Almerimar and Almeria

Darsena 1, Puerto Almerimar

It didn't take us long to get to know our new winter base of Puerto Almerimar. The marina has everything you might need. The supermarket is a few minutes walk away and a plethora of cafes, bars, restaurants and the ever important boat chandleries were on our doorstep. Everyone speaks English and even the local bars serve English style tapas! We were soon making use of the various services as the fridge abruptly gave up the ghost and within minutes a contractor bicycled to our boat and fitted a new digital thermostat. We managed to find a local canvas worker and arranged for a new spray hood to be made as well as a new dinghy bag.

Puerto Almerimar

Almeria marina and The English Pier

With a few jobs done and everything stored away we went back to the UK for a few weeks and returned to Spain in October. Instead of rushing back to the boat from Almeria airport we decided to stay in the city for a couple of days for a spot of sight seeing. We booked into the large Gran Hotel Almeria which was offering a great deal. It was the first four-star hotel in the city and has been hosting the stars of the Spaghetti Westerns to the more recent Spielberg movies since 1967. Photos of Sophia Loren, Clint Eastwood, Brigitte Bardot, Raquel Welch, Harrison Ford and many more adorn the walls. It is located in the southern part of the city and close to the port area which we hadn't explored before.

Almeria Holocaust memorial

Almeria Holocaust memorial

We had a look round the marina but unfortunately it doesn't welcome visiting yachts as it's already pretty full with local boats. Next to the marina lay a rather moving holocaust memorial to 142 Almerian jews who died at Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. The central statue depicts a staircase of death and is surrounded by 142 stone columns representing those that died.

El Cable Ingles (the English Pier)

El Cable Ingles (the English Pier)

We couldn't miss the El Cable Inglés (the English Pier), a 1000 metre iron railway pier which towered above us. It is also known as El Alquife and is an extraordinary piece of industrial heritage. The pier was originally the loading bay for the mines in Alquife (Granada) which produced iron ore, copper and silver. The railway was used until 1973 to transport the minerals by train and then onto the pier to waiting cargo ships. Despite over 100 years of constant exposure to the corroding effects of saltwater it has survived and is testament to the quality of construction by Scottish engineers in 1904.

El Cable Ingles (the English Pier) and Almeria marina

Spanish galleons moored in the port

We wandered into the port area but unfortunately the two Spanish galleon replicas that were moored alongside were closed to the public until the following week. The port afforded great views back to the City and the Alcazabar perched on the hillside above Almeria. We enjoyed some retail therapy during our last afternoon as the main high street has a good selection of shops and worked out our route to the station for our early bus on to Almerimar the following morning.

Almeria city view from the port

Almeria port

Motor homes as well as yachts flock to Puerto Almerimar

Back on the boat we immersed ourselves back into life in Almerimar. I joined the weekly coffee mornings and started Thai Chi classes. Not that dissimilar to our life in Marmaris with an array of clubs and classes to join. We were meeting lots of new faces but it was great to bump into old friends too. It was lovely to catch up with a couple we had first met in Turkey as well as people who recognised the boat from Tim's sailing school days in West Wales over 20 years ago! We also made use of our few weeks back on the boat to get on with the many overdue jobs but  despite our constant chasing unfortunately the spray hood and dinghy bag never materialised. Annoyingly they would have to wait until we returned to the boat next Spring...

Puerto Almerimar

Eastward ho!

Having visited Ibiza a few times we still hadn't made it to the eastern side of the island. This was largely due to the prevailing winds coming primarily from an easterly direction making the anchorages on that side bouncy and untenable. We were in need of fuel, water and provisions so with the winds due to turn more westerly we took the opportunity to set off for the port of Santa Eulalia situated about half way up the eastern coast of Ibiza.

Yacht anchored under the cliffs near Punta Grossa

Cliffs near Punta Grossa

Unfortunately the wind just seemed to follow us round and the anchorage outside the harbour was looking very bumpy indeed. With the winds increasing we just about managed to berth alongside allowing us to fill up with fuel but quickly decided that the harbour was unsafe for us to anchor. Sadly this meant no time to explore the town or to top up our food and water supplies. The sea was getting increasingly choppy and we needed to find a sheltered anchorage fast.

Cliffs near Punta Grossa

Jumping from the cliffs

We circled Tagomago, a tiny offshore island, but found no shelter there so continued our journey north round the rocky Punta Grossa headland. The charts indicated there might be some shelter found under the rocky cliffs and we were increasingly hopeful when we spied a couple of boats bobbing in the distance. Luck was with us and with space in the small anchorage we happily dropped our anchor on the sandy bottom in the lea of some very impressive cliffs and rock formations. Finally we could relax and set about exploring the caves and watching some very daring youngsters jumping into the sea from high up on the rocks.

San Antonio anchorage

Busy Cafe Mambo

The westerly winds never materialised and we had no choice but to weigh anchor and look for shelter elsewhere. We continued north and round the top of Ibiza with the strong winds continuing to follow us round. It was a long trip but with food and water rather urgently needed we decided that San Antonio and its large natural harbour was our best bet. We found space in our usual anchorage opposite the lively Cafe del Mar and Mambo clubs but thankfully far enough away not to be kept awake at night! 

Cafe Mambo

Cafe del Mar

Cala Comte

Having stocked up with food and water we went in search of somewhere we could swim and chill. We found some lovely turquoise waters in Cala Comte not far from San Antonio. With some calm weather forecast it was lovely to be able to spend a few days relaxing and not worrying about whether our anchor was dragging or not.

