have a new friend, Rosie-Louise, to play with.
At night, with a lot of people, we eat a huge paella !
