Columbus Day

Hi there,

this year, October 12th (Spain’s National day, aka Columbus day) falls on a Friday. Which means I have a 3 day week-end. The plan is to go sailing with some workmates (10 people overall, including my manager’s manager). I am the skipper.

We have a Bavaria 50 Cruiser, the NEW DREAM which is located in Aiguadolç, in Sitges. It is the first time I skip such a big boat. Actually, it is the first time I skip for more than one day. The other times I have been sailing for a few days, another guy was the skipper. So, planning was sort of an experience.

Besides people hesitating on whether to come or not, getting the boat was a nightmare. I could have had a 36 ft (hosts 8 ) boat for 750€, but there was 9 of us. Including 2 who had joined at the last moment. So, at the very last moment, I had to get a bigger boat. I got it at cursosdenautica.com, for quite a good price. The same I had at Yates BCN, by the way. I guess these companies just do brokerage.

Second, I realized I needed to do some paperwork to skip a boat with a length over 12m (40 ft). I hate dealing with government offices, but they were quite efficient and I got it done quite rapidly. Though I only got it on Wednesday (we are leaving on Friday). And I had already paid for the boat. Ack !

Third, change of plans. Original idea was to leave on Thursday night and sail till Columbretes (about 95 nm), get there by Friday afternoon / evening and spend the night moored there. Spend Saturday there (main island can be visited with a ranger) and sail back the same afternoon. So, two night sails and a good night sleep moored inside the main island ring. However, there are two drawbacks:

1. my crew are not very experienced, so doing night shifts might be risky. I can very easily end up not sleeping at all.
2. because of boat insurance reasons, we are not allowed to leave harbor till Friday (even if it’s at midnight).

Given the shape of the island, I am, by no means, not willing to get there without daylight. So, the only viable option is to leave Friday morning (this way, crew will have had a good sleep and I can train them with daylight for a night shift) and try to get to the island by Saturday at sunrise and spend the day there before we sail back on that same afternoon. A sporty plan. I seriously doubt we can make it.

However, my biggest worry is the weather. October is a particularly tricky month: weather changes rapidly, often there are gales and there is what is called “gota fría”, this is a polar (very cold) air mass trapped inside a tropical (warm) air mass. This contrast creates very intense weather phenomena, with usually lead to heavy rain, winds and, often a gale. Well, there is one now (36 hours before take-off).

Forecast is that this storm will be heading South. Just were I intended to sail to. After the storm, we’ll have virtually no wind, but a strong swell. Horrible. I think I will have to re-think the whole plan. Maybe instead of going to Columbretes, I’ll have to completely change plans and sail North to the Costa Brava, where weather will possibly be calmer.

We’ll see. Will decide Friday morning. Will let you know.

Sailing to Ibiza – Formentera

Formentera is the smallest inhabited Balearic Islands. I had never been there and, since I had seen Lucia y el sexo (Sex and Lucia), a wonderful movie from Julio Medem I was willing to visit.

I saw this movie in a small cinema in countryside France, when I was living there. I was alone in the cinema room. First time alone in a cinema. I was about to ask the girl that was selling pop-corn to join me. Luckily, I didn’t. She would have seen me as a pervert after seeing the movie.

Anyways, it was mid-autumn in that gray and rainy place. Seeing such a bright (photography is consciously over-exposed) movie in such an environment (clearly a Mediterranean Island) moved me to tears. After all, as the Serrat song says, yo nací en el Mediterráneo (I was born in the Mediterranean).

Well, Formentera is so close to Ibiza that to get there, we had to circumnavigate a bit of Ibiza. Thisrock is called Es Vedrà and is part of Ibiza:

Again, I don’t know how I did it, but I managed to get the 4am shift. Jeez, at least, I could see the sunrise over Ibiza:

We spent the day in Espalmador, an islet between Formentera and Ibiza which has a good sheltered beach. Did I say that nudity in Formentera is well spread ? I loved the island.