Sunset view from Cala Comte

Calm before the storm, San Antonio

Fire fighting plane

The weather was definitely not the settled summer conditions we had become accustomed to. With yet more storms forecast we returned to San Antonio and even got a knock from the coastguard to warn of us of impending gale force winds. With no room in any of the marinas on the island and all mooring bouys taken we remained at anchor with all our chain out. As if the strong winds weren't enough we also witnessed a huge fire across the water which involved the deployment of fire fighting planes which doused gallons of water from above.

Fire across the bay

Twilight, San Antonio

San Miguel de Cabo de Gata

Once again due to events out of our control we had to cut our summer cruising short so we could return to the UK. The boat was also in need of some urgent TLC which meant we needed to find a marina with boat chandleries and services at hand. After much online research we opted for the huge Puerto Almerimar located in south east Spain. It has over 1000 boat berths which are surrounded by apartments, shops, bars and restaurants. Not surprisingly there is a large liveaboard community and help at hand from many English speaking services. It is located about 20 miles further west from our last winter refuge so we retraced our journey back to southern Spain using the now familiar anchorages. We had one last swim whilst anchored off San Miguel de Cabo de Gata and set off on the final leg to Almerimar. The landscape changed dramatically once we left the scenic Cabo de Gata behind. We were soon sailing alongside land covered in plastic as far as the eye could see and having to watch out for stray sheets in the water too. Not a pretty sight. Finally we slipped into our roadside berth in Darsena 2, our new base for the foreseeable future.

Ride of a Lifetime in her roadside berth, Almerimar

Formentera tour

Small village of Es Calo

We had a good crossing over to Ibiza and dropped anchor in San Antonio in order to stock up with provisions before setting off in a southerly direction for the tiny island of Formentera. We'd discovered a lovely sandy anchorage on the north eastern tip of the island last year and with the winds blowing from the west it looked like being a perfectly sheltered spot to base ourselves for a few days and a welcome chance to get ashore to explore further afield.

Es Calo anchorage

Es Calo harbour and dinghy dock

For some reason the huge motor boats seem to gravitate to the other side of the island where the plethora of smart restaurants are situated leaving the small fishing village of Es Calo relatively unspoilt. The village comprises a couple of grocery stores, a wonderful bar with a superlative view, a restaurant and bicycle hire shop. Pretty much all we needed. After a couple of days chilling we took the dinghy into the lovely little natural harbour and set about hiring a couple of bikes.

Sant Ferran de ses Roques main square

Fonde Pepe bar

Our first stop was Sant Ferran de ses Roques, a village located in the heart of the island with a pretty main square and a church dating back to the 18th century.  It is also where the island's hippy movement began. Opposite the church is the well known 1960's haunt, the Fonda Pepe, a bar, restaurant and hostel which is still living off its reputation as a hippy hangout today. Pink Floyd and Bob Dylan were regulars here and apparently whiled away many an hour playing chess. The artisan market sadly doesn't come to life until the evening so with not much else to see we grabbed a quick coffee and continued on our way. It is a small island and we were soon circling Formentera's huge salt lagoon and the salt flats.

Formentera salt flats

Ca Na Costa

We made a small detour to Ca Na Costa, a small megalithic gravesite dating back to the Bronze age which was probably used between 2,000 and 1,600 BC. Apparently there were eight people buried here and various buttons and beads have been found. 

The large Estany Pudent lagoon

Anchorage off La Savina

Tim and our trusty steeds!

We continued circling the lake until we arrived at the town of La Savina, the location of the island's port and marina. From here we got a good view of the sea and the crowded anchorage on the north western side of the island. We'd already gone much further than originally planned and our legs were beginning to wilt. It was a good opportunity to stop for a rest, have a quick bite and study our trusted map before navigating our way back. We decided on the scenic route along the dusty cycle paths running along the western side of the large Estany Pudent (literal translation foul smelling pond). It is part of the Formentera natural park and the surrounding wetlands are rich in wildlife. It was getting hotter and hotter and the maze of paths became dustier and more confusing. We were exhausted, out of water and looking very bedraggled by the time we eventually found a tarmac road again. Somewhat relieved at finding civilisation again we stopped for some much needed refreshments.

Formentera salt flats

Bicycling down the dusty path

Estany Pudent

                                                              Playa Es Arenals 

Es Calo popular bar

Despite our tiring legs we decided to make a quick detour to Playa Es Arenals before heading home. We wanted to check out the west side of the island which was just a short hop across the land from Es Calo. The grass definitely wasn't greener on the other side. We found an extremely crowded  beach and decided not to stop for a drink and instead returned to Es Calo and our waterside bar where we could watch Ride of a Lifetime bobbing in the glorious turquoise waters.

View from the bar, Es Calo. Can you spot Ride of a Lifetime?

El Pilar de la Molar market

We had time for one more trip ashore before having to move due to the changing winds. Further east at the top of the Molar plateau lies the quiet town of El Pilar de la Molar, the location of a well known market. Various artists and craftspeople from all over the island set up stalls a couple of afternoons a week during the summer months. It was a short bus ride away and we enjoyed a mooch but came away empty handed.

We were lucky that the weather had allowed us to stay put for a few days but sadly it was time to vacate the lovely anchorage and head north back to Ibiza.

Firefox - an old Formentera hippy market stall holder