Long Day, Longer Night

A long day, a longer night and a short post. We left Santa Pola at 11:00, heading north east following the Costa Blanca coastline and the dense skyscraper filled skyline of Benidorm. We managed a short sail before the wind changed direction again and the motor went back on. The sun set behind us at 18:00, the navigation lights went on and we set course for our overnight passage to Formentera, a small island just south of Ibiza.

Over the 100 mile trip we saw a few sailing boats, a couple of cargo ships and 4 fishing boats responsible for about 30 buoys, some lit, most not which we had to try and find with our searchlight then alter course to avoid them. With a clear sky we saw quite a few shooting stars (it’s the time of year for the Leonid Meteor shower), many constellations and the Milky Way. We did roughly 2 hours on watch and 2 hours off watch during the night. It wasn’t as cold or windy as the Biscay crossing but the dark night hours are longer now.

Beautiful sunrise with elephant shaped clouds!

We slowed down our speed to time our arrival at Formentera for sunrise at 07:30. The main reasons being to avoid other yachts already moored up and so that we could make sure our anchor was dropped in sand and not damage the protected sea grass in this beautiful bay. There’s a handy App to help you avoid the Posidonia Oceanica seagrass although the water is so clear you could just look over the side!

The sun is up but it’s time to catch up on some lost sleep!