David's Diary: Sunday, March 10, 2002

Passage To The Balearics, Spain

We were up before dawn to make the crossing from Calpe, on the Spanish mainland, to the nearest Balearic Island. The Balearics are a group of Spanish islands in the middle of the Western Mediterranean Sea. We have been looking forward to seeing them for several weeks. While tremendously busy in the summertime, we expect to have most places to ourselves.

The start of our trip was uneventful as we motored across a flat sea. The morning wore on and we had lunch in the cockpit. Then suddenly just after 2:00 PM we spotted a turtle swimming in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. We slowed the boat down and turned back to have a better look. But we made sure to keep our distance. The turtle did not seem bothered by our presence and swam placidly on his or her way. Jocelyn looked in our Collins Mediterranean Wildlife Guide and we think we saw a loggerhead turtle. They nest in the Eastern Mediterranean, but spend their life at sea. If we were right, this turtle was more than a 750 nautical miles (about 1500 kilometers) from its nesting ground.

Swimming In March

The Balearics consist of four main islands. We stopped next to Formentera, the smallest island located just south of Ibiza, the second smallest. Ibiza and Formentera are separated by a small straight, but for tonight we stopped at the bay of Espalmador. There were only two other boats in the bay and we dropped our anchor into the crystal clear water where we watched as it hit the bottom amid a puff of sand.

Once the boat was secured the children were eager for a swim. The water temperature was only 18C and the air temperature 21C, but the turquoise water was too much of a lure. With the background of a sandy beach, Kevin was the first one to make it in. No one lasted long in the cool Mediterranean water, but swimming off the boat was one thing the children had been looking forward to.

First Night At Anchor

While we have anchored for lunch before, this is the first night that we are free from the dock. In our travels in the Western Mediterranean, we have seen few good overnight anchorages, and even fewer that we would trust to winter time weather.

After dinner, Jocelyn and I went outside in the darkness. We were finally far enough from city lights for Jocelyn to get a good look at the stars. For the first time in her life, she spotted the Big Dipper. We only had a few minutes before clouds moved in and obscured the sky, but together Jocelyn and I got to share together another moment of discovery before retiring below into the warmth and light of the cabin and turning in for the night.