We swam to the shore and walked towards a sulfurous mud lake (see the movie and you’ll see how sexy it can become). I decided to dive there (photo has been censored for decency – don’t wanna see make naked and muddy). Since then, my skin is soft as a baby’s bum. I’ll have to do that more often.

Thru one of the guys in the crew, we secured place to moor in Formentera’s harbour. Really nice boats:

That afternoon (I remind you my day had started at 4am) we spent the day touring the island which has some amazing views:

I’ve named this last picture Sex and Marc. You’ll see why when you see the movie. Sunset at Cap Barbària is said to be beatiful, but we were sort of late. Instead, I had the moon:

That night, we had a wonderful dinner (paella, fideuà and some nice starters) in a place called La Pequeña Isla. Advisable. Xavi and Gerard Barracus decided to explore the nightlife there (Italian-invaded) with terrific success it seems. At least they woke me up when chatting to some girls.

Fraser Island (v2)

Bueno, lo prometido es deuda.

Como ya escribí, Fraser Island es una isla de arena de 120 km x 15 km en su parte más ancha. Lo cual es un montón de arena allí juntita.

A pesar de eso, no es solo arena y nada más. Con tantos años juntitos, los granos de arena han decidido que se aburrían y se han buscado amigos. Empezando por algunas plantas, tipo las que se pueden ver en cualquier playa no demasiado llena de guiris. Aunque lo más curioso es el hecho que, tras muchos años pudriéndose, estas plantas han creado un suelo con subtrato suficiente para que crezca otra vegetación. Y ha salido selva tropical. Se hace muy raro estar en una selva donde el suelo es de arena. Quisiera poner fotos, pero no tengo la camara a mano.

Con las plantas, también llegaron animales: hay dingos (perros salvajes bastante escuálidos), pequeños marsupiales (ualabis, bandicoots…) y un montón de pájaros (kokaburras sobretodo).

En Fraser Island, hay que tener un 4×4 o muy buenas piernas y unas ganas de caminar importantes. Recuerdo que es todo arena y, sí, hay zonas de dunas donde caminar es una putada. Un 4×4 tampoco es la panacea: la cantidad de gente que vi empujando, cavando o, simplemente, acampando agotados es importante. Muchos. También vimos a unos accidentados a los que se llevaron en helicóptero (eso de pasar de 100 en la playa con un coche con el centro de gravedad tan alto tiene su riesgo).

Dado que tengo el carné caducado, no quise hacer un tour de estos de “conduzca usted mismo”, porque me hubiera muerto de ganas de conducir y no hubiera podido. Así que opté por un tour organizado. Y me salió cara. Resulta que el conductor/guía es el fotógrafo oficial de la isla, Peter Meyer. que además, es un cachondo y perro viejo. Lleva 20 años siendo una de las 300 personas que vive en la isla y se la conoce bastante bien. Nos llevó a sitios escondidos, incluyendo lagos donde nadar con tortugas (parecería un caldero de sopa de tortuga gigante).

También nos llevó a un lago, llamado Wabby que es una duna con agua abajo. Muy curioso. Ahí tuve mi momento Jackass: quise surfear la duna hasta el lago (con una tabla de bodyboard) y acabé comiendo más arena que Figo hierba. Menudo hostión me pegué. Un chapuzón el la arena la mar de majo.

El Wabby es muy curioso, pero la isla está llena de lagos de agua dulce. Algunos, incluso, de arena blanca y agua transparente. Mejor que el Caribe. Y sin bichos que te maten, cosa rara en Australia. Una delicia sub-tropical. Y arroyos, muchos arroyos. Es curioso que llegue a tener tanta agua. La arena retiene mucho.

Y, a parte de esto, poco más de Fraser Island. Solo falta añadir fotos. Vendrá.

Fraser Island

Otro día escribiré más, pero Fraser Island es lo más cerca que he estado nunca del paraíso.

Selva tropical, lagos de aguas cristalinas, arena blanca, playas interminables (75-mile beach, se llama una), dunas, sin animales demasiado peligrosos… idílico. Desde luego, no me extraña que para los aborígenes fuera una diosa hecha isla.

Otro día más, con fotos.